One of the unique temples ancient and different in South India. It has been recorded in the ancient sangam literature Silappadikaram as the place kannagi attained salvation after burning Madurai. It has been sung about by Gnana sambandar and the Murugan has been sung by Arunagirinathar. Murugan is called Sengottuvel here. it is one among the 7 padal petra sthalams in the kongu area of Tamilnadu
How to Reach
The town of Tiruchengode is 20 kms east of Erode ,20 kms east of Rasipuram, Namakkal and 40 mms North West of Karur . I drove down from Rasipuram. The hillock is visible from afar and the red hue gives it the name chengode red hill. There are 2 days to proceed. Either by foot 1250 steps these steps have a snake carved alongside depicting Adiseshan who was responsible for this hillock ( a piece of meru)
pic of the snake on the steps from the net
or by road about 3.5 Kms that takes you to the hill top in about 15 mins . There is a single lane admitting two way traffic and the temple runs a free bus service for pilgrims up and down.
The temple entrance is from the south and the main idol faces West
LEGENDS AND STORIES:
Parvathi prayed here to get equal rights from Shiva as she felt slighted by Bhringi Rishi who used to ignore her and do prayers to Shiva alone. Once she incapacitated the rishi who used to worship only Shiva but Shiva bestowed another leg to Bhringi to give him mobility.Shiva accepted parvathy's request and housed her as his left side in his body and is called Ardhanari or Madhorubagan or Ammaiyappar in Tamil
Adi Kesava Perumal found here inside ordained Parvathi in the Kedara Gowri vratham to attain her Siva-Shakti status
Once there was a fight between Adiseshan and Vayu. Adiseshan was blown off as he grabbed the meru and his head landed here. To depict this story there is a huge head of snake carved atop the hill .Link to pics of the snake carved
Temple plan
As you enter you see the dhwaja stambha
There is a mandapam we see which is actually behind the main sannidhi
Ganapathy on the south facing side
The North side having Sengottuvel. Murugan sannidhi. with the Sthala Vriksham Vanni tree
The main temple sanctum entrance is on the left from the west side we enter the inner sanctum with the Lord depicted in human form the right side is feminine and draped in Saree, the left masculine side in a dhoti, both feet are displayed left is adorned with an anklet. The right hand has a huge club as a weapon.A natural spring bestows water at the feet of the lord.There is usually a huge rush inside and people doing sevas are asked to step up front its a small hall and the special darshan ticket of Rs.10 is worthwhile
There is a Adi Kesava sannidhi with Sridevi and Bhoodevi thayars as you come to the eastern side .
There are a number of exquisite sculptures in Vijayanagara style in the mandapam
The hill abounds with many monkeys which are not scared of human interaction .If you miss a step they will relieve all your edible belongings in a jiffy .Some of them are quite huge
A.long time prayer of seeing Madhorubagan was fulfilled after the trip
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