Temples around Sirkazhi - Karaikal

About the Destination

The trip was primarily planned to cover ancient temples in and around Sirkazhi, Karaikal, and across them. We planned to visit a few of the 276 Padal Petra Sathalangal of Lord Shiva and a cluster of 108 Divya Desams at Annan Koil (Thirunangur).

Trip members: Karthik, Vijay, Siva, and TP
Trip date:  17, 18, 19 May 2019
Trip Plan : Sirkazhi - Tharangambadi - Karaikal

Route :: Chennai - Cuddalore - Sirkazhi - Tharangambadi - Karaikal - Chidambaram - Panruti - Tindivanam - Chennai

Night Stay at Sirkazhi

We started by Friday evening by car around 5 PM and reached Sirkazhi around 10 PM. The plan was to visit a few temples around Sirkazhi - Karaikal and on the way visit Tharangambadi. The temple trip is covered in this blog while blog to share the experiences at Tharangambadi is here.

We had dinner at Cuddalore - Hotel Anandha Bhavan. We had typical south Indian items like dosa, poori, and other items. All were quite good and so was the service. We had our rooms booked at Hotel Grand White Palace at Sirkazhi. We reached Sirkazhi by 10:15 PM and checked in. The hotel rooms were spacious, comfortable, nice mattress, and clean rooms. The sleep quality was very good. Parking is available at the hotel.

Day-1

Temples of Sirkazhi

We started the day by 6 AM and the plan was to complete 3 temples within Sirkazhi before moving out of the town towards Karaikal.

Temple Name: Sri Brahmapureesar Temple / Shri Sattainathar Temple

Deity: Sri Brahmapureesar / Shri Sattainathar, Tirunilai Nayaki
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Stalams. The temple has three different Shiva shrines in three stories. The three shrines are - Shivalingam (Brahmapureesar), a colossal image of Uma Maheswarar (Toniappar) at the medium level, and Bhairavar (Sattanathar) at the upper level. The temple is also known for the legend of Sambandar. Sambandar as an infant was blessed with poetic abilities by Goddess Parvathi.
Timing : 6:00 AM to 1:00 PM, 4 PM to 9 PM.
Parking: Parking space available outside the temple.
Additional Info: The temple is located in the main area in Sirkazhi and easy to locate.
Google Maps location code: NCN014

Temple Name: Tirukkolakka Shiva Temple

Deity: Sri Shabdapureesar / Thaalapureeswarar, Osai Kodutta Nayaki
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Stalams. Sambandar was blessed with golden cymbals in this place. Hence, known as Taalam Udaiyar Kovil.
Timing : 7:30 AM to 11:00 AM, 4:30 PM to 8 PM.
Parking: Parking space available outside the temple.
Additional Info: 1.5 km from Shri Sattainathar Temple
Google Map Code: NCN015

Temple Name : Sri Thiruvikkrama Perumal Temple (Divya Desam)

Deity : Thadalan, Lokanayaki
About: This is one of the 108 Divya Desam Temples. Lord Vishnu is in Vamana avatar in this temple with his left leg above his head and questioning where to put his next foot.
Timing : 7:30 AM to 11:30 AM, 4:30 PM to 8 PM.
Parking: Parking near the temple.
Additional Info: The temple is located 1 km from the Sattainathar Temple.

We then had breakfast at the Hotel Chola Inn. We were the only ones to be present for breakfast and it looked like they were surprised. They took some time to serve puri, dosa, and idlies. They were good. We then set the direction towards the next cluster of temples towards Karaikal.

Annan Koil - 11 Divya Desam Temples

The next destination is Annan Koil which is 8 km from Sirkazhi. There are 11 Divya Desam temples in this circuit (Nangur Vishnu Temples) around Annan Koil in a distance of 5-7 km; out of which we visited 9 of them. We gave two of them a miss - Madhava Perumal Temple and Thiru Paarthanpalli due to time. The information about these temples is tabulated here for quick understanding instead of briefing separately.

For all the temples, parking is just near the temple through narrow roads or in front of the temple. There are local people who offer to come as a guide for Rs.100. We did it ourselves with the help of Google maps. Almost all the temples are open from 8 AM - 11 AM and 5 PM to 7 PM.

Lord Shiva started dancing in anger and fury at this place after the death of Goddess Uma due to the yajna (sacrifice) of Daksha. Each time Lord Shiva's lock of hair touched the ground, there were eleven forms of Shiva who appeared and this gave birth to an endless number of it continues. Other deities were worried that if the dance continues, it would result in severe destruction. Lord Vishnu came for help, Shiva's anger was reduced and he requested Vishnu to appear in eleven forms like he did. Lord Vishnu appeared in eleven different forms at Tiru Nangur. Hence, the eleven temples in Tirunangur are located.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temple Name: Thalachangadu Shiva Temple

Deity: Sri Shankarunadheshvarar / Sri Sankaaranyeswarar, Soundara Nayaki
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Stalams. This temple is a Mada kovil - in an elevated platform. This temple is where Lord Vishnu got the Conch (Shangu) as His weapon from Lord Shiva. The temple has a sanctum for Lord Vishnu also.
Timing : 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 5 PM to 7 PM.
Parking: Parking space available outside the temple by narrow lanes.
Additional Info: The temple is located 17 km from Sirkazhi on the left side towards Tharangambadi - 100 m from the highway - Opposite to the temple - Sri Naan Madhiya Perumal Temple.
Google Map Code: SCN045

Temple Name : Sri Naan Madhiya Perumal Temple (Divya Desam 25 - Thalaichangadu)

Deity : Naan Madhiya Perumal
About: This is one of the 108 Divya Desam Temples. This temple is a place where people wishing for a blessing from Moon come and pray. Lord Vishnu helped Chandra to get out of the sins committed and wore him as his ornament.
Timing : 9 AM – 12:30 PM ; 3 PM – 5:30 PM
Parking: Parking on the road near the temple.
Additional Info: The temple is located 17 km from Sirkazhi on the right side towards Tharangambadi - 200 m from the highway - Opposite to the temple SCN045.

Tharangambadi (Tranquebar)

The weather was absolutely hot by then around 11 AM. By 11 AM, most of the temples shall be closed. We decided to go to Tharangambadi from thereon and reached Tharangambadi by 12:30. We had Nongu and Tender coconut on the way. The travel experience with Tharangambadi is shared in a separate blog here.

Post Tharangambadi, we reached Karaikal by 1:30 PM. We had lunch at Hotel Sri Kandaas. They have an air-conditioned dining room on the first floor. The meals were quite ok, typical south Indian meals, good service, hot rice and a lot of veggies. parking is difficult; need to stop in adjacent streets. We then checked into the Hotel Uniq Inn. Uniq Inn is located on a shopping complex building on the 4th floor. Parking is in the open area by the front side of the building; no restaurant. The rooms are quite spacious, lift available, clean mattresses, and bathrooms. No frills place, some mess like hotels available nearby, and nothing more. Not suggested for people not coming by their cars as access to temples, bus stand, and restaurant is difficult.

After taking some rest, we left the rooms by 4:30 with the plan to visit three temples in Karaikal and the beach. We skipped Thirunallar temple as it was a Full moon day and a lot of rush could be there.

Temple Name : Tirumeniazhagar Temple (Thiruvettakudi)

Deity: Sri Thirumeniyazhagar (Sri Sundareswarar), Soundara Nayaki, Lord Punnaivananathar
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Stalams. This temple is a locally very popular temple with 2 sanctums for Lord Shiva. Lord Punnaivananathar is behind the main sanctum of Sri Sundareswarar and gets all the abhisekhams. Arjuna performed Penance here and obtained the Pasupathasthiram from Lord Shiva in this place. Lord Shiva came as in hunter form with Parvathy and argued with Arjuna for a hunted boar. Upon convincing in the argument, Arjuna got the Pasupathasthiram from Lord Shiva.
Timing : 6:30 AM to 12:00 PM, 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM.
Parking: Parking space available outside the temple.
Additional Info: The temple is located close to the entry point of Karaikal from Tharangambadi. One needs to go for a km from the ECR to reach the temple - Temple arch can be seen on the main road.
Google Map Code: SCN049

 

Temple Name : Karaikal Ammaiyar Temple / Somanathar

Deity : Karaikal Ammaiyar / Somanathar
About: This is one of the popular Shiva temples in Karaikal and the home place of Karaikal Ammaiyar, a staunch Shiva devotee. This is the place where Chandra lost his beauty and prayed to Lord Shiva to regain the same. There is a shrine for Karaikal Ammaiyar as well as Lord Shiva.
Timing : 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 5 PM to 7 PM.
Parking: Parking space available outside the temple by narrow lanes.
Additional Info: The temple is located 1 km from Karaikal bus stand on the ECR road.

 

Temple Name: Yazhmurinathar Temple, Dharumapuram

Deity: Yazhmurinathar / Dharmapureeswarar, Thenamirthavalli
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Stalams. A 5 tiered gopuram and the temple is known for Lord Shiva granted darshan for Yama after Yama tried to take the life of Markandeya. Yama's sin was banished here. Another legend is that Yazhpanar, the instrumentalist (Yazh) with Sambanthar for these songs, could not play for a song of Sambanthar and decided to break the Yazh. Lord Shiva himself appeared and played the Yazh and also danced for it at Dharumapuram.
Timing : 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 5 PM to 9 PM.
Parking: Parking outside the temple.
Additional Info: The temple is located around 3 km from Karaikal bus stand and 1.5 km from Karaikal Ammaiyar temple.
Google map code: SCN051

 

Evening by the Beach

After visiting the above temples, it was 6 PM by then. We then visited Karaikal Beach. The parking area and beach are quite distant when compared to many other beaches across Tamilnadu. The beach was quite slushy as well. Policemen were sending back people by 6 PM and not allowed after - a sorry state definitely. There is a park-like place with shops on one side of the beach, which we did not go. Not a great beach and can give it a miss.

 

We returned back to the rooms by 8 PM. We had dinner at a small mess - hot idlies recommended at the reception of Uniq Inn. The idlies were piping hot with sambhar and 2 chutneys and were excellent. The idlies were disappearing as were got ready so fast. A very long day and we were all very tired to hit the bed immediately.

Day-2         Ancient Shiva temples

We had planned around 6 temples to see on Day-2 before starting the drive back to Chennai. Most of the temples planned were remote ones and we were sure that they shall start after 8 or 9 AM only. We started the day by 7 AM and visited one of the temples which we could not see because of Paurnami poojas on Day-1 in Karaikal.

Temple Name: Karai Koilpathu Shiva Temple / Parvatheeswarar Temple, Karaikal

Deity: Sri Parvatheeswarar, Parvathi Amman
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams. This temple is a locally very popular temple locally. The temple is built in a way that the sun rays fall for 10 days on the main deity Linga in Tamil month of Panguni. Chaya Devi, wife of Sun reported that her husband is not affectionate to her and her father cursed Sun. This made the Sun lose its shine. Sun prayed to Lord Shiva to regain the shine and this place then onwards called Bhaskara Lingam.
Timing : 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 4:00 PM to 8:30 PM.
Parking: Parking outside the temple on the road.
Additional Info: The temple is located close to Karaikal bus stand within 1 km.
Google Map Code: SCN050

We had breakfast at Hotel Raman opposite to Karaikal bus stand. The Tiffen items were all good and very big portions. One item was more than enough for a person to have. The quality was also quite good here, better than other places in Karaikal.

The rest of the temples we planned to attend very remote on single roads and google maps were good enough to reach. We ended up going to each of the temples we planned, however only 3 of them were open - one after calling the person and waiting for 1 hour - Parasalur Shiva Temple, which disappointed and delayed us to complete our plan. Each of the remote temples was one of 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams of Lord Shiva and were not operated as per the temple timings :(

Temple Name: Thiru Vilanagar Shiva Temple (Vilanagar)

Deity : Sri Thuraikattum Vallalar / Uchira Vallalar, Veyuru Tholi Ammai
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Stalams. The temple is located 7 km east of Mayiladuthurai. Sambandar could not cross the place because of heavy floods in river Cauvery. The saint was looking for some help and Lord Shiva in the disguise of hunter helped with directions.
Timing : 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM.
Parking: Parking space available outside the temple.
Additional Info: The temple is located 7 km from Mayiladuthurai on the way to Sembanar Koil - SCN042. Temple arch can be seen on the main road.
Google Map Code: SCN040

Temple Name: Sembanarkoil Shiva Temple (Tiruchemponpalli)

Deity: Sri Swarnapureesar Temple / Semponar Temple, Maruvar Kulazhi
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Stalams. Sun rays fall on the main deity for 12 days in the month of Chithirai. This is as a result of Sun being blessed by Lord Shiva for curing his illness. Also, Lord Parvathy performed penance here to wash her sins for stopping her father Daksha's  Yagna, for which Lord Shiva was not invited and the Goddess was instrumental to invoke Veerabadhra form from the Lord.
Timing : 6:00 AM to 11:00 AM, 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM.
Parking: Parking space available outside the temple.
Additional Info: The temple is located around 10 km from Mayiladuthurai; at Sembanar Koil. Temple arch can be seen on the main road.
Google Map Code: SCN042

Temple Name: Parasalur Shiva Temple (Tiruppariyalur)

Deity: Sri Veeratteswarar, Dhakshapureeswarar
About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Stalams. This temple is one of the Ashta Veerataanam temples - the ones that were formed as a result of Lord Shiva beheading Dakshan by performing Thandavam - called Daksha Samhara Moorthy. This temple is the place where Dakshan performed the Yagna and got beheaded by Veerabhadra. Since Daksha was a king, Lord Shiva after beheading him is known as the King and one needs to kneel down to worship and walk backward to come out of the main prakaram. The temple is very special and serene. It is said that this place all the rishis and tapashvis were present here and regarded as Dhakshina Naimisharanyam.
Timing : 6:30 AM to 12:00 PM, 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM.
Parking: Parking space available outside the temple.
Additional Info: The temple is located 4 km southwest of Semponar temple through narrow streets across the green paddy fields.
Google Map Code: SCN041

 

We then visited 2 more temples of the Padal Patra Sthalam temples and they were closed - Ponjai Shiva temple and Akkur Shiva temple. We then started towards Chennai via Chidambaram, Panruti - GST. En route, we stopped at Maleswaran Kovil - Lord Shiva as Dhakshinapureswarar. This is a new brick temple - Mada Koil for Lord Shiva built privately. We visited this temple for a few moments and started back to Chennai.

 

We stopped at Chidambaram for lunch at Hotel Krishna Vilas. We had meals, which was absolute homely, and reached Chennai around 5:00 PM.

Tharangambadi (Tranquebar) - The only Danish Fort of India

About the Destination

Tharangambadi has the second-largest Danish Fort in India? Do you know that? Not just that, this fort is also the only Danish fort of India! Tharangambadi used to host Danish settlements by the sea in the 17th century. During this period, Fort Dansborg was constructed by the Danes.

Trip Plan

Trip members: Karthik, Vijay, Siva, and TP
Trip date:  18 May 2019
Trip Plan : Sirkazhi - Tharangambadi - Karaikal

Route :: Chennai - Cuddalore - Sirkazhi - Tharangambadi - Chidambaram - Panruti - Tindivadam - Chennai

We started by Friday evening and reached Sirkazhi. The plan was to visit a few temples around Sirkazhi on the way to Tharangambadi. The temple trip is covered in the blog here. This blog is to share the experiences at Tharangambadi.

Tharangambadi

We reached Tharangambadi by 12:30. Tharangambadi is 15 km before Karaikal by the ECR. The Danish fort - only of its kind in the country is right by the beach. Tharangambadi town is quite small and is welcomed by a Danish Arch. The Danish colony was established in 1620 in the understanding of the then Tanjore king of Nayaks. The Danes were paying tributes to the king for allowing them to establish their colony by the port town.

The places of interest in the town of Tharangambadi are as below:

• Fort Dansborg
• Tharangambadi Arch (Gateway of Tranquebar)
• New Jerusalem Church
• Zion Church
• Tharangambadi Maritime Museum
• Governor House
• Tharangambadi Beach
• Masilamaniswarar Shiva Temple

As one enters Tharangambadi, the first thing to notice on the King's street is the Arch - Gateway of Tranquebar. This landmark is quite well preserved and is a photo spot.

The Churches

As we move ahead by the King's street, on the right side comes the New Jerusalem church. This is the largest in the town. There is one more at the end of the town on the other side, which we did not visit for the interest of time. Next, by the left is Zion church.

The Maritime Museum

We visited the Tharangambadi maritime museum at the end of the King's street. They take an entry fee of Rs.5 per person. The Tharangambadi maritime museum has displays of preserved sea life, shells, models of boat, utensils, costumes, paintings, and little more that were used by the Danes. They also have a small Indian stamp collection. The churches, museums, and the fort are well maintained even to date.

Governor's bungalow

We then visited the Danish Governor's bungalow which is just next to Tharangambadi maritime museum. The Governor's bungalow was one of the damaged and not maintained building and has been renovated recently. There is no entry fee for this. We spent around 10 minutes here to see the arched structure inside.

The Danish Fort

The Danish fort called Fort Dansborg is by the sea. There is a lot of parking space around and small shops for quick refreshments. The fort is open for the public from 10 AM to 5:45 PM; Friday is a holiday. The entry fee for the fort is Rs.5 per person and Rs.3 for the child. The 17th-century fort was built as the fort was a flourishing port and handled the majority of trade on this coastline. Ultimately, after British occupied India, this port lost its shine and Tharangambadi was also taken over from the Danes. The fort walls can be walked upon and get a good view of the beach and sea. The fort has chambers for the granary, storage, wine cellar, gun storeroom, and alike.

There is a small museum as well in the fort with displays of used items by the Danes. We spent around 20-25 minutes in the fort. One gets a nice view of the fort from the beach too.

The Beach

The beach is quite nice and picturesque. The landing plaque for the boats is ruined and gives an element to photographers. The Masilamanieswarar temple is right by the beach and is in ruins. We did not visit the temple as it was getting hot by 1 PM.

We then reached Karaikal for stay and continue with our spree of visiting historic and ancient temples around. Tharangambadi is definitely a good time pass for people visiting the surrounding areas like Thirunallar, Vaitheswaran temple, Sirkazhi, and around. Do include this in your plan and have fun!