Sankaranarayanar Temple

Getting there

• By air

  Tuticorin Airport is the nearest, about 95.4 km away. Madurai and Thiruvananthapuram are the nearest international airports, 120 km and 148 km away.

• By train

  Sankarankovil Railway Station (code SNKL) is a major railhead in Tenkasi district.

• By road

  Sankarankovil sits at the junction of State Highways 41 and 76. The town is on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats.

Why devotees come here

Sankaranarayanar Temple is in Sankarankovil, a town in Tenkasi district, Tamil Nadu. It houses Sankara Narayanan, a deity who is half Shiva and half Vishnu. The town lies on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats.

Folklore says devotees of Hari (Vishnu) and Shiva once quarrelled over which of the two was more powerful. Shiva then appeared as Sankaranarayanar to show them that Hari and Shiva are one and the same. The story is told as folklore, not as recorded history.

The town was earlier called Sankaranayinarkoil. The temple is said to have been built by King Ugra Pandiyan, a date given as 900 BC. Legend says the king took the site as a sign that the deity wished to stay, and built the temple and a city around it. Devotees believe the Nagachunai, the town's sacred tank, was dug by the serpent kings Paduman and Sangam.

Sankarankovil is one of the eight taluks that Tenkasi district was formed from. The district was once part of Tirunelveli district. Sankarankoil is also one of the revenue divisions of Tenkasi district, along with Tiruvengadam and Sivagiri. The sand of the temple is known as puttrumann. Puttru means ant hill, and mann means sand.

Tips for your visit

• Get off at the Anna Bus Stand near the municipality office, the main bus stand in town.
• SETC buses run from the town to Ooty, Munnar, Madurai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Palakkad, Calicut, Dindigul and Hosur.

Questions people ask