Kala Megha Perumal temple in Thiru Moghur is the 46th divya desham of Vishnu. The temple recently got a face lift and looks fresh and brightly painted. The main idol of Vishnu is huge and is flanked by his His consorts Boodevi and Sreedevi.
Moghur comes from Mohini, the beautiful female form of Lord Vishnu who had taken this form to save the nectar from the Asuras. The Utsavar here is worshipped here in that form and the Lord is also referred to as Kala Megham , meaning dark clouds. Like dark clouds shower rains, the Lord here showers blessings on his devotees. Here the deity is like the Varadaraja of Kanchipuram and is holding a mace in his left hand and with his right blesses his devotees. There are separate shrines for Mohanavalli Thayar , Andal and Navaneetha Krishnan.
The Sudarshana Chakra occupies a significant place here and this shrine is behind the Thayar sannidhi and the vimanam atop is gold plated. The Sudharshana idol here is special with sixteen hands, holding 16 different weapons and is believed that he is moving forward to help his bhaktas (devotees) The Sudarshana image has the Lord Narasimha Moorthy on the back side in a yogic posture and same can be seen on the Utsavar here. Devotees offer their worship to the Utsavar of Chakra thazhwar which is kept in front of the Thayar sannidhi.
The Vimanam of the main temple is round in shape and is called Ketaki Vimanam. This temple also has beautiful carvings. The dwaja sthambam is in the outer most prakkaram and there is a huge mandapam and a shrine dedicated to Adi Sayana perumal. The deity here is reclining on Adisesha and Goddesses are sitting near his foot and praying to him. One has to first offer the worship here before proceeding to offer prayers to Kala Megha Perumal. There is also a shrine for Anjaneyar here on the South side. There is a tank outside the temple .
This temple is 8 kms. from Madurai.and one may have to take buses to this village from Mattuthavani bus stand.
The flag post
The Pillars with carvings
The God of Love ,Kama
Andal shrine
Some more photos of the temple, watch the slide show
