Parijatha Vaneswarar Temple

Getting there

• By air

  Tiruchirappalli International Airport is the nearest airport to Mannargudi. It gives easy access to Namakkal, Karuru, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Ariyalur and Perambalur districts.

• By train

  Mannargudi railway station is on an 18 km branch line that joins the Needamangalam rail line.

• By road

  The temple is about 21 km from Mannargudi, on the road to Thiruthuraipoondi.

Why devotees come here

Parijatha Vaneswarar Temple stands at Tirukalar in Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu, about 21 km from Mannargudi. Shiva is worshipped here as Parijatha Vaneswara, with Devi Amudhavalli. It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, the shrines sung in the Thevaram hymns.

Saints Sambandar and Thirunavukkarasar sang the temple's praises in the Thevaram, the hymns of the Saivite saints. Legend says the sage Durvasa installed a Shivalinga under a parijatha tree here and created a spring. He brought rare parijatha flowers from Devaloka, the celestial world, and planted them. Pleased with his penance, Shiva granted him a vision of his Brahma Tandava dance.

Legend also says Durvasa built the temple with the help of the architect Vishwakarma. According to scriptures, he performed the first consecration, the kumbhabhishekam. The main gateway tower, the Rajagopuram, is 80 feet high, has five tiers and faces east.

Inside the outer mandapam, the outer hall, stands the shrine of Ashtabhuja Durga, shown seated on her lion vehicle. A separate shrine to Akora Veerabhadra faces west.

Tips for your visit

• When you look up buses or trains, search for Mannargudi, since all the distances on this page are measured from that town.
• Two side shrines are worth a look: the Ashtabhuja Durga shrine in the outer hall, and the separate Akora Veerabhadra shrine, which faces west.

Questions people ask