Home turns temple for Saligram worship

Chennai: Worshipping Saligram is an age-old custom in India and most invariably several pooja rooms in the country are adorned with at least one Saligram. But can there be 1,286 Saligrams at one place? “They are equivalent to the 108 Divya Desams and I worship them daily,” says V. Murali an employee of CPCL and resident of Perambur. He has almost converted his house in Chinniah New Colony into a temple and also has 10,080 Rudrakshas in his possession.

“These Saligrams represent Sri Jagannath, Baladev and Subadhra are similar to the Saligrams found in Puri Jagannath Temple,” he says pointing to the two huge Saligrams. And that’s not all. There are Saligram representing Lord Narasimha, Lord Hayagriva and Narayana too. Saligram is mostly a black holy stone found in Gandaki river and Muktinath in Nepal and there are also various types of Saligram associated with different names and incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

His passion for worshipping Saligram took him nearly a decade to possess 1,286 Saligrams, which he claims have come into his treasured possession. What makes this ‘unique temple’ complete is that there is a large-sized Maragatha Lingam and Maragatha Vinayakar carved out of single jade each. Also, the Omkareshwar Lingam (a monolithic stone) with three eyes (Trinetra) and Yagnopavitham (sacred thread) further evokes piety to the ‘sanctity.’

Mr  Murali who runs two trusts  Kalaalayam (for educating the downtrodden) and Dharma Sanjeevinee Bhavanam (for Dharmic revival)  has adopted three Gosalas at Govindapuram near Kumbakonam containing 500 cows, Thiruvalankadu accommodating 250 cows and another in Moolaikaraipatti with 160 cows.