Sri RajagopalaSwamy Temple, Mannargudi, a Heritage walk on Ponniyin Selvan Meet 2017, Thiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu.

25^th September 2017.

This Perumal temple was covered in the morning session before starting to the Ponniyin Selvan Meet at Thanjavur on 24^th September 2017, from Mannargudi, There is a proverb that the Mannargudi mathil azhagu.. ie the temple wall is beautiful. This temple is not comes under divya desam, but comes under abhimana sthalam. This visit was curated by Miss Abirami.

Moolavar : Sri Rajagopalaswamy,  

Thayar    : Sri Sengamala Thayar

Some of the important features of this temple are...

The temple is facing east with a 11 tier rajagopuram of 152 feet high. Stucco images are from 9^th tier. There are 16 gopuras and Vimanas in this temple. The west side entrance Rajagopuram has the stucco images from level 1, since the old Mannarkudi was on the west side. There are 16 pillar  mandapam and a garuda thoon in front of the Rajagopuram.

Moolavar is in the 7^th prakaram, where as Thayar is in the 5^th prakaram. Moolavar is called as  Vasudeva Perumal and Urchavar is called as Sri Rajagopalaswamy. The temple is called in the name of urchavar. The urchavar was unearthed from the temple pond and his leg will have a kink and this was due to hitting of the spade while digging the temple pond. Urchavar is along with Sridevi and Bhoodevi, Santhana Krishnan. People used to hold Santhana Krishnan and pray for their well being and child birth.

ARCHITECTURE

The temple consists of sanctum sanctorum, antarala, artha mandapam and a mukha mandapam. There are 4 pillar, Vasantha mandapam  and 1000 pillar mandapam.  In the prakarams sannadhi for Yoga narasimhar, Thulasi madam, Kosalai, Manavala mamunigal, Hanuman, Venugopalaswamy, Anantha Padmanabhan and Lakshmi Narasimhar. Paintings of Dashavatara and  Mahabharata  are fitted in the 6^th and 7^th prakaram wall.

Thayar is in a separate temple like sannadhi with Dwajasthambam and balipeedam. Thayar is Sengamala Thayar and urchavar  is Lakshmi Thayar. Thayar is called as “Padi Thanda Pathini”. Ie Thayar will not move out of the temple along with Perumal in any function.

 Dhasavathara reliefs on a pillar

 

 The contributors of this temple Sri Achuthappa Nayakkar, Vijayaraghava Nayakkar & Mrs Shenbaga  Lakshmi  

HISTORY & INSCRIPTIONS

The temple exists before Chozha period. From the inscriptions the place Mannarkudi was called as Rajathi Raja Chaturvedi mangalam and the temple was called as Kulothunga Chozha Vinnagaram.

TEMPLE TIMINGS:

The temple kept opened between 07.00 hrs to 11.00 hrs and 17.00 hrs to 20.30 hrs.

CONTACT DETAILS:

The following numbers may be contacted for further details. +914367 222276, +9194433 43363.

HOW TO REACH:

The temple is almost at the center of the Mannargudi town.

The temple is about a KM from Bus Terminus.

Autos are available from Bus stand.

LOCATION:CLICK HERE

 Thulasi madam on Koormam  

Paintings on the ceiling  

 Pavai vilakku 

 Paintings on 6^th and 7^th Corridors 

 Paintings on 6^th and 7^th Corridors 

 Vahana  

For more Photos are up loaded in my Google+ Photos 

---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---