M13-THIRUCHENDUR SRI MURUGAN TEMPLE

 BY    PRAGYANSHARMA POLAVARAPU  (VRS.SOMANCHI)

 (A)

At about 4 pm on 3-8-24  we started from Rameswaram to  Thiruchendur (220 kms, 5 hours journey, Thuthukudi district )  to visit  the famous and most holy and most beautiful  sri  Murugan temple. We  travelled  near to  the southern sea boundary. For us who  live in  land-locked Hyderabad 1100 kilometers  away it was really a thrill to travel very close to sea coast and journey  amidst  millions of coconut trees and endless greenery. The sea  “was here there and every where”. When winds are strong the waves grow to huge size and look like  foaming  angry horses.It was night around 10 pm when we reached  Thiruchendur. We just went to the nice hotel and took rest. The Tiruchendur temple is  said to be the most popular and most visited temple in Tamilnadu .The temple is of huge proportions just like the  temple at Srirangam, Jambukeswara temple,Sri Villiputhur temple,Madurai Meenakshi temple and Rameswaram temple. The pillared corridors and mandapams are as 

gorgeous as in those temples.The  pillars with nice sublime sculptures of gods are majestic. This indicates  that Thiruchendur was one of the great temples built in those  golden centuries  of temple building . I should say that Thiruchendur is one of the most magnificient temples I have  seen.

 Here the god  is  Lord  Murugan known as Lord  Kumaraswamy in many parts of India and is  the  son of Lord Shiva . He is commander-
in-chief of Heaven’s armies . His other names are Lord  Skanda , Lord Karthikeya ,  Lord Subrahmanya( Lord of the world of snakes) and  Deva Senapathi( commander in chief of heaven’s armies). The legend  of Lord Kartikeya is mentioned in the Vedas and there is a most famous  Purana called Skanda Purana .Lord Kumaraswamy or  Lord Murugan is famous as   slayer of  the most evil demon Taraka. Lord Murugan  is revered  as the national god of Tamil people. His mother, Goddess Parvathi, gave  him   a most powerful magical spear called “the Vel”. The god is also  called Lor
d Velayudhan.

Lord Murugan is  also treated as a great Shaiva philosopher in contrast to his childhood image as a playful child. Once Lord Murugan (Lord Kumaraswamy) was outwitted by his  scholarly elder brother Lord Vinayaka in completing a race to run round the three worlds. Lord Vinayaka being already an erudite scholar  knew that walking around parents with a feeling of  great reverence  is equal to visiting all the three worlds. He followed the rule and reverentially walked round his divine parents.Lord Murugan saw with his own eyes his brother the slow Lord Vinayaka winning the race. He realized that he had to learn a lot of  divine knowledge to compete with his brother. He went to Himalayas and meditated and in course of time  became the greatest  Shaiva philosopher.

(B)

Thiruchendur  is on the seashore of  south India 213 kms west of the great Rameswaram temple  . It is most beautiful with its glorious presence very near to the endless blue sea. Lord Murugan is also  revered as Bala Murugan i.e. Child Murugan just  like Child Krishna(Bala Krishna) . We can not find anywhere  a  seashore temple more beautiful  than the temple at Thiruchendur.It is said to be one of the most visited temples of  India. It is less than a hundred meters away from the sea  waves . People say they feel  great serenity and rare spiritual joy while  praying to Lord Murugan sitting in the sand near to the water in the dawn hours.

 

Though Shiva worship was prominent in deep South since 2000 years ,the  Vaishnava gods are  equally loved.An  examples of this mutual regard between  Vishnu and Shiva traditions is the  famous sculpture in Madurai Meenakshi temple.  Lord Vishnu treated as elder brother of goddess Parvathi(sri Meenakshi  Aamma) gives  her hand in marriage to a  most beautiful Lord Sundareswara(Lord Shiva) .At Rameswaram where  the  grand and most majestic  complex for  Lord Shiva exists,Lord Rama is also worshipped and every inch of land in the island is linked to the story of Lord Rama. In every temple of south India such mutual regard between Shaivism and Vaishnavism can be seen.

 There is the famous legend of Lord Murugan killing the most evil demon Taraka and restoring the kingdom of Heaven  to Lord Indra.The Sanskrit  drama of  the great  poet Kalidasa also revolves around this legend. There is a story that a very wicked demon king  Sura Padma  constructed a magical palace in the middle of the sea and ruled from there and was invisible to people because of his magical power. His sons were equally evil.King Sura Padma was the elder brother of Tarakasura who  wanted to conquer the heaven of gods and  kidnap Indra’s queen Shachi. Lord Indra  king of heaven  requested Lord Murugan son of Lord Shiva to help. Lord Murugan the great  warrior was made the commander of heaven’s armies.

 

Lord Murugan was very patient and  tried to convince the  brothers SuraPadma and Taraka  to stop their evil ways. But they did not heed his advice and became even more violent putting the lives of people of the  world in extreme danger. So Lord Murugan after a fierce battle killed  Taraka  and returned back control of Swarga (heaven) to Indra. The sons of the king SuraPadma who were also most evil were killed. Then Lord Murugan  pursued the king  SuraPadma to the sea and fought a most fierce war for several days . SuraPadma took many  magical forms and finally disappeared and changed to a huge mango tree . Lord Murugan using the mighty Vel cut the tree vertically into two. The evil king while dying greatly repented for his sins.Lord Murugan   changed the two halves of the tree  into two different birds. The two birds were peacock and the domestic cock . Lord Murugan took the peacock as  his vehicle. He took  the cock as his war symbol and put it on his war  banner .After Lord Murugan eliminated the evil Taraka ,Lord Indra gave his daughter in marriage to Lord Murugan. A tribal king also gave his daughter Princess Valli in marriage to Lord Muruga.

(C)

It is well known that a sulime spiritual atmosphere prevails in Thiruchendur throughout the year. Two great festivals are celebrated at Thiruchendur . One is about Lord Murugan’s victory over Taraka and the other about his marriage to Princess Valli . The famous Skanda Purana contains a story. In the moddle decades of 17th century the Dutch colonial soldiers looted the temple and stole a big golden idol of god and were carrying in the ship to their country . Suddenly a very severe storm broke out . The soldiers were frightened treating it has god’s anger.Out of great fear they threw the statue into the sea. Surprisingly the storm too suddenly abated and disappeared and the seas became calm.Later a great devotee of Shiva retrieved the statue from the sea and got it installed in the temple.

During centuries of time the salt laden moist air of the sea caused damage to the temple because it was earlier built using sand-stone type rock .It is said that a sage with his disciples stayed there and and arranged for extensive reconstruction. The reconstruction work is said to have taken nearly 70 years. Two or three generations of workers and sculptors must have toiled to complete the work . Many great religious minded and god-fearing rulers must have spent great amounts of money. The new structures were built  with granite stone instead of earlier sand stone from nearby hills .

Now the temple has three concentric high prakaras protecting the temple from the effects of sea. The  temple complex encloses large area which has a flooring made of granite blocks .The enclosed  area is said to be  90 metersX 65 meters. The temple  is only less than hundred meters from the sea. It is truly  a great engineering masterpiece like the great Rameswaram temple. The temple gopuram is  157 feet high with most beautiful sculptures. The temple has also a 126 pillar mantapam where many religious rituals held. A very spiritual atmosphere exists every day throughout the year.It is said that an  atmosphere of joy and enthusiasm prevails among devotees . The god is worshipped as Bala Murugan (Child Murugan like Child Krishna).

There is also a practice of “Kavadi” a holy religious practice observed by many devotees. It is observed with following  a long period of prayers . Two heavy loads are carried to temple in a “Kavadi” which has two  big pans attached to a long pole. The pans are kept in nets  tied to the pole at the two ends. The kavadi  is carried on his shoulders by the devotee. The two heavy pans generally containing pails of cow’s milk which are presented to god reverentially with a special and humble prayer. The prayer to god is for  curing a dearly loved  family member  from long incurable diseases or as prayer  for requesting god to fulfill some deep personal wishes.

 

(D)

 OUR OWN VISIT TO THIRUCHENDUR TEMPLE

At 6am on 4-8-24 we  went inside the most holy  temple . The guide and his assistants guided us through crowds. They took us to the main temple and later  showed us the many other temples (both of Shiva and Vishnu traditions) in the temple complex. Here Lord Murugan (Lord Kumaraswamy)  is worshipped in child form as “Bala Murugan”. The time period in which our travel was taking place was a very auspicious period .As such at Tiruchendur we saw the streets near the temple   filled for  a kilometer  with huge crowds of thousands of  devotees. During all this long temple  trip we did not see such huge crowds of devotees at any other temple . There were thousands of people  and entire roads were overflowing with people.It was a most wonderful sight.

 

In all the areas in Thiruchendur  we saw many  peacocks . The peacock is  the  vehicle of Lord Murugan . We found many peacocks on the low branches or on low roofs of 
houses and to devotees  it was  a most pleasant sight . The Murugun temple here is very ancient and of gigantic proportions just like temples at Srirangam, Madurai,Sri Villiputhoor and Rameswaram. It  has also long corridors built with rows 20 or 25 feet high pillars with beautiful sculptures.The temple tower here is very  high and is full of most beautiful sculptures of gods.

We had darshan of the great god Lord Muruga in the cave-like inner temple and  then spent  about two hours visiting other temples in the complex moving among the big  crowd .The high temple tower was a big attractive sight near the sea and was a big land mark.We felt blessed visiting this great temple.