Tiruchendur & Nava Tirupati

Started from Rameswaram at 9am and reached Tiruchendur by 1230.

That Tiruchendur is one of the Arupadai Veedus is well known. Nakkeerar's Tirumurugatruppadai and Adi Sankarar's Subramanya Bhujangam are on the Lord. This is also the place where Muruga danced for Arunagirinathar and this is observed during the annual utsavam. The temple poojas are conducted by three sets of priests - a set of Mangalore Brahmins, a set of Sivacharyars and a set of 2,000 priests believed to have been brought by Lord Muruga. This is similar to Chidambaram Dikshitars (Thillai Moovayiravar) and Nambiyars of Avudayarkovil. I remember a member of this sect visiting our home, staying for a few days, to collect money for festivals.

We started from Tiruchendur by 130pm to Tirunelveli. This was the Vaikunda Ekadasi day and we came to know that the Navatirupati temples (Divya Desams) would be open for Darisanam even in the afternoon. This proved really fortuitous and helped us cover all the temples in the plan. Nava Tirupati temples, while clustered   together, need visiting in a sequence to cover in a few hours. This depends upon your starting point - Tirunelveli, Tiruchendur or Thuthukudi. Our sequence for the day was:
Thenthiruperai: 2:30pm
Thirukolur: 3pm
Tholaivillimangalam (Irattai Tirupati): 3:45pm
Tirukulandai: 4:45pm
Alwar Tirunagari: 5:30pm

This is Nammalvar's territory. He is known as Vedam Tamiz Seidha Maran Satagopan, who translated Vedas into Tamil. He is the largest contributor to 4000 Divya Prabandam. His verses are philosophical and you can sort of equate him to Tirumular of Saiva tradition, another big time (3000 verses) philosophical contributor.

The temples were crowded, had to stand in queues. You may be able to see the temples quicker if you go on normal days. The map will help you plan well. Curiously, the temples are being linked, in a rather contrived manner, to Navagrahams. There are photographs of the 'Before & After' versions of the temples after TVS took over the maintenance of the temples. TVS family belongs to Tirukurungudi, a close by Divya Desam.

We reached Tirunelveli at 7pm.