Shri Tharukavaneshwarar Temple at Thiruparithurai- A padal petra sthalam

This temple is one of the 275 Padalpetra sthalams in Trichy . Thiruparaithurai means area where paarai trees abound.The place is very famous for the residential school here and it is just  a walking distance from the Mukkombu the area where the Cauvery splits into Kollidam and Cauvery with dams on either side. It is a popular picnic spot.

How to reach:

About 14kms from trichy The road leads to the temple . The highway is being widened.The temple is on the left and easily approached.

Legends:

The Saptharishis who were camped here and their wives had become conceited with the powers of their penance so the fruits of penance were not being beneficial to mankind. Shiva and Vishnu descended to teach these people a lesson.Shiva was the handsome nude nomadic beggar Bhikshandar and Vishnu was the Mohini. The Rishis started getting attracted to Mohini where as they became angry when the found their wives following the nude beggar. They started conjuring tigers to attack which shiva killed and wore the skin as a dress. He caught the poisonous snakes unleashed and wore them as ornaments and the Trishul which was thrown at him became his weapon for all times. When the Rishis realised that this was no ordinary couple and realised their mistake and lost their ego. Shiva directed them to Lalgudi where they did prayers to atone .

As you enter the main gopuram there is a long passage way and the Gopuram you see above Inside there is a mandapam for Nandi with life like statues for Appar Sundarar,Arunagirinathar and the king whobuilt the temple

Inside this gopuram is the Main entrance to the temple. The walls of the Doorstep have the history of the temple

The main praharam has the ambal sannidhi on the right facing South with the main Sivalingam in its glorious grace facing east.

The praharam has an unusual Koshta vigraham of Ardhanari Shiva in the West side.

The usual statues of Vinayaka, murugan Durga, Chandikeshwarar,Natarajar and the Nayanmars are present

A visit to the temple can be ended with a beautiful picnic at the Mukkombu!!

Thiru Boologanathar Temple inTrichy

Trichy City has the famous five shiva temples representing the five elements.This is the temple representing Earth.

How to reach:

On East Boulevard road it is an imposing temple easily found out.

The temple is famous for its five sthala vriksham which have been here since ages. It conveys the meaning of oneness with nature with Shiva nurturing the Earth. it has been in existence since 700 AD with Chola pallava and krishnadevaraya’s contributions.

As you enter the courtyard via the rajagopuram you see the nandi  and the Kodimaram

 

The main sanctum houses a shiva lingam facing east and the Jagadambika ambal sannidi facing South on the right hand side.

The outer courtyard has  vinayakar, Murugan sannidhis. The Bhairavar Sannidhi is seperate.

A small and peaceful temple

Pazhur Sri.Vishwanatha Visalakshi Navagraha temple

The temple is more famous as Navagraha temple in this area and was blessed by the Kanchi Mahaperiyavaa . The Navagrahas were sculpted in Mysore and were installed here about 80 years ago. The peculiarity of this navagraha installation is that the Navagrahas are present in a separate hall with their consorts and the Rasi if each Navagraha is sculpted below. It is a very famous parihara sthalam.

How to Reach:

This is the next big temple on the Kulithalai trichy road after Mutharasanallur.There is an arch announcing the way to the temple at about 3 kms from Mutharasanallur.

There is also a small village road from Mutharasanallur connecting Pazhur without crossing over the railway line.

You can see the main entrance leading to a small sanctum inside with the Shivalingam in a small sannidhi facing east  and the Small sanctum for the ambal facing South The hall to the right is the navagraha enclosure

 

Another view of the Navagraha enclosure

The priest was busy doing some Homam  with a family and the temple was deserted . The Sivan and Ambal were so small and Doll like.The Setting was remarkably peaceful and serene

Nandrudayan temple Nara mukha Ganapathy , Ganapathy with a Human face!!

This is a unique temple that has a sannidhi with Vinayaka having a Human face.The temple has been spoken of by Kanchi Mahaperiyava for its Nara mukha Ganapathy ( Human faced Ganapathy).It is a very old temple which was originally part of the Rockfort temple complex. It is now undergoing renovation . It is not known to many people locally too!.

How to Reach:

The local population do not seem to know the temple. Ask for Murugan theatre one of the oldest movie theatres in Trichy. The temple is about half a furlong further down on the same side as the theatre. It is almost dwarfed by the surrounding structures and you can easily miss it.

The locked door leads to a small chamber which is actually the back side of the main sannidhi. There is an Anjaneyar installed here facing the road. When you go around and reach the other side of the room you can see a majestic five foot Ganapathy with the usual elephant head . this is the Moolavar. There is a nandi unusually in front of the Ganesha. Maybe a case of the son borrowing Dad’s vehicle !!!

To the right of the main Sannidhi is a small room with a huge 3-4feet tall roly poly god with a human face the Nara mukha Ganapathy!

(Pic courtesy from a whatsapp post )

Inside are also statues of Adi shankara, Sadashiva Brahmendra and three Nayanmars which are usually found when these people have visited and stayed in these temples!!

The friendly flower seller in front of the temple volunteered to open the temple for me as the priest was not there that day. She bade me to wait , crossed the road and got the keys to this lovely temple so that I do not miss this lovely temple.

The main entrance to the temple is on the side away from the road and is now being renovated.

Mutharasanallur Rathna Girishwarar Temple near Trichy

This is the first temple from Trichy towards kulithalai.The temple was built by the local chieftain Mutharasan.It is being looked after by a young dedicated priest who went to Mauritius and came back to serve this lord as he found this more fulfilling.

How to reach:

Itis on the 7 km from Trichy. The Railway station is well seen and take the road before the station across the level crossing.Follow the winding road  on the right when you will cross a bridge and see a new apartment block on the right.Ask for the agraharam and High school.The temple is situated to the left of the apartment block

Legends of the temple:

An elderly chieftain Mutharasan was habituated in visiting the three shiva temples in Kulithalai area. He would see the  kadambhaVaneshwarar in the morning, Rathnagiriswarar in the Iyer malai in the after noon and  Engoinathar in Musiri area in the evening.De to advancing years and also the Cauvery being in floods he prayed to God and had the divine vision of all three temples in his own place. He built his temple with Rathna girishwarar as the main deity with the other two lords having separate temples in side. Hence visiting here ensures the punyam of visiting all the three temples.

As you enter you first see the main temple of  Shri Rathnagiriswarar with Aralakesari amman on the right.

The Shiva lingam is housed in the biggest of the three shrines.It is  resplendent due to the efforts of the priest who had just finished applying Oil to the Stone idols (thaila kaapu) The Outer praharam has Dakshinamurthy in a sheltered enclosure

Behind you can see the sannidhi of Ganapathy on the left and the Sivan sannithi of Thiru Engoinathar and Aralakesari amman on the right

There is also a sannidhi for Murugan on the Northwestern side. The sthala vruksham is the Vanni tree

The South western side has the sannidhis of Shri Kadamba vaneswarar and Bala Kujalambikai

There is a small enclosure for Bhairavar,Sivasubramanian and Sanishwarar

For details;

Contact the energetic and sincere priest Shri.Shivakumar Cell +919843424289.

I was impressed by his devotion and his conviction that made him return from Mauritius in today's times away from plush job to do daily worship at this temple.

Lesser Known and rare temples in and around Tiruchirapalli

During the Vaikunta ekadasi earlier this week I found myself exploring some of the little known temples  in around trichy. I finally managed to visit these temples :

1) Temples inside trichy 

In Woriyur

• Panchavarneshwarar temple
• Nachiar koil

East Boulevard road

• Boolokanatha swamy temple
• Nandrudayan temple  (a very rare temple where Vinayaka is seen in human form)

2)Towards Kulithalai

• Mutharasannallur Sri Rathnagirishwarar temple
• Pazhur Vishwanathar Visalakshi Navagraha temple
• AllurPanchanadhishwarar temple
• Jeeyapuram Chandrashekarendra Swami temple
• Thirupparaithurai PanchaThaarukavaneshwarar temple

The above  temples are all situated in the stretch about 15kms from Trichy on the  southern banks of the cauvery .amidst lush greenery and are very small and peaceful.Since they are all small and not well visited the priests can not keep them open as usual as most of them take care of many temples in the area . I had to make 2 trips to see the above. The Marghazhi month meant the pujas started early and the temples remained closed earlier. I could not get proper information about the timings..A safe bet would be to visit around 4 PM when they will be open for the evening pooja.

Thiruvooraga Perumal Koil Kunrathur

Kunrathur is a southern Suburb of Chennai between Poonamallee, Porur and Mangadu.It is famous for its

murugan temple  See link below

(http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2011/04/kunrathur-temples.html)

The Nagaimugai amman Kandaeshwarar Temple

http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2011/04/nagai-mugai-ambal-sametha.html

The Thirunageshwaram temple Rahu Sthalam built by Sekkhizar

http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2011/04/naageshwarar-temple-kunrathur.html

The Perumal temple is situated at the foot of the hillock of Murugan temple and the Shiva temple

How to reach:

Kunrathur can be easily reached from Porur .Just follow the extension of Arcot road you will reach the town in 4 kms or you can also reach it from Mangadu/poonamallee or also from Sripermbudur . Kunrathur can be reached from Thiruneermalai from GST road side and from Sriperumbudur on the Kodambakkam Sriperumbudur highway.

Legend of the temple:

The temple was built by the  King Kulathunga Chola about 1000 years ago as a thanks giving in gratitude for having been relieved of a spell cast on him. He prayed to Kanchi Thiruvooraga Perumal at Kanchipuram who appeared in his dream and directed him to build the temple in Kunrathur facing west and the Lord was to be in the standing posture like in Tirupathi.

As you enter you can see the Dwajastambam and the main praharam

There are variety of carvings on the gate posts depicting the dasavathara  but the entire structure inside has been rebuilt from scratch

The main sannidhi has a tall Maha Vishnu with four Arms as in Tirumala with Sridevi and Bhudevi on his chest. The Vigraham is 7 feet tall and is on a Lotus pedestal. He is showing abhayahastha with his right hand and has the Conch and Chakra in his other two hands.The left lower hand is on his waist.

For a detailed pic see Shantiraju’s excellent blog and pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajushanthi/6108530403/in/photostream/

The Lord is facing the west.

To the left of the lord’s sannidhi is the small sannidhi of Thiruvirundhavalli Thayar, facing east.

There is a small sannidhi for Thumbikai alwar here (Ganapathy) in the thayar sannidhi

this is a picture from Dinamalar.com

The Northern side has a spacious mandapam with sannidhis for Andal, Seetha sametha Rama and Anjaneya has a separate sannidhi

Rama and Lakshmana have the Bows in their left hands and the Arrows in their right hands.

In front of this sannidhi  is Hanuman Sannidhi posture seen below

The rajagopuram from inside