Two Lesser Known Temples of Lord Murugan
My daughter in law Vidya Subramanian had been invited to give carnatic music concerts at Srirangam and Viralimalai. I asked her to accept the invitations as I had heard of Viralimalai and was keen to visit the place.
We decided to drive to Srirangam and started on a Saturday morning. I had known of another temple which was almost on the way between Tindivanam and Villupuram. It is about 25 kilometres fro Tindivanam. One has to take a detour of about 5 kilometres from the highway to reach the Murugan Temple
This temple was built in the 18th century but the sanctum sanctorum seems to have existed for five centuries according the temple staff. The temple looks beautiful and attempts are being made to keep it clean.
The deity sits on a peacock. It was stated that the place had many peacocks but we were unable to see any. They were all huddled up near a Vinaka temple and we could not go there.
According to the Sthala Purana, Soorapadma took the form of a peacock in Mailam and begged Murugan to take him as his vehicle (Vahana). There is a swmiji who lives in the temple premises but we were unable to see him as he was engaged in pooja. The temple is visited more by the poorer sections of the society. Here are two pictures of the temple.
He second temple we visited was at Viralimalai which is about 30 km from Trichy on the Madurai Highway
A number of saints are supposed to have worshipped the lord here. Saint Arunagirinathar has coined some verses in praise of the lord here.
A peculiar thing about the offering here: Daily after the pooja, as neivedhyam, cigar is offered.
The temple is managed by a group of trustees who are doing good work. Here are some pictures:
No comments:
Post a Comment