Thiruchendur trip - Part I

The next religious trip eagerly looked forward to by one and all happened on schedule with some tension that Rama and Kalyan may not join us. By God’s grace they confirmed that they would be able to make it and it was a huge gang of 15 compared to 8 on the trip to Palani!

For Ranga and me, it was second time train travel in the same week as we had just got back from Madurai on Thursday morning.

We assembled in Egmore to catch Pothigai express. As usual it was fun right from the beginning with the guys pulling each other’s legs!

in the train

Our first temple visit was Sankaran Koil on Saturday morning. The train was a bit late but we managed to reach the temple by 10 am after freshening up and having breakfast.

Despite getting delayed, we found time to click pictures :)

Personally, for me, this was the first visit to Tirunelveli district excluding a short trip to Tiruchendur some years ago. We entered the temple and started oohing and aahing at the sculptures. This time it was Jayashree and yours truly checking out every sculpture possible and clicking away with Sujatha pointing out the ones we missed! Rama was busy arranging for Thanga pavadai darshan while we all studied the prakaram in detail.

Sankaran koil gopuram

a beautiful depiction

temple entrance

waiting in the prakaram

entrance wall

ceiling

another wall

entrance door

dwajasthambam and nandikeswarar in front of Sankaralingam

intricate carving on the ceiling

Lord Shiva in dancing posture

all waiting 

long corridor

After the Sowbhagya Vinayakar just outside the temple, there is one more Vinayakar and Valli Devasena samedha Subramania swamy prior to entrance of prakaram leading to sannidhi of Lord Sankaralingam. As Rama was arranging the tickets, Suja and I peeked into Lord's sannidhi trying to go around. We found very different sculptures like 5-headed Brahma, 10-headed Ravana and many more. As the others entered the sannidhi with tickets, Ranga chided me for not being with the crowd and wandering away on my own.

5 headed Brahma

Lord Shiva

Ravaneswaran

Hiranyakasibuvadham

We could stand quite close to the huge Lingam and had a good darshan. We circumambulated and reached the next sannidhi of Sri Sankaranarayanar.

What a beauty this Lord is - half Sankarar and half Narayanar!

As usual without waiting for the gurukkal, I started explaining the details like an authority to Rajini who was the only willing listener. Rama quietened me saying the gurukkal will explain after arathi which he did in detail.

The half to our left was Lord Shiva with puli thol clothing, sandal covered half face to show his fair complexion, right hand in front in blessing posture, and hand behind holding mazhu. 

The half on our right was Lord Vishnu with dhoti almost covering his foot, dark coloured face, left hand in front in a mudra and the hand behind holding the conch. The gurukkal went on to explain how one half of the haaram around the neck is rudraksham and other half is kaustubam. 

After a satisfying darshan, I had noticed a replica of the statue in metal outside the sanctum and understood the mudra in Lord Vishnu's hand better.

I also noticed that this sannidhi had Vinayagar on Lord Shiva's side and Lakshmi Narayanar on Lord Vishnu's side where we usually see Lord Muruga in Sivan temples!

Next was darshan of Goddess Gomathi Amman. As only 6 people were allowed for Thanga pavadai darshan, we six ladies went closer to the sanctum and the men and kids were waiting in the long queue for darshan. What a beauty the Goddess was! A fairly small idol, she was glowing with gold pavadai and golden coins on the forehead as pottu.

She was decked with many flower garlands but it was satisfying to see the gurukkal decorating her further with the flower garlands made by Sujatha in the train the previous night with a little assistance by all the other ladies.

sujatha making flower garlands

corridor leading to Gomathi Amman sannidhi

A picture of the Goddess decked in Poopavadai

sannidhi entrance with Nandi

We came out to join the queue again to sit on the srichakra peedam which is supposed to cleanse one of his/her mental cobwebs. After a short meditation on the peedam one by one, we could have darshan of the Goddess again. Now she was looking resplendent in a nine yards sari as they had changed the thanga pavadai alankaram by then.

We also took ample quantities of puthu mannu which is said to be a cure for any ailments

We completed our prayers and came out of the temple after taking pictures all around including the ceiling. Suja pointed out icons of fishes reminding us that this region was ruled by the Pandyas!

painting on ceiling

please zoom to see the Natarajar just above the words Shanmugar

twin fishes on the ceiling to show us this is Pandya region

architecture on the ceiling!

After collecting packaged lunch from a local person, we proceeded towards Tiruchendur planning to stop in between for a picnic lunch. The weather was quite breezy with sand flying in our faces and the journey was enjoyable. The cooperative drivers ensured that we reached Tiruchendur before 4 pm as the Shanmugarchanai planned by Karthik and family was fixed for 4.30 pm.

…next blog on Tiruchendur