Sri Athi Varadar Perumal, Kancheepuram

Sri Athi Varadar Perumal , Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu - Miracles Do Happen

Devotees from neighboring places around the temple town of Kancheepuram had darshan of Sri Athi Varadar 40 years before without any big news event about this deity. But now , this year , the news of bringing out the idol from temple tank spread like a forest fire and all media covered this once in 40 years event, in a very big way. 

This increased the curiosity of the devotees in all states of India to witness the idol, a once in a life time darshan and the footfall of them increased from one lakh on the first day  to two lakhs a day. More VIPs’ made a visit to the temple and our Prime Minister, Sri.Narendra Modiji also planned to visit this week.

Athi Varadar is a nine-feet idol made out of the fig (Athi pazham in Tamil) tree and is brought out from the Anantasaras (the temple tank) in Kanchipuram Vardharaja Perumal Temple once in 40 years. Though there is no written history of when the ritual actually began, people believe it is many centuries old.

Given that the waiting time is a minimum of three hours, the government has issued a warning advising senior citizens, pregnant women and people with health ailments to avoid visiting the temple. So, myself and my wife have decided to have the darshan daily through TV channels and not planned a visit in person, for the above reasons. But felt that we will be missing an opportunity of once in a life time to have the darshan of the deity with naked eyes. 

Why this blog is written is that, by the mercy of Sri Athi Varadarar Perumal,  today HE came to our home in the form a special release of Postal Cover commemorating the appearance of HIM after 40 years, through our regular Postman. He selectively asks the residents, whether they are interested in buying the special envelope.So we got one.  It is a miracle for us. God visits to your place, if you are not in a position to visit HIM, even though HE sits in everyone's heart.

Once in a year in Puri, Odisha, Sri Jagannath, Sri Balabadra and Sri Subadra comes out of the temple and give darshan in separate temple chariots for blessing the devotees. This annual event is a mega event and devotees from around the world pay a visit to have darshan. In all the temples in India and abroad, it is a practice to bring the deities outside the temples for the benefit of all , whether a devotee or non-devotee.

The Tamil Nadu Postal Circle has brought out this special cover to commemorate the ‘Athi Varadar Festival 2019’ in Kancheepuram based on a proposal from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department. A total of 1,000 special covers have been printed with special UV printing and each cover is priced at ₹50.

The Department of Posts has also printed one lakh non-UV special covers. These covers are available at ₹20 each at the Anna Road Head Post Office Philately Bureau as well as at the special stalls, which have already been put up near the Devarajaswami Temple at Kancheepuram. 

We are blessed by Sri Athi Varadar Perumal to have HIS darshan in the form of a postal cover with HIS present sayana state in the temple’s Vasantha Mandapam.

Miracles do happen and it gives more strength to our faith on God.

Hare Krishna.