Thiruvenkatamudayan temple, Ariyakudi

About the temple

Ariyakudi is synonymous with the famous Ariyakudi Ramanujar Iyengar and the perumal temple. The presiding deity of the temple is Thiruvenkatamudayan with Sridevi and Bhoodevi thayar. There is a seperate sannadhi for Alarmelmangai thayar in the temple. The temple is popular as Then Tirupathi meaning Tirupathi of the South. The temple is around 400-500 years old and there is a story associated with it.

A devotee used to walk all the way to Tirupathi once a year to visit the temple and deposit the amount given by many other devotees. As he grew old, once while he was walking, he fainted and was unable to walk further. The Lord appeared in his thoughts and told him that he neednt walk anymore and directed him to a nearby place. When he reached there, he found a coconut and tulsi plant as an indication to build a temple there. When the land was being dug up for the construction, the Lord's idol surfaced. The same was installed in the temple and hence the Lord in the temple is a swayambu moorthy.

The temple is famous for fulfilling the wishes of the devotees relating to education, marriage and children. The garuda in the outer prakaram has two lions besides. There is a Narasimhar temple right opposite the main temple.

How to reach

The temple is around 5 kms from Karaikudi and easily acessible through bus and private vehicles.

Sannadhis

Thiruvenkatamudaliyan
Alarmel mangai thayar
Andal
Senai mudaliyar, Chakratazhwar and Vishwaksenar
Desikar
Ramar
Garuda (one in outer prakaram too)

Temple timings

The temple is open in the mornings from 7.30 am to 12 noon and in the evenings from 4.30 pm to 8.30 pm.

Temples in proximity

Thirukosthiyur, Thirumayam, Pillaiyarpatti Vinayagar temple, Kundrakudi Murugan temple

Sri Balaji temple, Narayanpur/ Ketkawle (Maharashtra)

About the temple

The presiding deity of the temple is Sri Balaji and thayar in a seperate sannadhi is Padmavathi thayar. Both of them have striking resemblence to Tirumala Srinivasa and thayar. The structure is also a bit similar to the original Tirumala devasthanam and all the religious activities of the temple are followed in a similar way. The laddoo prasadam given to all devotees is also similar to the ones given at Tirumala.

There are also sannadhis to Venugopala swamy, Chakratalwar and Andal. There is a seperate sannadhi to Kubera the god of wealth outside the main temple. The temple was constructed by Venkateshwara Hatcheries close to one of their plant. The temple is cleanly maintained and the surroundings are very beautiful with mountains.

How to reach

The temple is about 40 kms from Pune and is accessible through two routes. There are buses directly from Swar gate depot although the frequency would be less.

Temple timings

The temple is open from 5 am to 8 pm with closures in between for poojas and neivedyams.

Sri Brahmapureeswarar temple, Seerkazhi

About the temple

The temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is right in the middle of Seerkazhi town. It is a huge temple with four big gopurams on every side. It is a three tier temple similar to the popular Vishnu temple - Sundara varadar temple Uttiramerur, Parameshwara vinnagaram at Kanchi, Thirukoshityur Sowmya Narayana perumal temple and Thirukoodalur at Madurai.

Lord Shiva at the first level is in the form of a Lingam and is called Brahmapureeswarar and Goddess Parvati in a seperate sannadhi is called Thirumala Nayaki. Lord Shiva at the second level is in human form and is really huge. He gives darshan with goddess Parvati and is called Thoni appar wherein Thoni is boat in Tamil. The Lord in the final and third level is called Sattanathar and pooja is done here only on Friday midnights.

Seerkazhi is the birth place of Thirugnana Sambandar- the Shaivite saint and the 14th Thevara sthalam. The place is popular for Goddess Parvati having fed the milk of wisdom to Gnana sambandar when he was a child. There is a seperate sannadhi for the saint in the temple. There is a big tank inside the temple complex and is known as Brahma Theertham.

How to reach

The temple is at a walking distance from the Seerkazhi bus stand. Seerkazhi is around 20 kms from Chidambaram and well connected with important towns around. Seerkazhi is on the Villupuram - Mayavaram rail route.

Temple timings

The temple is open in the mornings from 6 am to 12 noon and in the evenings from 4 pm to 9 pm.

Temples in proximity

Kazhicheerama Vinnagaram, Seerkazhi based divyadesams, Chidambaram Nataraja temple