Adikesava Perumal with Pasupathiswarar Temple

Temple history of Adhikesava Perumal with Pasupatheeswarar Vedas is general and universal with no differences between cast, religion, ethnicity, community and what not. Though, Vedas are in four parts, the number of parts is uncountable. The world moves round due to the force of the Vedas. We inhale, and exhale the energy of the Vedas in  very breath. If we use our rationale in bad ways, we will face pains, diseases and suffer.  In the present day world the tendency to realize Vedas is reducing, so we face all problems in this Kali Yuga. In order to alleviate this, Lord Pasupatheeswarar  disseminated the importance of Vedas to the world. This is in Pandanallur and 35 Kms from Kumbakonam.

The History of the Pasupathiswarar Temple
The Ultimate Lord jubilantly protects the entire world. Ambigai (The Goddess Parasakthi) once desired to play ball games. When She prayed Lord, He made the four Vedas in the form of a ball and gave it to Her. The Goddess Parasakthi then was playing happily with the ball along with Her friends at Thirukayilai (the Home of God). The play was too fun such that the Sun God did not want to interrupt, and did not set at usual time in the evening. Due to this, the day was prolonging for a long time. The world was in pell-mell due to prolonged day, and Naratha who wanted to report about this to Goddess Parasakthi was ignored. The Lord got annoyed by this and kicked the ball and the ball hit the world. Goddess Parashakthi then profusely apologized to the Lord, and came down to the world in the form of a cow. The Lord also then came down to earth in the form of Kovalan. Both the Lord and the Goddess lived in the ashram of Saint Kannuva.

After that they changed themselves in their original form and thus a Temple for them was created. This temple is now known as Pasupatheeswarar Temple. Details of the History of the Temple The Lord Shiva was angry with the Goddess Parvathi due to her unmindful playing of the ball with Her friends. Lord Shiva felt that due to the ball play, Parvathi had created confusion on the earth, and never listened to him. Therefore He cursed Her to go to earth as a cow. Having realized Her mistake She asked pardon to Shiva. At that time Shiva asked Her to go to the ashrum of Kannuva Munivar and start praying for Him. “I would then go there and relieve you of the curse, and marry you and also present the ball for your happiness” He said It is believed that just hearing this history and details and understand the pride of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi, the devotees would come out of their diseases, become rich, and could lead a peaceful life.

Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai is the scholar and genious in Pandanallur Bharathanatyam Style.
He lived at Pandanallur, the village near Kumbakonam, who create a traditional concept in Bharathanatyam.

Formost among the arts which have contributeed to the greatness of Indian culture is the divine art of Bharathanatyam. This dance especialy in Southern India has always been regarded as a religious art fom. This is why it was known as a Temple dance and was always performed in th sanctum berfore God.Bharatanatyam is an art which purtifles teh mind, speech and body and elevates the performer to a relacton of the Supreme through the perfect blending of music rhythm and emotion.The three main types of dance are NATYAM, NRITTAM and NRITYAM. NATYAM is the art of dancing the stories from great epics with many characters as in a drama. Simple foot movements aided by ankle bells and without elaborate dance postures as resorted to by Harikatha performers is known as NRITTAM. A more elabrotae form is the NRITTYA in which facial expression, mime, bodily postures and foot movements are danced in a well conceived pattern.It contains all the components of Angikam, Mudra, Abhinaya, Natya and Nrittya.O f these three forms, the highly evolved Nrittya is the dance noew known as Bharatanatyam.

This dance was performed on all auspicious and joyous occasions by well trained dancers who were especialy selected for this art. The Sastras have laid down certain precepts for the selection and training of such dancers. The girls seleceted for the dance should have facial beauty, grace nd a well developed figure. A seven year period of training is laid down as absolutely essential to attain mastery in the art. Apart from this, the shape and size of the stage for giving such dance performances is also described in great detail in the Natyasastra.Adherence to tradition is essential to Bharatanatya. Many beautiful Varnams, Padams and songs have been especially composed for the dance by great musicians. It is necessary that the vocal and instrumental accompaniments to the dance should be adjusted in such a manner that it blends well and emphasises the dance movements. The dance programme and the items to be danced have been codified by the ponniah brothers more than two hundred years ago and is still being followed today. Starting with a devotional bymn to prodect the dancer and ward off the evil eye, the dance programmer consists of many items like Alarippu, Varmam, Jatiswaram, Padiam and usually ends with the Tillana and devotional pieces like Ashtapati, Slokam etc.,

Departure from tradition, and inclusion of totally unsuitable pieces in the name of innovatoin only lowers the standard of this art. I am not against change. There is bound to be change and new ideas. But there can be called by a different name and not broght under the name of Bharatanatya. Such innovations make a sublime art ridiculous.I realzed yhow greatly spiritual this art can be when I visited the temple at chidambaram, whre the Lrd Himself is the Divine Dancer. A dedicated dancer who is able to contraol the body and the mind will realize theat the dance transcends the physical and becomes a spiritual expereicnce. Purity in thought and action is therefore necessary for the dancer. The dance then becoems akinto Yoga. By constant practice and control of the body and mind. with proper concetraton to channel the emotions towrds the inner meaning of teh song. it is possible to attain Sayuja (exaltation) realised by great yogis through yougic practices.The modern trend therefore to consider dance as mree entertainment and an art which doce not require muchj effort, is regrettable. It is only throught long and rigorous training that the dancer acan attain perfection which leads to spiritaual awakenig. Blerre costumes and inappropritate themes wil only lead to destruction of this art.It is not pssible for amrere mortal like me to describe the gereatnes s of Bhrarthanatya. ho but divine characters like sir Nndi and Bhringi can describe the cosmic dance of the Lord of Dance. Sri Nataraja?

Pandanallur Style Of Bharatanatyam (Pinnalkolattam)

It is a traditional style of Pandanallur Bharatanatyam. It was recomposed by Pannanallur Subramaniam who is the student of Kittappa Pillai. This is the song which was composed on Pandanallur main deity of the Temple Pasupatheeswar. In this style of dance students are performing   such a logical steps along with the song. After a long time (app, 70 years) ,  the Natyanjali Function was celebrated at Pandanallur Temple in  Sivarathri Festival. At that time this  Bharathanatyam  was performed by the student of Pandanalur Subramaniam.

Pandanallur Jayalakshmi ammal, Sabaranjitam ammal are the famous bharathanatyam dancers.  After Meenakshi sundaram pillai , chokkalingam pillai, subbaraya pillai are the famous natuvaors  of pandanallur. Maha Mariyamman Temple Keelmandur is near Pandanallur. The “Theemithi”, walk of the fire is very famous in this temple. More than 10 village peoples participate in this festival.
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