Thiruchendur
Encyclopedia
Thiruchendur Murugan Temple is a Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 temple dedicated to Lord Muruga and one of the Arupadaiveedu
Arupadaiveedu
The Arupadaiveedu are the most important shrines for the devotees of Muruga in Tamilnadu, India.They are:*Palani Murugan Temple *Swamimalai *Thiruthani...

(six major abodes) of Lord Muruga. It is located in the small town of Thiruchendur
Thiruchendur
Thiruchendur Murugan Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Muruga and one of the Arupadaiveedu of Lord Muruga. It is located in the small town of Thiruchendur in the district of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India. It is 55 km south-east of Tirunelveli, 40 km from Tuticorin and 75 km...

 in the district of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is 55 km south-east of Tirunelveli, 40 km from Tuticorin and 75 km north-east of Kanyakumari. It is easily accessible either by bus or car. Frequent train services are available to Tiruchendur from the nearest railway junction, Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli , also known as Nellai , and historically as Tinnevelly, is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Tirunelveli District and the sixth biggest city in Tamil Nadu...

 Junction. This temple is the fourth Hindu temple in Tamil Nadu to get ISO certification http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article2078532.ece. The Kumbabisheka for this temple was held recently in July 2009 , after this many new schemes was implemented in this temple.

Significance

Each of the six major abodes of Lord Muraga has an event mentioned in the puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...

(major religious texts). Thiruchendur is said to be second in importance among his six abodes. This place is also referred to by other names in religious poems and literature as Thirucheeralaivai, Thiruchenthil, and Thiruchenthiyoor. The deity is worshipped by various names such as Senthilandavan, Senthilkumar
Senthilkumar
Senthilkumar is one name for the god housed at the palani Murugan Temple, in the town of palani in the district of dhindukal, Tamil Nadu, India. The temple is considered to be one of the six major abodes of Lord Muruga.-The deity:...

, and so on. The six Arupadiveedus are: Palani
Palani
Palani is a city and a municipality in the Dindigul district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located about 100 km South of Coimbatore City and 60 km west of Dindigul...

 (120 km west of Madurai), Swamimalai
Swamimalai Murugan Temple
Swamimalai Murugan Temple is a Hindu temple located in the township of Swamimalai, 5 km from Kumbakonam on the banks of a tributary of river Cauvery, 250 km from Chennai and is near to Thanjavur in India.-Arupadai Veedu:...

 (150 km east of Madurai), Thiruthani
Thiruthani Murugan Temple
Tiruthani Murugan temple is a Hindu temple, in the hill of Thiruttani, South India, dedicated to Lord Muruga. The hill has 365 steps indicating 365 days of the year.It is one of the Arupadaiveedu, the six holy abodes of Lord Muruga...

 (50 km from Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

), Pazhamudircholai
Pazhamudircholai
Pazhamudircholai is a Hindu temple, located about 16 kilometres north of Madurai, India atop a hill covered with dense forests. One of the six important abodes of Lord Muruga, it is close to the Vishnu temple of Azhagar Kovil.- Access :...

 (10 km north of Madurai) and Thiruparamkunram
Thirupparamkunram Murugan Temple
Thirupparamkunram Murugan Temple, one of the Arupadaiveedu, the six main abodes of Lord Muruga, the temple at Tiruparankunram offers a mystic beauty. It is carved in rock and is monstrous in size for such an architecture...

 (10 km south of Madurai).

The temple is situated so close to the sea that waves from the Gulf of Mannar
Gulf of Mannar
The Gulf of Mannar is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean. It lies between the southeastern tip of India and the west coast of Sri Lanka. A chain of low islands and reefs known as Adam's Bridge, also called Ramsethu, which includes Mannar Island, separates the...

 lap at the eastern perimeter wall of the temple.
The temple has devotees across the world including Singapore, Malaysia, America, Canada, London, etc. This temple plays a significant role in the faith of the world's Tamils.

Mythology

Thiruchendur is the place where Lord Muruga used as the base camp, before invading the demon king of Suran
Suran
Suran is a Syrian town administratively belonging to the Hama Governorate. It has a population of 32,724 as of 2007, which makes Suran the 56th largest area per geographical entity in Syria....

 in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

.

Near the temple is also a holy place for the Ayyavazhi
Ayyavazhi
Ayyavazhi is a dharmic belief system that originated in South India in the 19th century. It is cited as an independent monistic religion by several newspapers, government reports and academic researchers. In Indian censuses, however, the majority of its followers declare themselves as Hindus...

 sect, where Ayya Vaikundar is said to have performed his Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....

 according to Akilattirattu Ammanai
Akilattirattu Ammanai
Akilathirattu Ammanai , also called Thiru Edu , is the main religious text of the Tamil belief system Ayyavazhi...

, the holy book of Ayyavazhi.

Tiruchendur Lord Subramanya Temple may be once a Shiva temple

In Tiruchendur Lord Subramanya Temple, just behind the present main god (moolavar) Lord Subramanya, 5 Shiva lingas are there in the name of Pancha Linga shrine. Among the 6 Arupadiveedus only this temple is not in a hill. There is Maha Vishnu sannidhi, Dakshina moorthy sannidhi, Sandikeswara sannidhi, Saneeswara sannidhi, Bairavar sannidhi, Nataraja sannidhi like in many Shiva temples of south India. Legend says that, Subramanya after 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.

Major deities

  • Sri Subramanya (Main god-moolavar)
  • Sri shanmuga (Primary substitute-Urtchavar)
  • Panchalingam (Worshipped by Lord Subramanya)
  • Jayanthinathar (Who killed demon surapadma)
  • Kumaravidanga peruman (Who is going to archery)
  • Sri Valliamman (Companion of Muruga)
  • Sri Devasena (Companion of Muruga)
  • Sri Dakshina moorthy (God of knowledge)
  • Sri Mahalingeswarar (Equivalent to thousand lingas)
  • Sri Venkateshwara (Uncle of Lord Muruga)
  • Sri Vallabhai vinayaga (Brother of Lord Muruga)
  • Sri Satru Samhara Moorthy (who destroys our enemies)
  • Sri sandikeswara (Protector of temple wealth)
  • Sri saneeswara
  • Sri bairava
  • Sri Nataraja (Dancing pose of Lord Shiva)


source http://temples-india.blogspot.com/2011/06/sri-subramanya-swamy-temple-tiruchendur.html

Temples to be visited


Tiruchendur Escapes from Tsunami

Tiruchendur temple which is situated nearer to the sea was escaped from Tsunami with the blessings of Lord Muruga on December 26,2004http://absolutetruth.in/forums/topic/tiruchendur-temple-escapes-tsunami-but-not-velankanni. The sea level opposite to the sanctum sanctorum is higher than the ground level at the sanctum sanctorum, still the sea didn't enter the temple, though the nearby areas was affected by the sea waveshttp://www.thoothukudi.tn.nic.in/tsunami/tsunami-2.htm.

Other religion sites nearby

  • Manapadu-Tamilnadu's Jerusalemhttp://manapad.com/ (Christianity
    Christianity
    Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

    ).
  • kayalpattinamhttp://kayalpatnam.com/ (Islam
    Islam
    Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

    ).

Temple help desk


Travel To Thiruchendur

It is 55 km south-east of Tirunelveli, 40 km from Tuticorin and 75 km north-east of Kanyakumari.

Bus : Govt & Private buses from Chennai, Madurai , Tiruchy and Coimbatore.
From Tirunelveli & Tuticorin more frequent buses are there.

Train :

Daily Train from Chennai ( TIRUCHENDUR EXP : # 16735 -starts at 16.05 from Chennai Egmore )

As there are more Train connectivity to Tirunelveli- One can travel upto Tirunelveli by Train and take a bus or car to Tiruchendur.

Four Passenger Trains are there from Tirunelveli starting 7.00am, 9.35am,11.15am and 18.15pm.
Air :

Nearest Airports are

Tuticorin 30 Kms
Madurai 168 kms ( 3 Hours )
Tiruchy 311 kms ( 4.5 - 5 hours )
Thiruvanthapuram International Airport 175 Kms ( 3.5 hours )

Sources


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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