Thiruppugazh Thandha Thiru muruga Aalayam

Saint Arunagirinathar received the Divine Grace of Lord Karthikeya and sang the songs in praise of his
Lord which are collectively called Thiruppugazh (in His Praise). In the songs sung in Tiruchendur, he
says: Going in search of his blemishless devotees, he locates them, plays around with them, then makes
HIS HOME THERE TO LIVE WITH THEM.
(

! !")

Blessed are the devotees of Chandigarh that Lord Karthikeya came around, located them, tested them
and finding them to be blemishless true devotees, made them build His Home to His liking and took His
Residence there.

Gurujee Raghavan taught and trained thousands of devotees to sing in chaste Carnatic ragas the musical
songs of Thiruppugazh. With love (anbu) and non-violence (avirodham) as the core teachings of
Thiruppugazh, he set up Thiruppugazh Anbargal, association of loving souls. Gurujee blessed one of
his talented disciples, VIMALA KUMARASWAMY, to take up the noble task of teaching Thiruppugazh
singing to the devotees of Chandigarh. Sing Thiruppugazh regularly; the Lord will come seeking and
make it His Home he said to the Kumaraswamy couple.

Thiruppugazh classes started in a small way ladies taking the lead followed by their children and
reluctantly the gents also joined. Vimalaji was not only a noble devotee of Lord Muruga but also a loving
teacher. She put up with all the discordant notes (abaswaram) of the gents (many of whom were not
even bathroom singers!) and encouraged them to keep singing. It was a wonder of wonders many of
them who did not know of Carnatic music or any ragas, could with ease render Thiruppugazh songs in
Mohanam or Kalyani with the nonchalance of a trained singer! Kumara swamy came out with the idea of
writing down the tamil songs in Hindi for benefit of children who did not know tamil. Such innovative
initiatives transformed the Murugan devotees of Chandigarh into Thiruppugazh Anbargal.

Every Tuesday and every festival day, the small temporary room which housed a Vel that was being
worshipped, reverberated with the melodious rendering of Thiruppugazh led by Vimalaji. Ladies and
gents took to singing Thiruppugazh however good or bad their voice might be. It was the love for the
Lord that made them sing and sing they did- vigorously and devotedly.

Guruji himself came with the devotees of Delhi to sing the Lords praise on many occasions and everyone
felt that the time was not far off when the long dreamt project of building a Temple for Karthikeya will
become true.

Once the grain of possibility took root, the idea started growing fast. Volunteers joined, committees were
formed, funds poured in big and small, plans were made, architects came, construction started and
wonder of wonders... Lord Karthikeya Swamy Temple majestically rose in the Airforce Complex of Sector
31D Chandigarh. The Sivachariyars came from Kancheepuram, the Nadhaswaram team from Chennai and
the thousands and thousands of Chandigarhians gathered to celebrated the Kumbabishekam of Lord
Karthikeya Swamy Temple on 24th January 1992.

Rich and poor, big and small, irrespective of caste or creed, everyone gathered on that fine morning to
welcome Lord Karthikeya Swamy to His New Home and such a love He has for his devotees that He has
gone on expanding His Home to accommodate many more deities for the welfare of the Chandigarh
community.

What Saint Arunagirinathar sang and what Guruji Raghavan said came true and Thiruppugazh truly
brought the Lord to Chandigarh!