My long time plan materialized on Apr 24, 2009. I had the darshan of Subramanya Swami (Senthil Andavar) at Tiruchendur, taking my tally of six adobes (Aru padai veedu) to five, with Tiruthani remaining. I will write a blog about the 6 adobes once I complete Tiruthani too :).
Tiruchendur:
We (I and my parents) started from Trichy by cab on Apr 24, 2009. It was a 6 hour drive (via Viralimalai, Madurai, Aruppukottai and Tuticorin). We got to see the salt lakes in Tuticorin and I kind of liked the place. We reached Tiruchendur at 15:00. Took a room in a hotel just next to the temple. The temple is right on the sea shore (Bay of Bengal).
We arranged for Darshan through the hotel itself. It's normally crowded and apparently it's the second most crowded Subramanya temple (after Palani). The darshan starts with a Ganesha shrine (as usual) followed by the sanctum of lord Subramanya. We had a darshan of Subramanya in Golden armour (Thanga Kavacham). We then went to Pancha Linga shrine (5 lingas), which is next to the sanctum, but one has to pass through a narrow lane next to the Subramanya shrine to reach there. Legend says that, Subramanya afetr killing the demon Surapadman, got "Brahmahathi dosha" (not sure how, Surapadman can't be a Brahmin!!) and He performed puja to this Pancha linga to overcome this. Also, as He is performing puja Himself, no one else perfroms puja here. There is a narrow crevice open to sky and legend has it that Lord Devendra also offers his prayers to Shiva. It's only from this shrine that one can do a pradhakshinam (circumambulation) of the Subramanya Swamy shrine. Utsava murthy (Lord Shanmuga) is also close to the sanctum. One more special shrine is that of Muruga with His anklet as His weapon. As per mythology, Lord Muruga was mocked at by Surapadma for not having a weapon of His own (Vel was provided by Goddess Shakthi), for which Lord Muruga showed His anklet saying this would be sufficient to kill him. Interesting!! There is a Maha Vishnu sannidhi (with a Ranganatha shrine next to it). Next to this shrine, there is a destroyed rock, believed to be the erstwhile Krouncha malai, ruled by Tharakasura (Surapadman's brother). Legend has it that this was proptecting Surapadman's city (VeeraMahendrapuram - which was in the sea) and was destroyed by Lord Subramanya first. Then there is the Kalyana Ganapathi shrine. All these shrines form a Om (ஓம்). We then visited the Valli cave temple, where Valli hid Herself when Lord Ganesha took the form of an elephant and inimidated Her, to help Lord Subramanya during His romance with Valli :). We also had a darshan at 20:00 (Vibhoothi kavacham). We spent a lot of time in the beach and I enjoyed playing in the waves :)
We arranged for Darshan through the hotel itself. It's normally crowded and apparently it's the second most crowded Subramanya temple (after Palani). The darshan starts with a Ganesha shrine (as usual) followed by the sanctum of lord Subramanya. We had a darshan of Subramanya in Golden armour (Thanga Kavacham). We then went to Pancha Linga shrine (5 lingas), which is next to the sanctum, but one has to pass through a narrow lane next to the Subramanya shrine to reach there. Legend says that, Subramanya afetr killing the demon Surapadman, got "Brahmahathi dosha" (not sure how, Surapadman can't be a Brahmin!!) and He performed puja to this Pancha linga to overcome this. Also, as He is performing puja Himself, no one else perfroms puja here. There is a narrow crevice open to sky and legend has it that Lord Devendra also offers his prayers to Shiva. It's only from this shrine that one can do a pradhakshinam (circumambulation) of the Subramanya Swamy shrine. Utsava murthy (Lord Shanmuga) is also close to the sanctum. One more special shrine is that of Muruga with His anklet as His weapon. As per mythology, Lord Muruga was mocked at by Surapadma for not having a weapon of His own (Vel was provided by Goddess Shakthi), for which Lord Muruga showed His anklet saying this would be sufficient to kill him. Interesting!! There is a Maha Vishnu sannidhi (with a Ranganatha shrine next to it). Next to this shrine, there is a destroyed rock, believed to be the erstwhile Krouncha malai, ruled by Tharakasura (Surapadman's brother). Legend has it that this was proptecting Surapadman's city (VeeraMahendrapuram - which was in the sea) and was destroyed by Lord Subramanya first. Then there is the Kalyana Ganapathi shrine. All these shrines form a Om (ஓம்). We then visited the Valli cave temple, where Valli hid Herself when Lord Ganesha took the form of an elephant and inimidated Her, to help Lord Subramanya during His romance with Valli :). We also had a darshan at 20:00 (Vibhoothi kavacham). We spent a lot of time in the beach and I enjoyed playing in the waves :)
Next day early in the morning at 05:00, we were in the temple again and we had the Viswaroopa Darshan at 05:30. The handsome God He is, Viswaroopam was just superb. The temple is open from 05:30 to 20:30 through out.
The God here is very powerful. Adi Shankara has authored Subramanya Bhujangam in this temple on this God, when he was suffering from a severe stomach illness and was cured immediately. Recently, in 2006, when Tsunami hit the entire coastal Tamil Nadu, this was the only place where the sea receded and there was absolutely no damage to the temple and no casualties here, in spite of the close proximity to the sea and many devotees were taking bath in
the sea.
SriVaikuntam:
We left from Tiruchendur at 07:45 to SriVaikuntam, which is just 20 km away on the Tirunelveli main road. There is apparently nava tirupathi temples (9 Vishnu temples) in this area, each ruling to one planet. We just visited SriVaikuntam (which was for lord Surya or Sun God). Swami here is called Kallapiran or Vaikuntanathar. Two Lakshmi shrines - Vaikuntanayaki and Choranatha nayaki. This is the 54th of the 108 Divya desam temples of Lord Vishnu.
Nellaiyappar - Gandhimathi temple - Tirunelveli:
After SriVaikuntam, we reached Nellaiyappar temple in Tirunelveli, a city 50 km from Tiruchendur. Massive temple!! HUGE!! Superb darshan of Nellaiyappar and Gandhimathi amman (She was looking very beautiful). There are around 100 big shrines in this temple and I feel it's enough if you visit this temple once a year and get a darshan of all Hindu Gods at one go :). Interstingly, there was a idol of Ravana!! Also, this was one of the pancha sabhai temples (5 temples one fo each metal - this one is for copper or Thamiram, it is on the banks of "Thamira"barani river).
Madurai:
Finally, we reached Madurai at 14:00. Very bad lunch at College House. Meenakshi amman was as beautiful as ever. We eventually reached Trichy at 21:30 on April 25, 2009.
Good trip and with this my mother had seen all the six adobes of Lord Subramanya. Hope I also do that soon :)
Cheers!!
5 comments:
Balasubramanya soon was made the General of the Army of celestials and was entrusted with the job of securing the release of Devas who were imprisoned by Surapadman. Like Ravana, Surapadman was also a half-Brahmin, half-demon. Murugan reached Thiruchendur with his army, and sent his emissary, Veerabahu. Since Surapadman took lightly of the boy - nay, a baby - he refused to do so. Murugan killed Surapadman's next of kin and their army in a war that lasted six days. On the sixth day, the Lord of endless mercy appeared before Surapadman in his viswa-rupa. Though the demon could realise whom he is fighting with, his ego did not permit him to stop his war against Him.
Surapadman assumed the form of a mango tree, which was cloven into two by Subrahmanya with his spear. One half became a cock and other, a peacock. Muruga was until that time fighting the ogre, mounting on Indra, who had assumed the form of a peacock. He very gracefully accepted the demon who had now assumed the form of a peacock, as his own divine carrier and honoured the cock by taking it as His ensign.
This very same story is narrated with a small difference in the North. There, the demon vanquished by Subrahmanya is known as Tarakasura. The place where Tarakasura is killed is Cambay, known in the olden days as Kambhat, situated between the rivers Mahe and Sabarmati.
the way u have narrated the trip.. i feel as if i visited thiruchendur.. :)..good one
Suresh is yet to see this place.. so will plan a trip soon..
Yeah Madhu. This is one temple one should definitely not miss (not that all other temples can be :)). There are trains to Tuticorin and Tiruchendur directly from Madras or we can make it a mega trip from Trichy also :D
Thanks for sharing.Tiruchendur is one of the famous temple city in south tamilnadu.and we are collecting all over information in Tiruchendur.Its the one stop website for all information in tiruchendur.best jewelers,schools,colleges,agencies…
Thank you for sharing your experience in such a wonderful way. it was way more interesting to read and could imagine the same as in real. Wonderful post. Keep it up. Beecabs Trichy to Thiruchendur Online Cab Booking
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