Introduction
Nellaiappar Temple is an ancient popular Shiva Temple situated in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Here Lord Shiva is worshipped as Nellaiappar and his consort Ma Parvati is worshipped as Kanthimathi Amman. The temple is situated on the banks of the sacred River Thamirabarani. This temple was glorified by the Nayanmar Saints during the 7th century AD, and their divine songs on Lord Nellaiyappar were mentioned in the Shaivite Holy Text, Tevaram.
Apart from the main shrines, the temple contains shrines of various other deities, and the temple follows daily rituals at different times from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and six yearly festivals are being excellently celebrated at this temple. Annual Brahmotsavam festival takes place during the Tamil month of Aani (June–July), and it is being nicely celebrated in the temple. This temple is believed to have been built by the Pandyas, and later several structures were added by the Cholas, Pallavas, Cheras, and Madurai Nayaks. I have visited this temple during my childhood, and during that time, I used to surprisingly see the enthusiastic bats which would busily fly on the top of the temple premises.
During ancient times, Nellaiappar Temple was also known as Venuvananatha Swamy Temple, since this temple was surrounded with thick dense forest. There are also plenty of stone inscriptions found inside the temple. We can also find a big statue of Nandi (Lord Nandikeswarar), which looks similar to the one which could be found in the Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar Temple, and if we look closer, we could feel that Lord Nandi showers his friendly smile on us. Navaratri, Shivaratri and Arudra Darisanam are some of the most important festivals celebrated at this temple.
Tirunelveli is famous for the delicious sweet Halwa, and similar to that, Lord Nellaiappar tastes like a wonderful sweet, and once if we have the darshan of Lord Nellaiappar and Ma Gandhimathi, we could feel as if we taste a nice Tirunelveli Halwa! The sweetness present in the divine deities could be known only if we keep on thinking about them, and by making frequent travels to the famous temples like Lord Nellaiappar. The proper solution for solving our problems is to make sufficient pilgrimages, since Tirtha Yatra alone could remove our various types of problems, sins and diseases!
“OM MA GANDHIMATI SAMEDHA THIRU NELLAIAPPARE NAMAHA”
Sent BY
R.Hari Shankar
