Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Thenkasi, Kasi Viswanathar temple- Tirunelveli disrict - Tamil Nadu

 If Benares is Kasi of North , it is Tenkasi,   Kasi of South where Lord Siva resides to bless His devotees on the banks of river Chitraru. Worshipping Lord here is considered to be equal to that of worshipping him in Benares.

This temple has a  magnificent  tower that stands 180 feet tall and is visible from kilometres away. This temple is in Tiruvenlveli district of Tamilnadu and is 5 kms from the tourist spot Coutrallam which is famous for its waterfalls having medicinal properties.

The huge coutryard in front of the temple has lush green grass and in the background of the temple we see the Podighai hills full of herbs and medicinal plants. A  mandapam, leads one inside the main temple. Inside the sanctum resides the main deity Kasi Viswanathar , a huge  Sivalingam of exceptional grace and beauty.This is a swayambhu Lingam. The well decked up Lingam  would mesmerise any one . It is total surrender we feel when we are in front of  the Lord of the Universe.  The tranquillity inside renders supreme happiness. Siva's consort  here is known as Ulgammal. The Amman shrine is to the left of the Siva's shrine. There are shrines for Vinayagar and  for Subramanya in the inner prakaram of the temple. Each pillar is adorned with excellent sculptures of Gods and Godesses and of Pandya kings who were patrons of the temple.

The legend is that a Pandya king wished to go the North Kasi to worship Siva there. But Lord appeared to him in his dream and asked him to build a temple to avoid the long journey . He was advised to follow a group of ants and next day he did so and found a swayambhulingam . It is believed that this is the Lingam what we see in the temple now.

How to reach
Tirunelveli is the biggest rail head nearby own nearby which has good  hotel facilities. Tenkasi also has a railway station. This is a small town and is at a distance  of 50 kms. from Tirunelveli.

Pictures in this link
https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipPO5XlJLcxmeQPGAgpF7-BDptAGIlJGPu2pPUCr






25 comments:

R. Ramesh said...

another gr8 post..congrats chitraji:)

chitra said...

Thanks You Rameshji...

Mridula said...

Lovely pictures Chitra liked the third one a lot and also the close up of the idols.

chitra said...

Thanks a lot Mridula.

Bhagyashree said...

The carvings are amazing. Whenever I see a temple I am amazed at the skill of our artisans. Wonderful. Do you know Venkatraman temple of Mangalore has been renovated, You should see it know, its awesome

chitra said...

Bhagya,
I visited Venkataramana temple exactly 2 years ago. I am going to Goa this month end via Mlore.. If possible would love to visit the temple again.

Martina said...

Hi Chitra - and thanks for visiting! I was so busy lately i didn't blog so much as usual. I hope you are well and arew having a great time. Loveliy images here, as usual!

Abhilash Pillai said...

Hi Chitra,

Swami sharanam!
Tenkashi... heard about it but did not know that it has such a history. Now the question is how I heard about this... tenkashi pattanam... remember? :)

The pics are good. Thanks for sharing it.

Oh my Dior! said...

that is a beautiful video!!

http://www.ohmydior.org/

chitra said...

Thanks Martina for the visit and comment.

chitra said...

Abhi, athe..thenkasi thanne...It's is near Coutrallam...a place frequented by Kerala tourists..

chitra said...

OMD, thanks you so much...

P.N. Subramanian said...

Amazing!. I am intrigued as to why many of the temples have very large areas around them with a high protecting walls. I need to station myself in Thirunelveli next time.

chitra said...

Most of the temples are like forts.May be it is sort of protecting the precious monuments and its valuable items. I am sure you'll enjoy T'vly visit ,there are numerous temples around. You can enjoy Coutrallam too.

StarTraci said...

The courtyard sounds lovely and I love the story about following the ants. Thanks for sharing (I'm glad to see you back on-line!)

:-)
Traci

chitra said...

Thanks Traci, I am also very hapy. trying my beast to be active and enjoying it too.

Felicity Grace Terry said...

How did I manage to miss this post? The figures adorning the building are simply wonderful, if I were ever to visit here I'm sure I could spend the day just marvelling at them.

chitra said...

PW,thanks. Happy you could land now.

sm said...

kashi of south
beautiful pics

Anya said...

Love it..
thanks for sharing :)

hugs Kareltje =^.^= Betsie >^.^<

chitra said...

sm
thanks .

chitra said...

Anya, I was thinking about you and as we didn't meet each other for a long time. I am happy to see you.

sushmitha said...

Thanks for sharing :)

Ramasudha said...

Superb pictures.Its an amazing temple like Rameswaram & Madhura Meenakshi

Chitra said...

Thanks Ramasudha..it's indeed.