Thirumalaikoil
Encyclopedia
Tenkasi
Tenkasi pronounced as is a town and a municipality in Tirunelveli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located in the foothills of the Western Ghats near the Courtallam Waterfalls.Tenkasi is also famous for saaral...
in 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...
district, 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 was built by Thiruvarutchelvar Sivakami Ammaiyar. Poets Arunagirinather and Achanputhur Subbaiah have written many poems on the saint. It is a hilltop shrine, with 625 steps of pathway to reach the temple. The hill is adjacent to Western Ghats and Kavira Hills. It is 15 km from the Lord Kasivishwanathar temple in Tenkasi, Kurtallam Falls, Ezhanji Kumarakoil, and Ayikudi Balasubramanya Swami Temple. The temple is 650 km from Chennai and 90 km away from Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...
. Surrounding the temple (which is situated above 540 feet in the hills) are green fields, coconut trees, ponds, a number of windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
s and a dam; the towns of Tenkasi
Tenkasi
Tenkasi pronounced as is a town and a municipality in Tirunelveli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located in the foothills of the Western Ghats near the Courtallam Waterfalls.Tenkasi is also famous for saaral...
and Shenkottai
Shenkottai
Sengottai is a town in Tamil Nadu, India, in the foothills of the Western Ghats. It is located roughly 5 km from the Courtallam Waterfall, near the border with Kerala...
are visible from the hilltop in the panorama which awaits visitors. Many musical film scenes have been shot at this location.
Thiruvarutselvar Sivakami Ammaiyar
Thiruvarutselvar Sivakami Ammaiyar, a devoteeBhakti
In Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
of Lord Thirumalaikumaraswamy, was born in Neduvayal Achanputhur (near Panpozhil, on the Hanuman River) into a wealthy and benevolent family (her parents were Muthuswamy Thevar and Kulalvaimozhi) around 1784 and died in 1854, aged 70. Although she received no secondary education
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
, she was known to read and write. Sivakami Ammaiyar married Kankamuthu, a philanthropic farmer and son of Sangamuthu and Uthamiammal, and lived a peaceful life. Muthu, a devotee of Lord Annamalaiyar of Thiruvannamalai, and his wife helped their neighbors; for example, they built a bridge spanning the Hanuman River which is still known as Kankamuthu Bridge. Sivakami Ammaiyar and Kankamuthu treated all the peoples equally, employing Sangalimanadan (from a low-caste community
Caste system in India
The Indian caste system is a system of social stratification and social restriction in India in which communities are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called Jātis....
). Since the couple was childless, so they treated all the village children as their own. They served many saints of all religions. When a Muslim holy man named Walar Masthan visited their village, the couple called and told him of their childlessness. Walar Masthan is said to have replied, "I know your problems; you were not blessed by becoming a mother, but on the Thirumalai Murugan hilltop west of here is your family god. Go and serve him for the rest of your life". The couple was unsure what to do but Murugan
Murugan
Murugan also called Kartikeya, Skanda and Subrahmanya, is a popular Hindu deity especially among Tamil Hindus, worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influences, especially South India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius and Reunion Island. His six most important shrines in India are the...
appeared in a dream as a child to Sivakami Ammaiyar, telling them both to go to Vandadumpottal and build him a temple on the hilltop. Sivakami Ammaiyar began building the temple, a difficult task due to the elevation; to raise the money needed, she sold all her property.
Poetry
- "Thirumalai Andavar Kuravaji" – Author unknown; poem published in Tamil Tatha by Dr. Uu. Ve. Saminathan Iyer
- "Thirumalai Yamah Vanthathi" - Nellai Kavirasu Pandaramars
- "Thirupugazal" - Aunagirinather
- "Thirumalai Kumaraswamy Thirupugazal" - Sankarapandian Pillai
- "Thirumalai Murugan Pillai Tamil" - Kavira Pandarathaiyar
- Poems by Achanputhur N. Subbaih