Aarudra Darisanam also called Thiruvadirai festival very important to all in Tamilnadu among Shaivite devotees.

It is an important Tamil festival in Marghazhi month and is the celebration of Lord Shiva s birthday . A celebration of the cosmic dance a Celestial spectacle celebrating the five divine acts.. Creation, protection, dissolution, embodiment, bestowment of grace . The festival celebrates the Cosmic dance of Lord Shiva signifying everyone and everything is in motion and continuous movement in the universe.

The vibrant cosmic dance of Shiva represents the continuous creation and destruction cycle and it is acted out in all Shiva Temples on this day.

The divine nakshatram. Aarudra or Thiruvadirai is considered highly auspicious as it is the star of Lord Shiva. This day also coincides with Pournami . The celestial dance is acted out in Chidambaram Shiva temple. This is also the longest night of Margazhi the Tamil. Month .

It is essentially a Shaivite festival and celebrates the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva, which is represented by the Nataraja form. Arudhra signifies the golden red flame and Shiva performs in the form of this red-flamed light.

Arudra denotes a Red Flame.Lord Shiva has also a name called "Semporjyoti" or "Golden Red Flame". It is in the form of light the lord performs his function of five activities which are Creation.

With the Vedic chants resonating on this day , the un manifested , boundless energy emanating from Lord Shiva is magnificent and a day to connect with the Supreme power invoking and rekindling the dormant energy in oneself. This is a day to be with oneself and Him .

Temples perform non stop poojas, and homam from early hours of the day and devotees throng Shiva temples to be recharged and rouse the dormant energy in themselves by taking part in the archanas and chantings., taking part in the religious homam or the fire rituals.

A fire ritual homam is performed to lord shiva and his other form Lord Vaithyanatha swamy who is the healer or the doctor for the common man’s ailments . To relieve oneself from various doshas devotees particularly take part in these rituals to absolve the selves from various obstacles.

The star Aarudra is ruled by Rahu so praying to Godesses Vasuki the serpent ) will lessen the Rahu ketu afflictions in the birth chart

This day is highly auspicious as it is the day when Lord Shivas divine power is closest to Earth so devotees take benefit from this day by taking part in various temple rituals .

In Chidambaram abhishekam for the Lord on Thiruvadhirai day in Margazhi will be performed in a grand manner and the devotees are offered KALI as prasadham.Obtaining the prasadam , is attainment of bliss through the Lord.

Prasadam prepared on this day is Kali and Kootu.

Story behind why Kali is given as Prasadham :

A devotee named Sendanar had the habit of eating food after offering it to Lord and then distribute among other devotees . He would partake only the leftover food.t.On the day of Thiruvadirai, due to constant bad weather he couldn't get any essential items for preparing a proper meal and offering to God.He had no other option but to mix water with rice flour and prepare a mashed paste.

Lord Shiva understood his predicament. He wanted the people to know how sincere his devotee was to him. He disguised himself as a Shiva devotee and enjoyed what was given to him as food. And as he stood for a while in the Nataraja Sanctorum,The Lord Showered the Kali all over the premises , in recognition of his deep devotion. Since that day of this miracle Kali is offered as prasadam to the Lord in the temple. .

Legend Behind Arudhra darisanam :

Once when Mahaa Vishnu was lying down on the great Serpent Adhi sesha, Adhi sesha felt Mahaa Vishnu was quite heavy .. He asked Mahaa Vishnu what was the reason. Mahaa Vishnu said that he was remembering and enjoying the ecstatic Dance of Lord Shiva. This answer ignited the desire in Adhi seesha to see the Great Dance of Lord Shiva. He asked Mahaa Vishnu how his desire could be fulfilled. Mahaa Vishnu asked him to go to Chidambaram and perform "tapas"./penance. Adhi seesha came to Chidambaram and prayed the Lord for a long time.

Another devotee of Lord Shiva , called Viyaagra paadha. He prayed to God to get the paws of tiger, so that he could pluck flowers early in the morning before any one could, to offer to the God. He was also praying God to see the famed Dance for a long time.

Pleased with their prayer the Lord appeared on the Thiruvaadhirai day and danced in Chidambaram . The Nataraaja image of the Lord is prayed with great devotion this day.

The prasadam called Thiruvadhirai kali is made of rice, jaggery, moong dhall, coconut, cardamom and ghee with Thiruvathirai ezhu ( 7 vegetables ) curry koottu, that is cooked and served on this day. Vegetables like pumpkin, ash gourd,plantain, field beans, sweet potato,colocasia, potato, eggplant etc.

Lord Shiva is worshiped as the cosmic Dance form or the dancing deity Lord Nataraja who is also the presiding deity at Chidambaram the Shiva temple , One of the pancha boothams representing ether one of the pancha sthalas .

It is one of the five holiest Shiva temples each representing one of the five natural elements.

Chidambaram represents Aaakash( ether) , Thiruvannaamalai Arunachaleshwar represents fire, Thiruvanikaaval Jambukeswara Trichy, represents water , KaalahastiNathar represents wind at Kaalahasti ., Kaanchipuram Ekaambareswar represents Earth.

sources..wiki,

Delicious Thiruvadirai Kali , my most fav festival and poojai even more than Pongal or Diwali .

The Neivediyam is simplicity with just a jaggery rice lentil concoction of a consistency that no one can find fault with .

From beginners to the versatile chefs , the Kali is like something sweet dumped on a plate garnished with nuts and a drizzle of ghee if one wishes . That is where the beauty lies ! This simple plain dish when paired with a veggie laden kootu or Kuzhambu as may be the custom , transforms magically into an exquisite dish !

I regret that as a kid I would be roused early from bed in cold harsh winters ( in North ) to bathe and take part in the early morning poojai and the reward that followed , a plantain leaf served with Kali and kootu , the disgruntled look on our faces for having been tossed out of our warm beds would vanish immediately when the first spoon of Kali mixed with hot kootu some extra ghee touched the tongue . It was worth it !

This eagerness has continued now for decades and I look forward to the early hours to prepare the blessed Neivediyam. Whatever aches and pains I have magically disappear when I enter the kitchen after a bath in the wee hours and get down to cooking with gusto .

This year I prepared the yummiest Kali with Thinai millets and moong dal ( 3 tbsp ) the texture and consistency was amazing . With my FIL s stamp of approval I didn’t need any other opinion . He’s the old school who believes in following recipes to the T

Every year on the night before the festival , he would have roasted and powdered the necessary kali ingredients in advance , in a dabba and all required vegetables cut to perfect chunks , even all the required spices laid out and I would find cooking such a breeze now in his 90 plus years he is still vigilant that I don’t forget the big day on such days I do miss the presence of elders around .

Below in the collage , i had prepared Thiruvadirai kali and Thalagam with a change . Used roasted powdered samba rava and moong dal to make a delicious Kali with palm jaggery

Ezhukari kootu / Ezhu thaan kootu / 7 veg kootu

Another special mixed vegetables gravy dish also prepared and served along with the Kali is the Ezhukari kootu which means a gravy prepared using preferably 7 native vegetables usually available during the winter months.

This is a very tasty dish using so many vegetables and imparts a great flavor to the dish . Easy to prepare and very nutritious as Mong dal is added to the dish. Some parts of Tamilnadu prepare the Kuhambu using 5 or 7 vegetables and the preparation differs. However we are used to preparing the kootu using the recipe given below.Both the preparations are tasty in their own ways.

Some of the vegetables used in this dish are the yellow pumpkin, ash gourd, field beans, broad beans, sweet potatoes, yam,colocassia and green plantains..

Ingredients:

1/2 cp Moong dal ( paasi parupp) ( optional )

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

To Grind

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut

5 small green chillies, reduce if you like a less spicy gravy.

1 tsp rice flour to be added at the end to thicken the gravy.

For tempering

2 or 3 tsp coconut oil or ordinary cooking oil.

1 tsp mustard seeds

sprigs of curry leaves.

Method :

Peel the skins of colacassia, sweet potatoes, green plaintain, ash gourd, yellow pumpkin, peel the fresh field beans, string the broad beans and cube all the vegetables to slightly bigger pieces.

Keep the moong dal coked and ready, keep aside.

Cook all the cubed vegetables with turmeric , little salt and some curry leaves in little water just enough to cook the vegetables. While they are cooking, grind the coconut, green chillis, cumin seeds to a fine paste and keep aside.

When the vegetables are cooked , add the cooked moong dal, and the ground coconut paste to the gravy and give a stir.

Add the rice flour to the gravy to thicken. Adjust the taste for salt.

Finally temper with 3 tsp of coconut oil heated in a pan, add the mustard seeds , let it crackle, add some sprigs of curry leaves and pour the seasoning over the simmering gravy.Usually this special Ezhu kari kootu or koootu made with 5 vegetables during Thiruvadirai with Kali , a sweet jaggery rice and moong dal preparation similar to upma.This gravy with many vegetables is also prepared during Pongal.

Check this video from my youtube channel for another variation of the kali and kootu

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