This is a very imposing temple found in the town of Tenkasi(southern Kasi)
HOW TO REACH:
Tenkasi is in the foot hills of Courtallam and when you come here the temple is easily located in the middle of the town. it is a mammoth tower not easily missed
LEGENDS AND STORIES:
The temple was built by the Pandya king Parikrama Pandya who was a devotee of Kasi Viswanatha swamy. once he decided to proceed to Kasi to obtain a Shivalinga, In his dream he was instructed to follow a line of ants the next day and when he did so the ant hill they led to had a Shiva Lingam inside the same was consecrated here. There temple was built around the 13 th century as per records .
The temple is built in the Somaskanda form that is Siva and Parvati are both facing east with Murugan found in between them so we have three sanctums facing east side by side(Soma Skanda = sa Uma Skanda=Shiva who is with Uma and Skanda in Sanskrit)
The temple did not have a gopuram and the same was built between 1967 –1990
The temple has great sculptures in the Vijayanagara style especially the Virabhadra motif which is common to the Hoysala temples as in nearby Srivilliputhur Andal temple
The temple is peaceful and enchanting
As you enter the main Rajagopuram
The engineering marvel here is in the air circulation dynamics
As you enter you can see all three main sannidhis in front
The Kalyana mandapam on the right as you enter
The gopuram viewed from inside
A longing view as I left the temple hoping to return soon and do a detailed blog
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