Mutharamman Temple, Tiruchendur

The Sri Mutharamman Temple is located in Kulasekharapatnam near Thiruchendur in the Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu. It is 300 years old.^[1] Navarathiri festival is the grandest festival in this temple. More than 1,500,000 devotees celebrate together here.

About

Literally means Kulasekarapandian(Maharaja)+Pattinam(town)/The town is named as Kulasekarapattinam when Maharaja Kulasekarapandian was ruling the city, one day he had a darshan of the Goddess directly. Henceforth the town has been named after the Maharaja.

Description

In this temple Goddess Muththaramman and Swami Gnanamoorthiswarar vigraham are installed combined together. This is also one of the special features of the temple. Such a combined vigraham is not found elsewhere. In the Garbhagriha, Swami and Goddess shower their blessings to the devotees as Swayambu Murthigal.

The temple consists of three Mandapams namely, Artha Mandapam, Maha Mandapam and Kodi Mandapam.

Artha Mandapam

It is situated next to the Garbhagriha.

Maha Mandapam

Next to the Artha Mandapam, is the Maha mandapam, where Pechiamman, Karuppaswamy and Bairavar are showering their blessings to the devotees.

Kodi mandapam

Next to the Maha Mandapam one can find a 32 feet height Kodimaram which is fully covered with brass. At the bottom of the Kodimaram you can see a square consists of Ambal & Swami, as one side, Astira devar on the other side, Lord Vinayaga on the third side, on the fourth side Lord Balasubramaniyan statues are molded in the Brass.

Every Day Pooja Timings

Kalai Santhi (Morn): 08.00am

Uchi Kalam (Noon): 12.00pm

Sayaratchhai (Eve): 5.30pm

Rathiri (Night): 8.30pm

Dasara-10 days Navaratri festival

Dasara day is considered a most auspicious day. It is a time-honoured belief that if any new venture is started on this day, it is bound to be successful. Hence, all the undertakings be it laying of foundation of a new building, opening of a new commercial establishment or even initiating a child into the world of learning- are started on this day.

In this temple Dasara is being celebrated as a big festival. Lakhs of people are assemble here to celebrate this festival. This temple stands unique amongst the other temples, which celebrates Dasara. The same Dasara itself is celebrated here as a 12-day function instead of 9 days(Navaratri).

History behind this Dusshera festival

Once upon a time due to the curse of saint Agathiyar, The saint Varamuni became a man with a buffalow head. The term “Magisam” means buffalow. Since he had a buffalow head he was called Magisasuran. With his continuous meditation and strenuous effort Magisasuran gained more power and dominated all over the world. To condemn the domination of the Magisasuran the saints approached the Goddess and informed the hardship done by Magisasuran. Then with the power of Goddess there appears a female baby. The baby was named as Lalithambigai. The baby grown up within 9 days and on the 10th day she grew as Annai Parasakthi Lalithambigai with lots of anger came strongly and destroyed Magisasuran and this day (i.e.,) 10th day is being celebrated as Dusshera. The growth occurred by Annai Parasakthi during the nine days are resumed as Navarathiri. The first three days for Malaimagal, the second three days as Alaimagal, and the last three days as Kalaimagal. After the Goddess Annai Parasakthi demolished Magisasuran she was called as Magisasura Marthini. At last the Goddess came to this city and settled and showered her blessing to all the devotees. The devotees whoever wants to observe vridham should do so for 41 days continuously, and during the dusshera(10 days) they should dress like the god/goddess and should not do any mischief, leaving all bad habits, and should be pure at body, mind and soul. One more thing is that whoever wants to dress up like “Goddess KALI” should be more cautious than others, since people come to them for blessings. People can dress up like any God and Goddess according to their prayers and wishes. Navaraathri Avadharam and their Rewards

Location

Sri Mutharmman temple is located at Kulasekhara pattinam village near Tiruchendur 55 km south of Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu, India) on the East coast Road en route to Kanya Kumari. The DASARA celebrations in September/October every year are second to that of Mysore (Kanataka,India). The uniqueness and oddity of the festival is that the devotees need not spend from their pocket. They are expected to beg alms from door to door and a token offerings only is expected to be offered at shrine after meeting out their expenses. On the climatic day the sea shores of this otherwise deserted coastal village turns into veritable carnival of folk music and folk dance of the devotees in their chosen fancy dresses to either solicit the grace of or to thank for the boon granted by presiding deity sri Muthramman considered to be the incarnation of SAKTHI the consort of LORD SHIVA in Hinduism. More than 1.5 million people gather here year after year on the tenth day after new moon day in the month purattasi (September/October) according to the Tamil calendar.

References