At the crowded Azhagu Muthu Azhagar Siddhar temple in Thennampakkam village in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district, miniatures of various kinds — from cars, motorbikes, lorries, multi-storeyed houses, to statuettes donning the uniforms of lawyers, soldiers, police officers, and doctors — are placed under the shade of large banyan trees and stone apple trees. Thousands of these “dolls”, which outnumber devotees in the temple at any given point, are a form of physical manifestation of people’s wishes, presented as votive offerings supposedly after their wishes come true.
Located around 20 kilometres from Puducherry, the temple is believed to be about 300 years old. Tracing the significance and folklore of the temple, Kumar, the seventh-generation priest, says about four centuries back, Azhagar Swamy Siddhar, an old pious man, turned up at the village and stayed beneath a banyan tree. Villagers believed that his prayers andprasadamcured their ailments.
It is said that a couple who had been married for 15 years and wished to have a child offered prayers at the temple. The woman got pregnant in a few months. Appearing in her dream, the Siddhar asked the couple to leave a baby doll at the temple, says the priest. The tradition has been continuing ever since.
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