The village karuveli

In Tamil Nadu, there is a kshetra by the name karu veli [கருவிலி] with presiding deity Sri Sarguneswaran and His Sri Sarvanga Sundari. Hymn in praise of the presiding deity had been sung by Sri Apper Swamigal in his Thevaram. The Kshetra is located between Punthottam and Nachiyar Koil. This place is now known as KaruVeli [கருவேலி] [in English the spelling remains the same but ve is pronounced ‘vae’ in the second].

Why name Karuveli

‘Karu’ [கரு] in Tamil means ‘womb’ [where from birth takes] ‘Karuveli’ [கருவிலி] means birth less. The prayers to Sri Sarguneswara can make His devotee rid of birth/rebirth and bestow ‘moksha’.

To indicate this, the holy water of this kshetra is known as ‘yama thirtham’. After having a bath in this holy water, the darshan of Sri Sarguneswara, the devotee is bestowed the state of non-birth. This holy kshetra which was once flourishing with activities had gone to near ruins in recent times.

Back to glory

But it was not to remain so. In the year 1995 Dr. Sri V.Krishnamurthy Ex-Chairman BHEL, Maruti, Sail, etc., and his brother, whose forefathers were hereditary trustees of this great temple paid a visit to this kshetra and things started changing.

It is an interesting incident as to how these great men were brought back to their village and how the temple of Sri Sarguneswara once maintained by their forefathers was renovated by them.

The role of Sri Anjaneya is great in getting Dr. Sri V. Krishnamurthy and his brother back to their roots and the renovation of the great Siva temple done by them.

Similarity of Sri Anjaneya and Sri Sarguneswara

‘Sarva roga hara:’ is one of the namas found in ‘Astothra sada namavali' of Sri Anjaneya. ‘roga’ means disease ‘hara’ means getting rid of. Sri Anjaneya has the capability of getting rid of all diseases of His devotees. He who carried the mountain of medicine is sure to cure us all from illness. ‘sarva’ means all / any type of. Therefore He is seen here as a Lord who can cure ‘all disease’. But as long as the body is there one or the other ailment is sure to be there. Therefore ‘Sarvarogahara:’ means Sri Anjaneya is sure to liberate from birth/rebirth and bestow ‘moksha’ to His devotees.

We could see that both Sri Sarguneswara of Karuveli and Lord Anjaneya bestow liberation from rebirth – Karuveli [கருவிலி].

The Ancient Anjaneya Temple of Karuveli

In the center of the Karuveli village, there is a small temple for Sri Anjaneya. The temple was in a dilapidated condition and needed repairs to be carried out. Since the village is an isolated place and people had meager funds, there were not many who could spare money for the renovation or repair of the temple. A devotee of Lord Anjaneya of this temple, once when in Chennai called on the brother of Dr. Sri V. Krishnamurthi. He told him that the temple of Sri Anjaneya requires repair/renovation. The requested amount was given to him.

After some time, a relative of the brothers visited the village and came to know that the amount was insufficient for the repair and the money was in the safe custody of the Sri Hanuman devotee and was taken around the village. He was astonished to see the great village where their forefathers lived. He was more wonder-struck to see the great Siva temple which was in ruins.

Sri Anjaneya brought renovation to the great old Siva temple of this Kshetra

On his return, he had described the village and Sri Sarguneswara temple which once their forefathers were hereditary Trustees before it was taken over by HR&D.

This prompted Dr. Sri V. Krishnamurthi and his brother to visit the village Karuveli- their root. Once in the kshetra and saw the plight of the temple and village they took a decision to renovate the temple of Sri Sarguneswara and Sri Sarvanga Sundari.

Sri Anjaneya of this kshetra had done a great job of showing/ bringing the brothers to their roots. And more great job of renovating the huge/ very huge Siva temple of this kshetra.

Wherever He is He is a dasa, a great pious dasa.

Sri Rama connection to this kshetra

This kshetra has another connection with Sri Rama. It is said that one of their [brothers] forefathers by the Sri Rama Krishna Sarma was a great Sri Rama bhakta. He was blessed by none other than Sri Lakshman himself with the ‘Sankarshana Mantra’. He used to recite ‘Srimath Ramayana’ in the ‘navagam’ inside the temple. On one such recitation, while he was reading ‘Sri Vamana Avathara’ in Bala Kandam, he was given darshan by Sri Vamana Himself. The description in Ramayana matched with that of the darshan, he and his associates had. Sri Vamana slowly merged/ amalgamated in the pillar nearby.

Therefore it is no wonder that Sri Rama Bhaktha Hanuman had brought the lost glory to the temple and the village.

During the renovation of this temple great temple of Shiva, a west-facing sannidhi for Sri Anjaneya was added near the Gopuram. Sri Anjaneya is Sanjeeviraya here, holding the mountain in His left hand and in his right hand a gadha. Fully made out of a single white marble stone is a feast to the eyes.

Sri Anjaneya Temple

The Anjaneya Temple of the village is east-facing and had only garbhagraham and a mun mandapam originally, after renovation another mandapam was added in front of the mun mandapam making it convenient for the devotees to assemble for bhajan/special pooja.

Sri Anjaneya of this temple is about two feet tall and seen in the ‘Anjali hasta’ pose. Just behind Sri Anjaneya, the complete Sri Ram Parivar is present. Sri Anjaneya, who has done wonders for this little village, is simply looking for prayers to Thee.

Information Source book:
‘Nalam Tarum Karuveli’ [நலம் தரும் கருவேலி]. Published by Culture and Heritage Trust of Karuveli

 

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SRI HANUMAN THINKS DIFFERENTLY, THINKS FAST
THINKS AHEAD AND ACTS FOR SURE

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Ed [February 2013]
Updates: [Jan 2025]

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