2/22/2020
It was one of the long-hauled hikes. Due to its unavailability on days other than Full Moon Day and No Moon Day and proximity to my hometown I couldn’t plan easily. I had to be there in Madurai around that time otherwise I don’t feel like going to Madurai and just visiting Sadhuragiri without going to my relative’s place. Finally, during an extended weekend which happened around No Moon Day I was able to visit the place.
We started early morning around 4 so that we could start our trek soon. Got cab immediately from home to Matuthavani Bus Stand. From there again we got on bus to Virudhunagar and got down at Krishnan Kovil stop like 'n' number of people going for Sadhuragiri. As previous night was Siva Rathri there wasn't much crowd in the bus. Most of them would have trekked the previous night.
After having a bad tea in the bus stop, we took another bus to Thaanipaarai, the base to the Sadhuragiri. There were lot of share autos plying but as it'd be uncomfortable, we resorted to bus option. We got the front seats with great view. The travel till Thaani Paarai was lovely.
We could see a lot of people near there. There were a number of Annadhanam centres too at the base but as it was only around 8 AM we thought we'd start with the trek without eating. We weren't feeling very hungry. We had to get entrance ticket to enter the forest. It was for five rupees. We got it and started our walk. We kept brisk pace and didn't stop anywhere for more than five minutes.
Within five minutes we reached Sangili Parai, it was just a small rock tied by a chain, thus the name. On the other side there was water till knee. We crossed it easily and then it was gradual ascent. I think at some point there was a small lingam on the side which we visited and then straight to Vazhuku Paarai, which again wasn't anything terrifying, just a careful walk would set us in other side.
From there we went straight to Sundara Mahalingam, had great darshan of slanting lingam which felt great. Smeared my forehead with sacred ash and had lunch. Both homemade and the one we got at Annadhanam. It felt great. We then proceeded to Sandhana Mahalingam and got a huge sandal paste on head. Together we spent around an hour there. I guess the climb took 2-3 hours.
We proceeded down post that. Had Sarbath and Thaen Mittai in a shop, got a brief shower and then we bought Sambrani in one of the numerous shops. Otherwise we didn't stop much. We distributed whatever snacks, cool drinks we had to people who were climbing up. It felt good. The sun started scorching so we hurried as much as possible and came down in a couple of hours.
I ate Annadhanam again but wife didn't. She didn't like eating it more than once. We got bus in few minutes and boarded it. Drank a Palm Fruit Juice which the locals said was not original. From Krishnan Kovil, buses to Madurai were crowded so had to stand for half the distance, so couldn't sleep. Even after getting a seat it was uncomfortable. So, I couldn't sleep the whole distance.
Once we came back to Matuthavani we got cab to our place and came home by 5 PM, to everyone's surprise. It was a day well spent.
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