Dear ILites, I recently got married into a family whose "kula deivam" is Swamimalai Murugan. My in-laws have been out of TN for three generations and the habit of celebrating festivals or visiting kuladeiva temple has eroded through the generations. My parental side is a bit more religious and I love to go to temples. My husband would love to get spiritual and has asked me to restart the forgotten traditions. I talked to some elderly inlaws and it has not been informative. My mother has advised me to recite Shasti kavasam on krithigai days. So my dear fellow ILites, I'd like to know what is specifically done for Swamimalai Murugan. Do you do special poojas at a set time of the year? (I'm asking this because in my parental side, Aadi month Tuesdays are important for our deity) I'd be grateful for any sort of inputs and guidance. If you share what you do in your family, that will be most helpful. Thanks and I hope you'll respond
Hi krithiks, My name is also Krithika!!:hiya So, when i saw the name Swamimalai Murugan, I had to reply. He is kula deivam from my parental side. (In my in-laws side, it is Vaidheeswaran temple) Before my marriage, we ,as a famly would go to Swamimalai temple (along with many many temples in and around Kumbakonam) every year (my parents do this even now and my brothers join them whenever they can) and offer abhishekam,donation,offering of vastram,flowers etc. This they do without fail every year ( it is their belief and not a said rule) Other than that, just like any other festivals, anything associated with Lord Muruga is extra special at home. I can also probably ask my mom (IL'ite Padmini) to reply to your query. She can give you a much better reply on this. Cheers
I had to reply, coz Murugan is my (yeah.. I love him so much) God and also kula deivam (my in-laws side) and yes its swamimalai :mrgreen:. As Krithi said, that's pretty much my in-laws do as well.. but let me ask my MIL and get back if anything new Kudos to you and your husband to taking a step in maintaining the long lost traditions. I love that
Dear namesake :cheers Thanks so much for the first response. Yeah, I think we can make it a point to start going to the temple whenever we visit India and then take it from there. Apparently they have "Varalakshmi Vratam" too that has been discontinued..ppl say MIL has to do some kind of initiation on that...don't know yet how to figure that one out (my parental side doesn't have this vratam) Btw, I love your nickname "Jithiks"..sounds cool...who coined it? Cheers
Hey Nandhu, Thanks and same pinch on our kula deivam We are on full josh since we are just married, but we do hope to keep up the momentum ;-) Let me know if your MIL gave new info.. Cheers
Me and my family are also Murugan devotees..I love this deity a lot..We regularly go to thiruchendur also to pazhani when time permits...What you have decided is a good thought..Though you do thousands of pooja's to various god's worshiping our kula deivam is most important..So try to bring taht as a habit to your family... As for amman..tuesday's are special for Lord Murugan too..So we dont eat/cook NVeg, have a head bath(ladies), clean the house and start the routine..
Thanks for the kind response Cindhuja, will give special attention on Tuesdays :thumbsup I personally haven't been to many Murugan temples (my fav is his elder bro!!) but will do so from now on.. Regards
Kriths, Our kuladeivam is also Swamimalai murugan(Its DH side).My hometown is kumbakonam and hence I visit the temple frequently. We do abhishekam and archanai as a family in a year when we go there.
My parent's side kula deivam is Muthukumarasami (Vaideeswaran koil). But I guess that doesn't matter. Whenever we visit India, we make it a ritual to go to vaideeswaran koil and do abishekam and archanai. As long as I was in India for every birthday there'll be a visit to kula deivam kovil (we live less than 30 mins away from the temple anyway, thats why) As far as I know, For any occasions like marriages at home, first thing to be done is to keep all the invitations to lord's feet (kula deivam) and distribute it. In addition to this, the new bride and groom are supposed to visit the kula deivam kovil after their marriage. If you have kids, then tonsure ceremony needs to be done once in the kula deivam temple. In addition to that, for murugan shasti and krithigai are very famous. You can visit the temple during one of these days and do abishekam or archanai (if you happen to be in India). -Uma
