At the crowded Azhagu Muthu Azhagar Siddhar temple in Thennampakkam village in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district, miniatures of various kinds — from cars, motorbikes, lorries, multi-storeyed houses, to statuettes donning the uniforms of lawyers, soldiers, police officers, and doctors — are placed under the shade of large banyan trees and stone apple trees. Thousands of these “dolls”, which outnumber devotees in the temple at any given point, are a form of physical manifestation of people’s wishes, presented as votive offerings supposedly after their wishes come true.
Located around 20 kilometres from Puducherry, the temple is believed to be about 300 years old. Tracing the significance and folklore of the temple, Kumar, the seventh-generation priest, says about four centuries back, Azhagar Swamy Siddhar, an old pious man, turned up at the village and stayed beneath a banyan tree. Villagers believed that his prayers andprasadamcured their ailments.
It is said that a couple who had been married for 15 years and wished to have a child offered prayers at the temple. The woman got pregnant in a few months. Appearing in her dream, the Siddhar asked the couple to leave a baby doll at the temple, says the priest. The tradition has been continuing ever since.
Over the past two decades, mud statuettes gave way to colourful cement ones made by idol makers at the temple for a fee. These days, politicians and film directors, too, come to pray for prosperous careers — evident from the dolls wearingdhotiswith symbols of leading political parties in Tamil Nadu and idols with a director’s hat and a clapboard.
On Mondays, believed to be the day of the birth of Azhagar Siddhar, thousands of visitors throng the temple, of which Ayyanar is the main deity. The Tamil month ofChithirai, from mid-April to mid-May, is the busiest time, says the priest. Despite its religious and cultural significance, the temple is visibly under-maintained, with plastic litter strewn around. Visitors say some shade for the queues will help on hot summer days.
(Text by Geetha Srimathi)
