The meeting of brothers — divine & human
Sai R Vaidyanathan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 3
The meeting of Lord Rama and Bharat at Chitrakoot forest in the Ramayana remains an eternal example of fraternal love, but there is one such bond that has lasted 25 years and is still going strong.
Two sons of Lord Shiva — Lords Karthikeya and Ayyappa who have huge followings in South India — have been visiting each other twice a year in the North Indian city of Chandigarh.
For the South Indian community from Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the tricity, April is the time of celebration. While the Sree Ayyappa Temple in Sector 47 is celebrating its 27th deity installation day from April 5 to 7, the Sri Karthikeya Swamy Temple in Sector 31 will be holding its silver jubilee celebrations from April 29 to May 7.
“For the 10,000 Malayali families in the region, Lord Ayyappa’s visit to the Sri Karthikeya Swamy Temple is a divine opportunity to meet our brethren from Tamil Nadu,” said Rajeev Kumar, president, Sree Ayyappa Samajam.
“In April, younger brother Ayyappa comes to meet Karthikeya, also lovingly called Lord Murugan. We reciprocate it on Shashti, the sixth lunar day after Diwali,” said S Rajasekaran, general secretary, Lord Murugan Bhakta Samaj (LMBS).
Away from their roots, the two communities have made this land their own. “The 1.5-lakh-strong Tamil people in the tricity also have a temple dedicated to Lord Karthikeya in the Air Force area near Zirakpur. There is a temple for Tirupati Balaji in Panchkula,” said Dr S Ganesan of the LMBS.
“The Malayali Hindu community in the region has temples for Lord Ayyappa at Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Haridwar, besides Delhi,” said Rajeev Kumar.
