Friday, April 13, 2012

Our Kula Deivam - Family Deity - Ulagalanda Perumal, Singanallur

Ancestral family of Chakkali Madham & Family deity

All the families will have their family deity or Kuladeivam. Kuladeivam is that deity which is worshiped by the family for generations, at least for about 4 generations. According to my knowledge our ancestral family was at Singanallur a suburb of Coimbatore City in Tamilnad. In Coimbatore there were 2 Agraharams (Iyer Brahmin's colony) one at Perur near the famous Siva temple and the other at Singanallur where even today there is a road by name Agraharam Road where the temple is of Ulagalanda Perumal (Ulagalanda means one who measured the universe and Perumal is the term used for deities of incarnations of Lord Vishnu, the protector of universe). Since our ancestral family was at Singanallur Agraharam the family deity is the Ulagalanda Perumal at the junction of Agraharam Road. According to my hearsay knowledge We had an ancestral house on the Agraharam Road and presently it is used as a firewood depot. 


Ulagalanda Perumal - family deity

The above paragraph gives an indication that the deity of Ulagalanda Perumal is our family deity. Another hint is that the eldest member of the family, the wife of my cousin brother (daughter in law of Sehsan periayappa - Seshan uncle) who is at Palakkad has confirmed that according to her husband, my cousin brother our family deity is the Ulagalanda Perumal of Singanallur and she had gone there with the cousin brother occasionally and her son Hari goes whenever he go to Coimbatore. Another eldest family member, cousin sister who is mother of sister-in-law of Arangode also indicated that our family deity as Ulagalanda Perumal of Singanallur. My father has told my brother A R Venkatachalam  that our family deity is at Singanallur. Normally Iyers  will either wear sacred ash or Sandal paste on forehead. In our village there were only two Iyer families who wear Sandal paste, Chakkali Madham and Chakkali Puthan Madham. Sandal paste is worn by followers of Lord Vishnu and Sacred ash followers of Lord  Siva. From all these it is certain that our (family branches from father's side) family deity is Ulagalanda Perumal of Singanallur a suburb of Coimbatore in Tamilnad. 

Other deities relevant

In addition to the family  deity there are other 3 types of deities for the families and individuals. Another deity of the family is the grama devatha (village deity). Our family grama devatha  is the Karthyayani kavilamma of Arangotukara, our native village. However, many of us including myself have migrated to other places. Therefore, each of our families may have the grama devatha as the deity of the place where we are staying.

Another devatha is the ishta (favorite) devatha. This deity is of each individual. It depends on the individual concerned. This may be different for each member of the family or for some members it may be common. This will be a spontaneous selection based on the inner urge generally starting from childhood itself in most cases.

Other deities are the problem or obstacle remover deities for the family as a whole or for the individual. For each of the specific problem or obstacle there is one or perhaps may be 2 to 5 specific deities as  the obstacle remover/s. For example those who are affected by Sani dosha or dasa  they can offer prayer or worship to Lord Sani himself, Lord Siva, Lord Vishnu, Lord Ganapathi or Hanuman. Those who are having skin problems offer worship to snake god temples. Those who are having difficulties with intellect offer prayers to goddess Saraswathi like Mookambika, Sringeri Saradamba etc. 

Homeopathy Scientific System of Medicine

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