On our last and forth day day at Trichy we planned to get the darshan of Uchipillaiyar and start homeward journey as early as possible to reach Chennai before the Sunday evening traffic jam,
Wanted to visit the temple and then get back for breakfast but the hotel staff suggested otherwise as the Uchipillaiyar temple visit will take around 1-1.5 hours. So had a quick breakfast at 7:30 AM and left in a auto for Rs. 70 to Rockford. We were taken directly to the entrance from were we can start climbing towards the temple. We had already visited Lord Manicka Vinayagar the previous while we came for shopping.
As we started climbing the stairs, was a bit scared whether we can make up to Lord Pillaiyar but his blessings were with us. Not all steps are of same size, shape or height. After climbing up 75% of the total steps we take left towards Thaayumanavar temple. If one takes the right here, we will head to the Pillaiyar temple right on top.
Lord Shiva is called by Thaayumanavar here and his consort is Goddess Mattuvar Kuzhalammai. As the story goes, Lord Shiva came down to help a girl in labor disguised as her mother and hence called Thaayumanavar. We have climb few steps to get into this cave temple to get Thaayumanavar's blessing. Further inside is Goddess Mattuvar Kuzhalammai. We had her darshan in a yellow sari showering her mercy. Here one can see the gopuram top of the temple downstairs.
As this is a caver temple on the hill top. The temple is under the Archaeological department.
We climbed down the steps and out of the Thaayumanavar temple to main staircase we deviate towards the stairs taking us to Lord Pillaiyar. Climbing the remaining steps is a bit tricky as the stairs are different. The last 8-10% of the steps are in open air, smaller in height and width too. Finally as we enter Uchipillaiyar's inner sanctum we are blown away by the God and the mountain breeze. We worshipped him and sat there for few minutes then took in the view of the city of Trichy from a height of about 82 meters from sea level. We could see the river, the bridge on the river, the other tall buildings - church and Srirangam Rajagopuram.
Climbing down was difficult compared to climbing up. But with Uchipillaiyar having given his blessings we could make this too. Came back all the way up to NSB and took an auto for Rs. 70 to our accommodation. On the way we bought a baked clay pot for Rs.150 as a remembrance of Trichy.
Our backward journey started as soon as we completed our check-out at around 10 AM. The hotel staff were good, friendly and took care of us well. The only issue we saw was in putting up the food bills together for final settlement. Our consistent drive took a break nearing Chennai due to the paalar bridge work and hence made it by 5 PM. Over all a wonderful trip!
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