Adi Keshava Perumal Temple -Tiruvattar, Kanyakumari District

 Do you know, there is a temple dedicated to Anantha Padmanabha Swamy in Tiruvattar, Kanyakumari district similar to the one in Thiruvananthapuram.     Lord here is  known as Adikesava Perumal  and is believed to be very much more older than the Padmanabha Swamy of Thiruvanthapuram.

This temple was part of Kerala and was under Travancore kings but presently it is part of Tamilnadu  after State reorganization. This is one of the 108 divyadesham of Vishnu, Nammalwar has sung hymns in praise of Lord Adi Kesava here. Legend  also says that Lord  killed the demon Kesi and came to be known as Adi Kesava .There is lot of resemblance in pooja rituals of Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruvattar temples.

 Known as the Dakshina Vaikuntam,  one has to view the Lord through three dwaras akin to the Padmanabha temple.  it is said that both deities are reclining on Adisesha in respective temples  facing each other . This temple is surrounded by 3 rivers Pahrli, Kodhai and Tamirabharani,

One can view the  Lord; the saligrama sila only with the help of oil lamps in the sanctum and one may get a better view if one can have darshan from the raised platform outside  the sanctum. The Panchloha idols  were being worshipped outside and  we  could have beautiful darshan.

The temple is  a magnificent edifice and is on an elevated ground. One has to climb a few steps to reach the temple. The temple corridors on all four sides are lined on either side with  granite  pillars.

Beautiful murals and sculptures  from our puranas  decorate the walls and interior.  There is huge dwajasthambam as this a Mahakshetram and there is small shrine for Tiruvambadi Krishna. One can enter and exit the temple through East or West gate. 

Tiruvattar is a village panchayat and is 6 kms form Marthandam  in Kanyakumari district.

The temple surroundings are serene and very  clean. The peace and quiet one feels during the visit was a added blessing. 

Dress code -women can wear saris/chudidhars. Men can enter the inner precincts of the temple without shirts just like any Kerala temple. Those who plan  Kaniyakumari can definitely add this in their itinerary.

No Photography allowed inside the temple .

A few pictures from my recent visit.

                                                                   Western Gopuram

                                                                 Front side of the temple

                                                            Eastern Gopuram

                                                             The Banyan tree with Nagas 

                                                                         The main temple

Aadikesava Perumal Peyalwar Tirukoil , Mylapore, Chennai

Adikesava Perumal  Peyalwar temple is situated near Chitrakulam in Mylapore.

It is one among the 108 divyadesam and this temple along with Tiruvellikeni is considered as one divyadesam.

This temple is believed to be 5000 years old and also  believed to be in existence from dwaparayuga though it has undergone renovations many times.

This is the birth place of Peyalwar; one of the first 3  Alwars ( saints)of the 12 Alwars

In the sanctum of the main temple there is the beautiful idol of  Adi Kesavaperumal ( Lord Vishnu). Facing the God is Garudar sannidhi and dwajasthambha.

 His consort Mayurvalli thayar  blesses all the devotees from a separate shrine.Here at this sacred place Peyalwar received blessings from Thayar. On her advice he worshiped Kesava Perumal here.Every Friday a special worship known as  Vilvarchanai is performed to the Goddess  Mayuravalli  by devotees and she makes everyone happy by granting their wish.

Andal is also enshrined within the complex  and there are also idols of Alwars here.

It is also believed that Sri Rama while returning from Lanka got attracted to this place and stayed here for sometime before returning to Ayodhya.

Poigai Alwar and Booththa alwar also sang mangalsanams ( hymns)to Lord here.

Peyalwar goes in a procession to Tiruvellikeni during Tamil  month of Purattasi , and enters the sanctum there, offers worship there by singing hymns.

 More details can be found here about the temple.

One needs special permission to use camera.

I have just a couple of pictures.

Please refer the link for more pictures.

                                    
                                            

Ardanareeshwara Temple -Tiruchengode

Ardanareeshwara temple is situated in Tirunchengode atop a hill which is 1900 feet above sea level. From Namakkal it is only about a 45 minutes ride so we decided to visit this temple also. There are 1200 steps to climb this hill or there is a beautifully paved motorable road . We went by the road and with in a few minutes we were on top of the hill.We reached the temple around 3 p.m and thought we may have to wait for another 1 hour or so as most of the temples gets closed around 12 noon and open only at 4 p.m . We were surprised to see that the temple was open as the timing there was from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. We went around this ancient temple also called as padal petra sthalam or Siva sthalam , meaning the great saint Thiru Gnana Sambandar had sung hymns about the Lord of this temple.

The temple was looking neat and clean as it had undergone a recent renovation. All the pillars and sculptures were shining with protective coat of paint and the floor was relaid with granite. There is a tall gopuram on the Northern side of the temple and I could see the image of Aadisesha carved in the outer prakaram of the temple. The main deity here is Mathoru Paagar Ardhanareeshwarar, half Siva and half Parvati . Behind the sanctum sanctorum there is a temple dedicated to Sengottu Velavar ( Murugan ) which is also famous here. There is a separate shrine here for Aadikeshava perumal who had asked Parvati to perform the Kedara Gowri vritham to unite with Siva . There is another shrine for Nagalingam and there are also Navagrahas here. The main deity that of Ardha nareeshawara is about 6-7 feet tall and was dressed on one side like a man and other side like a woman with jada and dandu on left hand representing Siva and manglayam and silk saree on the right representing Parvathi.

The Utsavar is also quite tall and is kept in an enclosure and we could have a close view of that. We could see the main deity only with the light of aarthi as there is no illumination inside the sanctum sanctorum. As the temple was not crowded we did get a good darshan.

This temple is only 18 Kms from Erode and 32 Kms. from Namakkal. The nearest airport is again Trichy and the nearest railway station is Erode itself.

Buses ply from Salem, Erode and Namakkal to this place.

This place is famous for Engineering colleges as nearly 3-4 colleges are around this town. There are decent accommodation and restaurants should one care to spend a day over here.