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| old image. Anna Abhishekam. maalaimalar.com |
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| Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar temple, TN 3tdesign.edu. |
Anna Abhishekam is an important temple annual ritual of bathing the deity with cooked rice, etc to express our gratitude to the deity for providing good rain and sumptuous harvest of food grains. When the ritual is on ''Sri Rudram” is chanted continuously throughout the ceremony. Quite common in the Shiva temples of south India where the deity is in the form of ''linga'' (the phallic symbol of Lord Shiva’s energy) it is done on the Full Moon day (pournami) in the Tamil month of Aippasi (mid-Oct to mid-Nov). This ritual is also called Maha Anna Abhishekam.
At the popular Thanjavur Brihadeeswara temple (Peruvudaiyar kovil) Anna Abhishekam was done on the Pournami day with religious fervor. The interesting facts are about 1000 kg of cooked rice 150kg of fruits and 350 kg of various vegetable were used for the Anna Abhishekam. Because of Chandra Grahanam (Moon Eclipse), the pujas were conducted before 3 pm and the devotees can have darshan till 7 pm. The cooked rice, etc will be distributed among the visiting devotees. An unusual feature is because of Chandra Grahan , the temple will be closed around 7 pm..
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| front towers Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar temple, TN 3tdesign.edu |
Rice is a symbol of prosperity, richness and welfare and Anna Abhishekam is an expression of our indebtedness to Lord Shiva who personifies Pancha Boothas - five essential natural elements that sustain life on earth. Rice is an outcome of the union of the five elements of nature. When the seed is sown in the land, it is nourished by water from the sky, fire (energy) from the Sun and is transformed into paddy with the help of wind. This is processed into rice and is fed to all living entities. Such is the significance of Anna Abhishekam.
Among the Shiva temples, abhishekam is part of daily puja ritual before decorating the deity and doing Aarti. About Abhishekam is done with sacred items like holy water, cow’s milk, ghee (clarified butter), coconut water, sugarcane juice, sandalwood paste, Vibhuti (sacred ash), curd, panchamirtham (made of 5 fruit items including bananas, dates, honey, crystal sugar, etc.), mango powder, rice and turmeric powder. Anna abhishekam is a rare ritual and the cooked rice is commonly used followed by sandalwood paste or turmeric water. Abhishekam is also done in temples dedicated to goddesses. In the case of Sri Vishnu temples, it is done rarely. ''Thaila Kappu'' is a common ritual and it involves applying herbal oil on the moolavar idol before decoration of the deity with flowers, jewels, etc.
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| Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple templeknowledge.com |
Above image: Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple was completed in 1035 CE by King Rajendra Chola to commemorate his victory over the Gangai region over Pala dynasty..............
At Thanjavur temple, it is said that lots of devotees from this city and neighboring place witnessed this rare Anna Abhishekam event. Anna Abhishekam was also done in Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple (Ariyalur district) built by King Rajendra Chola, son of king Rajaraja chola who built the big temple more than 1010 years ago using primarily hard stones - granite and gneissic rocks of Archean group - more than 3.5 million years old.
https://www.astroved.com/astropedia/en/festivals/anna-abhishekam
http://www.navrangindia.in/2021/10/anna-abhishekam-important-shiva-temple.html
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, Thanjavur Big temple, TN ){kind=link}