Tirunelveli & Divya Desams around

On 29th Dec, we started off with Nellaiappar.

Nellaiappar temple is huge, bigger than Madurai. We were told this is 14 acres, Madurai, 12 acres. This is also because in Madurai Meenakshi sannidhi is closer to Sokkanathar whereas Kantimathi is far away from Nellaiappar, almost a separate temple.

The main entrance has some amazing wood work and the musical pillars add to the intricate architectural elements.

A large Perumal  in Kidantha kolam next to the Swamy. Nellai is Tamra Sabhai among Pancha Sabhai. Curiously, this is situated behind the Moola Sthanam, on the North Western side. Nataraja Sannidhi's usually on the North Eastern side. We come out of the Swamy sannidhi and walk along a long corridor on the southern side to reach Ambal. There is a big tank, a number of Ayyappa pilgrims taking bath & doing their morning poojais. Kanthimathi Ambal moves you, an inscription of Sri Kanthimathim, by Veenai Brothers of Tirunelveli.

Sambandar has sung a padigam, describing the natural beauty of Nellai. Photos

Then, we completed the three remaining Nava Thirupathis, Sri Vaikuntam, Varagunamangai and Tirupulinkudi. The temples were just recovering from the busy Vaikunta Ekadasi, the previous day. Pandals were getting dismantled, floors scrubbed etc etc. We were perhaps the only set of sevarthis.

From Varagunamangai, we traced back to Nellai and then onto Vanamamalai also known as Nanguneri also known as Tirucheevaramangai. This is one of the Swayamvakta Kshetrams. The temple is managed by the Vanamamalai mutt. There is an oil well, where oil after the abhishekam is stored. The temple employee tells us the oil well has a depth of  20 feet.

From here, we drove to Thirukurunkudi. The village is quite idyllic, with green fields, cloudy mountains. The temple, with just the base of Rajagopuram looks majestic. We will need 4-6 hours to visit all the temples here. Thirumangai Azwar, the multiskilled Azwar was stoned to death here. This is also the ancestral village of the TVS family. Photos.