Kathirkaamam is a place situated in the south east corner of Srilanka. Many books cited this place as one of the six primal homes (arupadai veedu) of Lord Muruga. Sage Arunagirinaathar also sung 16 songs on Lord Muruga of kathirkaamam in his thirupukazh. It is said to be tha, this temple belongs to 11th century.
மணி தரளம் வீசி, அணி அருவி சூழ,
mani tharalam veesi, ani arivi soozha,
மருவு கதிர்காமப் பெருமாள் காண்!
maruvu kathirkaamap perumaal kaan!
அரவு பிறை வாரி, விரவு சடை வேணி
aravu pirai vaari, viravu sadai vaeni
அமலர் குரு நாதப் பெருமாள் காண்!
amalar kuru naathap perumaal kaan!
-அருணகிரிநாதர் (Arunakirinaathar)
This temple is situated near manik ganga river in place called Tissamaharama in the Hambantota district. It may be a startling news, that Tamil god’s temple is still has its place among Sinhala people without any impediment.
This temple is common to Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists and all functions were celebrated without any demarcation. Here, the person performing pooja ties his mouth with cloth and no mantra chanting is seen here. The person who performs pooja is commonly called “Kappuraalai”.
More astonishing thing is there is no idol for Lord Muruga. The cloth which is painted with Lord Muruga along with Malli and Devyanai is dangled down and all poojas are performed for this hanging painted cloth.
Then, what is behind this hanging cloth? This is our aim of this post…
There is small room behind this curtain and no one is allowed to enter that room other than temple priest. The room without any lightings and ventilations has one box which contains the hexagonal yantra. This yantra has its own mystic power and information in temple shows that this temple is formed by Bogar. Moreover, the navapaashana combination which is used for making Palani Dhandaayuthapaani idol is used for this yantra preparation also. The image of this yantra is shown below,
This yantra is correlated to Kathirkaama Kandhan (one of the names of Lord Muruga) and worshipped by all people irrespective of their religion. During festive season, this box having yantra is placed over elephant and allowed to go around the street. Moreover, it is heard that, Bogar attained and make his samadhi near to temple itself.
Original – www.siththarkal.com
Translated by Lalithambika Rajasekaran
