Skip to main content

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.

Labels:
Location: Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anjaneyar Temple - Gerugambakkam, Porur

 Very recently we came to know about the Anjaneyar temple built by actor Arjun is at Gerugambakkam. On a Sunday evening we drove towards this place. We need to detour from the Kundrathur main road to reach this temple and from then on we need to face a rough and patchy road. In just 5 minutes one can reach the temple. A small residential street leads to the temple. Very near it one could see few small stalls mushroomed up to sell pooja items. The vehicles have to be parked in the street near the temple gates. First is the corridor were few trees are seen.  On taking left is the entrance to the temple and you can see the Lord Anjaneyar much ahead. Here too are few trees uniformly spaced out. There is a coconut farm adjacent to this temple. There is a shelter above Lord Anjaneyar, but for that it is a open air temple. Facing Lord Anjaneyar and to the left and right corner are two shrines - one for Lord Ganesh and the other for Lord Anjaneyar's - Lord Rama, Lord Lakshmana and God...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aadi koozh vaarthal

Aadi koozh vaarthal is a religious occasion for most Tamil house holds. In the month of Aadi raagi koozh is served to all thirsty people around the neighborhood. Koozh is prepared and offered to Amman followed by the distribution. While offering koozh there are also other heathly eatables included in the Padayal.  The koozh preparation starts a day earlier. Rice is cooked first and raagi flour mixed in water is added to it and cooked till ragi gives a glazed look to the koozh. This is then left over night to ferment. The next day water is added to the koozh to get a drinking consistency. To this we add finely chopped onions as topping and curd to give that cooling effect. Once the koozh is all set we go about the padayal to the almighty Amman. Aadi, the Tamil month solely dedicated to Amman is for celebrating her and her kindness to her devotees. So we first offer the koozh to her in the Padayal followed by white rice and other items. The USP of Aadi koozh is that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mannargudi - Day 2

On the next day at Mannargudi, we had an early start. After having tea through room service we left to the  Rajagopalaswamy temple. The temple gopuram can be seen at a large distance as the from the space was allocated for parking. Early morning we could see only 2 cars before us. After paying the parking fee we went inside the temple. Due to the maintenance work we were devoid of enjoying the beauty of the temple gopurams. We got to see the temple's famous elephant - Sengamalam as soon as we got in. This temple is called as south Dwaraka, there is small Krishna statue inside which we can worship by taking in our hands.  The main deity Lord Vasudevaperumal is seen here along with his cow. Next to his the baby Krishna idol which can we worshipped by devotees for their special prayers. We had a good darshan of the Perumal. Had theertham, jadaari and then walked towards the Goddess. The consort of Lord Rajagopalaswamy is Goddess Sengamala Thaayar. We had a very peaceful...
Post a Comment
Read more