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Christmas holiday trip 6 - Tirunelveli

On Friday we set out to Tirunelveli which is 75 kms from Sankarankoil. This seems to be quiet a happening place.  We went straight to the Nellaiappar Temple. This temple seem have come into existence in the Pandyas era and the later kingdoms have contributed to the structures of the now standing temple. This is quiet a large temple and similar to the other temples we have been visiting in this trip - each God in this temple has their own separate shrine.







Here also there were many devotees from Sabarimala pilgrimage in the temple and we had wait in long queue. Lord Nellaiyappar in the form of Lingam could be worshipped very near to the shrine. As we go around the corridor of this Lord we see intricate stone work around the temple and prasadams being made, We have then move to the next shrine which is quiet far away with just a small path connecting us to the Goddess Gandhimathiamman. We could worship her in a yellow saree with eyes full of mercy. On the way we can see many different types of Lingams along the corridor. Next was the shrine of Lord Murugar where you can worship him with all six faces. The priest at the Lord Murugar temple explained to us the unlike the temples in the north of Tamilnadu the temples here are huge and have separate temples for each God within the campus. It would take more time to cover the whole temple as there are numerous shrines and each architecture differs with reference to the kingdom they belong to. One should allocate at least a day to go around this temple.





Just opposite to this temple is the famous Iruttukadai halwa kadai, in the evening there was a small queue in this shop. We could buy the sweet to take back home. The snacks sold here are also different and has a good taste due to the Thamirabarani river. The Tirunelveli city is on the river banks of Thamirabarani. Good time spent her but not enough. Nellaiappar Temple was a memorable one.




On the next Saturday we left Sankarankoil by 5:30 AM and reached Chennai by 5 PM with breaks for food only. On the whole it was a fulfilling trip.

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Location: Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India

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