My trip to Tirunelveli (In December 2008)…

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In December 2008, visited to Tiruchendur and Tirunelveli town along with my mother. There is no direct train to Tiruchendur that time, so we boarded Pearl City express and reached Tuticorin. From there we boarded a bus to Tiruchendur. The bus was stopped near the temple. (Only few buses go up to the temple) Near the temple, lot of the accommodation facilities (Devasthanam Lodges) is arranged by Temple administration. (Rent Rs. 80 to 150). There are private lodges also available. We refreshed in our room and in the afternoon went to the temple for darshan.

Tiruchendur Temple

Thiruchendur temple is dedicated to Lord Muruga and it’s one of the six adobes of Lord Muruga. In the temple premises, the priests are standing outside and asking the devotees, if you want quick and good darshan I will arrange it, please give me Rs. 100 per person for that. Actually if you want to do pooja to the lord and for special entry, you have to take ticket from temple counter, but these people are bye pass this and the money goes to their pockets. 

Saravana Poigai

Many visitors are following these peoples as they want quick darshan and temple administration is not caring this. Temple was not kept clean and full of sand around the walk way, may be due to the seashore is nearby. After darshan, in the evening we went to the nearby beach. Lot of people was taking bath in the sea. In Tiruchendur, it is said, to take bath in Saravanapoykai (சரவணபொய்கை), Naazi Kinaru (நாழி கிணறு) and sea is auspicious. We didn’t take bath as there was lot of crowd and moreover we took bath in lodge itself. But we sprinkled the water on our head as it was auspicious. 

On the evening we went to Kulasekarapattinam (20-30 minute bus journey from Thiruchendur), it was known for Mutharamman temple. Dussera festival is celebrated in this temple very grand manner next to Mysore. This is a seashore town. It was a port city in the past. During the festival of Dussera, there will be thousands of people throng around the coast. During this festival people worship the goddess doing with make-up like different idols. We returned from Kulasai to our Lodge in Thiruchendur by night and had dinner.

Kulasekarapattinam

In Tiruchendur, morning Sunrise is worth to see. We went to the seashore the next day at 6.00 in the morning, but the sky was cloudy, so we couldn't see the sunrise.

Krishnapuram Statues

Krishnapuram temple

After that we vacated our room and boarded a bus to Tirunelveli by 7.00am. (90 minute bus journey from Tiruchendur -14 rupees). We reached Tirunelveli by 9.00am and after breakfast, we visited Krishnapuram temple. (It was located in Tirunelveli - Tiruchendur route, 20-30 minute journey from the Tirunelveli new bus station). We reached the temple by 12.00 and the main gate was closed (Temple is open from 5 am to 11.30am and in the evening 5 pm to 8 pm).

Krishnapuram Statues

There was a temple watchman he took us inside the temple using a small wicket gate. In the temple we saw sculptures carved in the 16th century, the sculptures are carved very elegantly. He shown the sculptures and explained about that. Movements of the dancing woman, gypsy woman kidnapping Rajkumar by put on her shoulder, Arjuna penance, gypsy man  kidnapping Rajkumari put on the shoulder, Ramba, Rathi, Cupid, Purusamirugam(Half man and half animal) fighting with Bhima statues are beautifully carved. Each of these is carved in pillars very elegantly. In the Statues it was very clear that, well embossed nerves, knee bone structure, finger nails are carved very elegantly. It was worth to see. But we couldn’t see the main deity of the temple. We gave some tips to the watchman and we returned from there to Tirunelveli by afternoon. 

Krishnapuram Statues

We had lunch at Tirunelveli and in the evening we visited a temple  in Thirunelveli named Nellaiappar Temple. It was very huge and built in the heart of the Tirunelveli town. This temple was built in 7th Century by the Pandiya Kings. Tirunelveli was the capital in Pandiya Kings period. There is a reason behind the name Tirunelveli name. When we asked about the temple, elders said,

Once upon a time there lived a poor Brahman named Veda Sharma. He is the greatest devotee of Shiva. He will beg every day from the town and from the begging, he will offer prasadam to God. One day he was drying the Rice in the open, which was gained from begging. Then all of a sudden rain started and the rice was going to be washed away. The Brahman prayed god to protect the rice and God have mercy on him and stood like safety fence around it for defence.  The name of the place derived from – God protected Rice and stood like the fence (Thiru-Nel-Veli). The God name known as Nellaiappar and the Goddess name Ganthimathi (meaning is shining moon).

This temple is 850 feet long and 756 feet wide big. The Pond and Mandapam are beautiful in the temple. In the month of October, in 1000 Column Hall Shiva and Parvathi wedding ceremony will take place. In the May month, May festival to be held very grand in Vasantha Mandapam. Another hall here at the temple, in which there are 48 pillars. Each pillar sounds into different music. The Nandhi in the temple looks big as in Thanjavur and Rameswaram. 

This temple is associated with many historical heroes. In the south eastern corner of the temple premises, a small Siva temple is there, the deity is called Anavaratha Lingam. Some time back one of the Nawab's wife who was suffering from chronic disease and the king asked the Brahmans for solution, they said offer prayer and worship God Nellaiyappar. The Queen has done so, surprisingly, the Muslim Queen’s disease was cured and a beautiful male child was also born. They named the child as Anavaratha Khan. In terms of the memory of the incident, a small temple was built in a corner. So the Lord was called as Anavaratha Lingam. From the outside of the temple, a small way created in the outer wall of the temple against the shrine as his son and Navab’s worshiping. 

Nellaiappar Temple

After finishing darshan, we had dinner. Alwa is famous in Tirunelveli and the iruttu kadai alwa is very famous there. We didn’t bought alwa as we are already running late.  We boarded Nellai Express in the evening and reached Chennai the next day morning. The Journey ends…