kandy-katargamam-day 3

27 th saturday
Got up at 4am and after heavy breakfast left for katargamam.crossed through nuvelia a hillstation in line with ooty.lot of nurseries en route.The ashoka vana of ramayana was seen .Sita.s bathing ghat ,the spot where anjaneya lit fire to srilanka ,his footprints adjoining templeof rama were quickly covered.on the way saw a mountain shaped as huge elephant with eyes and ears in full shape and four legs visible'It was termed as Iravatha. by the guide.No of falls were ther one is named after Ravana .The guide gave one interesting news That ravana means one who cries nonstop.HEcried for 16 years when he tried to lift Mount kailash and lord shiva pressed him with his toe on the mountain.Checked in tissnamara hotel and our room had no lock.Got it rectified and proceeded for temple.
The temple was extremely crowded and people were taking six varieties of fruits and flowers for shanmuka for offering.when we entered it was evening pooja (kala sandhi) and the pooja samakriyas were taken in to the temple also they offer only those flowers which bloom in a day and wither on the same day. Since the crowd was easily in thousands shri knk felt that we leave the temple after saying anubudhi and return early morning for the darshan.as we finished anubuthi and vel muruga chanting we were specially ushered for darshan of muruga. Wirh "Guru arul" we sang katargamam thiruppugazh and" kanavilum nanavilum abhinava padma padam maravamal vendi thirumbi vandom"Came and sat in deivanai sannadhi and and sang in very low tones."Mounathai uttru unara Andavanin Kattalai vandathu" prasadam at kathigama temple as night dinner and returned to hotel
28th -sunday-Everyone felt must come back for morning darshan and hece got up at 4am and reached temple 5.am and and had the darshan to the heart"s content.morning saw the temples around devi,Lakshmi,Shiva,Durga,Vibhishana.In all the temples gods were worshipped only on screens. no vigraham. The temples for vibhishana is another interesting factor.It is the belief that the rulers of sri lanka that if they worship vibhishana thei rule wil last long as he was made king by Rama.Even buddhist and sinhala rulers pray vibhishna.Return to colombo through coastal road.
All along the the coastal drive was wonderful.The guide showed one island asthe sanjivini mountain thrown by hanuman after usingthe herbs for Laksmana.The Mathara beach is more rocky than sandy and it was fullmoon day the tides were quite high.the rock and tides inspired sarojam sing Uyire in full throat. But venkatesan mama was not to be perturbed at all .Enroute saw galle cricket stadium visited a tea factory.purchased tea for friends.Usha was in high spirits and myself busy.preparing .coffee and supplying one sip to allEvening tried for shopping but the shops were closed because of fullmoon.Srilanka observes holiday on fullmoondays.Buddha temple was vrey much crowded and we were satisfied going round the temple. and vibhishana temple.After a long drive our spirits were raised playing antakshri in old tamil songs. Raji ramajayam and kanchani's repertoire was astounding.Retuned late to the hotel andgot ready for leaving colommo