Karaikudi and Nearby Temples

Pillaiyarpatti KarpagaVinayagar temple -

Pillaiyarpatti is situated 12 Kms. from Karaikudi which is the prime town of Chettinadu. As there is a famous Pillaiyar temple, the village takes it name as Pillaiyarpatti. The temple is a rock cut temple and the sanctum sanctorum is inside a cave. This temple 1600 years old. This deity is believed to be the benefactor of all the business community and every one from this community apportion a small percentage of their income as their offering to this deity and they also ensure excellent maintenance and up keep of the temple through regular contributions and care. The main deity faces the North and it is considered, a worship here bestows prosperity as he is facing the direction of god of wealth Kubera hence the attraction for the business community.

The mammoth idol of Vinayagar is a bas relief, more than 6 feet in height and is in a sitting posture. The uniqueness of this deity is that it has only two hands compared to the other Vinayagar idols and the trunk is curved to the right and he is known as Valampuri Vinayagar. Another name for this deity is Karpaga Vinayagar. The Sivalingam, Tiruveesar is also a bas relief. Nine lamps always glow around the Vinayagar idol as it is believed to be representing the Navagrahas. The Lord Vinayagar looks magnificient in his golden kavacham and people flock to this temple to seek his blessings.

There is a beautiful temple tank in front of the temple and there is an entrance from the east side also. There is a small shrine outside the temple above a small rock.

Other deities of the temple are Siva, known here as Marundeshwar and his consort Vadamalar Amman. There are niches for Lingodbhavar, Dakshina moorthy, Muruga and Navagrahas. The sthala vriksham is also inside the temple. The small road leading to the temple is lined with shops selling various items related to worship, devotional books and idols of Ganesha made of granite.

The main festival in this temple is Vinayaga chathurthi and during the festival period the temple gets thronged with pilgrims. The Karthigai festival is also very important and special buses ply during these periods to help the pilgrims. On April 1 st also this temple attracts lot of crowd as that is the beginning of the financial year for the business people.

Last two pics.  Pillaiyarpatti idol , pictures courtesy Wikipedia.

Kundrakudi

Enroute to Pillayair patti from Karaikudi 3 Kms before, is a Murugan temple atop a small hillock.This place is called Kundra kudi . One has to climb a fleet of stairs cut in the rock itself to reach the temple. It would take about 10 minutes to reach the top . The temple is about 1000years old and is situated at a height of 200 feet from ground level. The famous violinist Kunnakudi Vaidya nathan hailed from this place.

Then Tirupathi- .Ariyakudi

Ariyakudi is 5 Kms. from the town of Karaikudi is famous for the Venkatchalapathi koil known here as Thiruvenkadamudayian. This temple also very old and was recently renovated. When we went there some special pooja was being conducted to the deity. This is considered to be an important abode of Lord Balaji. It is believed a worship here is equivalent to that of a worship a Lord Balaji at Tirumala and hence it called Then Tirupathi meaning Southern Tirupathi. There is a special Garuda's idol here on the Norther side of the temple known as Kalgarudan. Some pictures which I captured during my recent visit.

Vairavar Koil

Two Kms. from Pillaiyar patti ,on the way to Tirupathur there is a temple dedicated to Lord Vairavar, another incarnation of Lord Shiva. The Vairavar idol is beautiful and is always decorated with a golden kavacham which is around 1000 sovereigns, There are separate shrines for Siva known here as Varalori Nathar and and his consort known as Vadivudai Amman. This temple is small and the ceiling of the temple is painted in myriad colours. Near the entrance of this there a shrine for Vinayagar.

Tirupathur Koil

Thiruthali Nathar Koil is an ancient temple near Tirupathur bus stand. This is on Karaikudi- Madurai route in Sivaganga district. It is 12 Kms. from Pillaiyar patti.This temple is under renovation and here, there is a seperate shrine for Yoga Bhairavar. Of the 64 forms of Bairvar, Yoga Bairavar is considered to be the most important as he is the Moola Bairavar meaning he is the first. All other Bairavar's came off him. We could not approach the Amman sannidhi as it was under renovation. It is believed that sage Valmiki stayed at this place  and also took care of Sita, Rama's wife when she was banished from the kingdom. The Lord  Siva here helped his devotee to win rewards from the king by helping him by composing a poem.



A word about Chettinadu
Chettinadu is famous for Sir Raja Annamalai Chettiyar, Sir Raja Muthiah Chettiar, Dr. Alagappa Chettiar etc. who contributed to their well being of their community and founded many educational institutions like Annamalai University , Alagappa University, A.C.Tech in Karaikudi and Chennai and many schools in Chettinadu and Chennai . Even now the Chettiyars community people who do business in other parts of the country and outside India make it a regular habit to come back to their roots at regular intervals and they have built palatial buildings with best accessories imported and each house is a store house of antiques and arte facts. Most of the houses have open central courtyard with rooms arranged on all four sides. The Chettinadu cuisine is very famous , would be attractive for people who like spicy food. Chettinadu saris are also very famous and is a definite attraction for women.

How to reach Karaikudi

Can be reached from Madurai and Trichy which are at 70 Kms and 82 Kms respectively. Both the cities have airports and railway stations. Karaikudi also has a railway station.

Buses ply from all the towns in Tamil Nadu to Karaikudi and all the above temples are on regular bus routes and are easily reachable.

Karaikudi town has good number of hotels for boarding as well as lodging.

Anjaneyar temple- Anai patti

 This temple is situated near Nilakottai which is 40 Kms from Dindigul. From Nilakottai we had to travel 5 Kms. more to reach the temple of Anjaneya.  We were travelling parallel to the  river Vaigai at times,  only  there was no water in it. But there is a dam near the temple called as Peranai, a regulator constructed by the British.  We had to cross a bridge to reach this Anaipatti (anai meaning dam, patti meaning, village.) an obscure village. The climate was cool and the temple was set in sylvan surroundings. The temple is quite small, no special  architectural splendor as it is normally found in temples around here .

We entered the temple and could see the idol of Anjaneyar inside the sanctum sanctorum, which was about 4 feet tall and was adorned with silk. The eyes were big , the display board mentions the God is watching his devotees with one eye and the other eye is looking at the direction of Ayodhya, Lord Rama's abode. The  hand which carried the Sanjeevani parvath (the hill which he brought  from Himalayas during the Ramayana war) is on his thigh. The tail is ponting upwards.  Though I could not see all the details, the display board gave all the description. When water rises in Vaigai river the idol gets half immersed in water. But when I went, due to lack of rains inside was dry. The archanas are offered to another small deity kept outside the sanctum sanctorum.

At the back side of this sanctum  there is another Hanuman  idol where pilgrims were lighting lamps. It  was windy and it  was difficult to light the lamp but after a  few  futile attempts I could also light one. Outside this temple there is another deity of Vinayagar and of serpent God.

The legend says that when the Pancha Pandavas were in exile Draupadi wanted to drink water and  Yudhishitir the elder brother sends Bheema to fetch the same. Anjaneya intercepts him on his way and an argument ensues between the two  but Bheema is not able to get water. Bheema goes back to Yudhishtira who advises him to  pay respect to Anjaneya and he would oblige . Bheema does as advised and Anjaneya gleefully allows Bheema to take water from vaigai.  This is the place they met.

I enjoyed the visit to this temple and I wanted to add one more interesting experience of that tour. Just outside the temple is a huge banyan tree which is providing a canopy of sort to the travelers. This place is abounding in village eateries and a simple South Indian food  is offered and we decided to have our break fast in this simple open air surrounding as the next possibile hotel was at least one  hour away. An old woman was making kuzhi paniharam and dosai. The air was filled with the fragrance of freshly cooked food and they were  using primitive  method of cooking, using the dried palm leaves and coconut husk as fuel. I was really fascinated by this as people were making use of the  bio fuel for cooking, which has become a thing of the past for all .  We decided to have a go at that eatery.  We were made to sit on plastic stools  under the Banyan tree and food was served to us in banana leaf. The Paniharam and dosai were very soft and we could finish our breakfast with out much ado. Three of us ate and I was surprised when I heard it has cost us only Rs. 14. We could really enjoy the simplicity of village folks.

Mallishwarar temple.

Just one kilometre from Nilakottai  on the way to Madurai we found this 1500  year old Siva temple.  Here  Siva is known as Mallishwarar and  his consort is sitting outside the sanctum .  History of the temple is not known . The entrance of  the temple is just 4 feet x 2 1/2   feet opening and we had to stoop  to get inside. There was an idol of Bairavar outside the temple.

How to reach:

The nearest railway station is Dindigul.  Regular buses from Dindigul, Vatala gundu and Madurai though frequency is low. It is better to stay in Dindigul or Madurai which is around 50 kms.