The weekend before last, I had been to Trichy. To begin with, the road from Tindivanam to Trichy was very bad, thanks to the work going on for converting the highway to a four-lane one. I would say it is better not to go via this road till the work is over, which is around April 2009! I visited quite a few temples at Trichy. I am going to just write whatever I remember about each temple. These temples are already famous ones. So you might already know about them. Due to time constraint, I was able to take very few photos only.
Uttamar Kovil
Uttamar Kovil, also known as Bikshandar Kovil, is situated a few kms before Trichy while you are going from Madras. It is one of the 108 divya desams. The uniqueness about this temple is that all the trimurtis, Siva, Vishnu and Brahma, are present here along with their consorts. Vishnu here is in the form of Purushottamar (so the name of the temple is Uttamar kovil), in Bhujangasayanam. PoorvAdevi thAyAr is also present along with the perumAL in the same sannidhi as the perumAL. Poornavalli is the other thAyAr. Separate sannidhis are there for BikshAndEswarar, Soundara PArvati (representing Lord Shiva and His consort), Brahma and Saraswati too. The other deities present in this temple are: AndAL, varadarAjaperumAL (whose idol is so tall!), venugopAlaswamy, rAma, vinAyakar, dakshiNAmurty, durgai, subramaniyar, saneeswaran, Anjaneyar, etc. – As you can see, both the deities generally present in Siva temple as well as perumAL temples are present here. Though this is not as big a temple as many old ones are generally, this is a very nice one. Since it was on a Saturday that I visited this temple, it was a bit crowded.
I liked the view from the bridge over Utthamar kovil that had the gOpuram of Srirangam temple and the railway track running over the river, koLLidam. The view of the gOpuram of Srirangam temple when travelling by the bridge over koLLidam was also too good. And so was the view of the ucchi piLLayar kovil when travelling by the bridge over KAveri River. All these would make for great photos! Here are a few snaps taken while travelling over the bridges. Since these were taken from inside a car, the view wouldn’t be as great as the one when taken from a higher level like bus.
Srirangam
Amazed on seeing the temple! This is also again, one of the 108 divya desams. Such a beautiful temple with so many deities to be seen that you would need to spend the whole day at the temple to see it completely! The beauty of these sorts of old temples is that you just need to enter the temple and you will experience the divine atmosphere immediately. The golden gOpuram, a lot of sculptures on all the gOpurams, the beautiful idols of Sri RanganAthaswamy, the gigantic Garuda, Hanuman, the tall idols of kodanDa rAmar, sitA (should notice the anklets on sitA’s legs! Beautiful), Lakshmana, a tall AnDAL (again notice AnDAL’s anklets!), Hayagreevar, the many perumALs including Srinivasa perumAL, vittal krishnar, etc. – the list is endless!
Since the thAyAr sannidhi was closed when we went, we had to return without getting a darshan of thAyAr. I wanted to take so many photos at the temple. The next time I go there, I will make sure I have enough time for taking photos.
kAttazhagiya singaperumAL
This is a very small temple near Srirangam that has a gigantic narasimhar/singaperumAL along with His consort sitting on His lap (Lakshminarasimhar). The temple is supposed to have been inside a forest and hence the name. Even now we can see a lot of greenery and trees surrounding the temple. Apart from narasimhar, the only other deity that I remember being there is a small piLLayAr on a pillar.
Tiruvaanaikaaval
This is one of the Panchabhoota stalams and it represents the element, water. Even today water is continuously coming out naturally from the floor in front of the Siva lingam. JambukEswarar and akilAnDEswarI are the presiding deities. Jambukeswarar is present at a little lower level from the ground. Make sure you get the special ticket and go down and see the Siva lingam from close quarters. (I don’t know whether special tickets are needed usually. But on the day when I had gone, special tickets were being sold) It is on the akilAnDESwarI here, has Sri Mutthuswamy Dikshitar composed the beautiful kriti, akilAnDESwarI in raagam, Dwijawanti. A photo of the gOpuram of the temple and the gOpuram of piLLayar sannidhi below the main gOpuram: (Since it was getting dark already, photos haven’t come out well!)
Ucchi piLLayAr kovil
It was late in the evening when we reached the ucchi piLLayAr temple. The place around the temple tank was so crowded that it made me feel that the crowd in Ranganathan Street might be better! Considering that it was the Saturday after Diwali, why was the place still so crowded? Made me wonder if people ever get tired of shopping!
The ucchi piLLayAr temple has three temples, that of mANikka vinAyagar at the foot of the hill, thAyumAnaswamy kovil (MAtrubhootEswarar) at the middle and the ucchi piLLayAr on top of the hill. There were some beautiful paintings on the ceiling at the thAyumAnaswamy temple – paintings in the shape of some animals including elephant that on first glance, appear to be just a painting of some historic incident, but on careful observation, are in shapes representing some animals. A set of steep steps carved on rock have to be climbed to reach the ucchi piLLayAr temple.
By the time I reached the top, I was so tired! But the amazing view of the city that presented itself on reaching the top of the hill made me forget my tiredness! Since it was late evening, the whole city was illuminated with lights and presented a dazzling view. But I felt refreshed not until I had a cool drink. It must be really difficult for all those shopkeepers continuously carrying trays after trays of cool drink bottles to the top. But think about the workers who would have, hundreds of years ago, climbed the rocky hill and carved all the steps and built the temple that is now termed as an excellent piece of architecture!
This was a trip that yet again, made me marvel at the beauty of the old temples, that not only make an amazing piece of architecture but have also preserved in them the divine atmosphere.
P.S.: It would be great if the bloggers from Trichy can add more info on these temples in and around Trichy and correct the mistakes in this post, if any. 🙂
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good post 😉
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anyways saithikkaley mundhi tharupathu A 🙂
good post
Adiya,
Thank you!
>saithikkaley mundhi tharupathu A
enakku onnum puriyalaye! 😕
I know Tamil fonts don’t get displayed in my blog. I have to see why it isn’t getting displayed. I am deleting your error message comment.
Romba yosichu photo eduthaapla theriyudhu – If you are that kind of type – dont shy away searching for a good angle and shooting one !!
Have you been to kumbakonam..if not or if you are – try getting someone who can tell you about the Temple – the songs that were sang/written there and the sthalapuranam. One place even an athiest wouldnt mind visiting for its grandeur !!
Good post
Sreekrishnan,
Nope. enakku yosikka kooda time illa. I clicked all photos in a hurry actually. Was not even sure whether these would come out well. Also the photos from the bridges and the last 2 photos of Srirangam temple were taken from a moving car!
I haven’t visited the Kumbakonam temple recently. Don’t remember anything about my previous visit 🙂
Thank you
Almost all the photos are of temples. Why so?
Nostalgia! I was in srirangam for so many years. I have spent so much time in sriranganatha temple and jambukeshwara temple. I have bathed in kaveri – kollidam! Ippavum mahanadhi-yil varum pattai kettal – i get emotional! (But the temple shown in that song is not srirangam!)
Around the kaveri river there are about nine or so perumal koils – anbil etc.
Trichy was once capital of cholas – Pazhaiyarai, poompukar, tanjore and “Uraiyur” – trichy. (I was born in tanjore). MGR wanted trichy to be capital city to deconjest chennai. Hmm… I have lot of memorabilia in trichy.
Srirangam is still the capital of vaishnavites – just as chidambaram is for saivites. Hey, did you visited dasavathara sannidhi, raamanujar sannidhi et al… It is said, the deity in Ramanujar sannidhi is actually the body of Him. They wouldn’t do abhishekam with water – just kumkum abhishekam thats all.
You are writing wonderfully. Please do write more.
Nice post!!
Refreshed my memories on visiting the Srirangam temple..
especially the Early morning Darshan where an Elephant wakes up the Sri Aranganaatha Swami…
cheers
Wowww…Sooppppper post !
I am very happy to see a post about temples from my city 🙂 Rock city Rocks !!!
All the info you collected are correct. There is nothing wrong in that. Hope you had covered all these temples say from 11.00am till the evening. Amazing this you had collected much information about the temples and deities there. Great Great work ! Wish you spend more time in trichy and could have written more. I am inviting you to Trichy to write more about it 🙂
Considering you have taken photos from your mobile, those are too good. Esp photos taken in the evening ie photos of thiruvaanaikaaval (many new to the city would spell it as thiruvanaikovil, even in some city buses it was written like that, but u spelled it correctly )
Uttamar kovil – Bikashankar kovil : Peaceful temple, Thursdays are busier than saturdays. Aarchanai to saraswathi, brahma on thursdays are considered a special one. ofcourse saturday is also crowded one
//I liked the view from the bridge over Utthamar kovil that had the gOpuram of Srirangam temple and the railway track running over the river, koLLidam. The view of the gOpuram of Srirangam temple when travelling by the bridge over koLLidam was also too good//
Ohh great u noticed that…It will be too good. The malaikottai’s view from cauvery bridge is trichy’s identity 😉 Have you visited amma mandapam. The view of rockfort from there when cauvery is flowing is just awesome !
What to say about srirangam ! Biggest hindu temple ! It is bigger than meenakshi amman temple,madurai but its maintenance is not that great. i wish tourism department takes over the management of temple. Good that you visited singaperumal kovil ! Nallathaan plan panni irukeenga ! Have you visited chakrathaazhwar sannithi in srirangam ? You need 1 day to see whole of srirangam. There are 108 sannidhis around ranganathar ! Seetha devi with kothandaramar would be wearing 9-muzham saree, nowhere else it would be like this !
Thiruvanaikaval: Along with few other temples in trichy, this is my favourite one. You should see jambukeshwarar(sivaperuman) via 9 holes and then go inside. Have you notice that he is always surrounded by water. when cauvery over flows, siva lingam will be fully submerged ! Akilandeshwari Ambal partheengala ? Great ambal. This temple has separate big dakshinamoorthy also and big pillayar opposite to ambal.
Already naane periya post pannitean…very sorry for that 🙁 , Malaikottai and uchchipillayar pathi ezutha aramicha avvalavu thaan…
After seeing your post on madras temples, i wanted to write templs of trichy, but you wrote it first ! Pro blogger pro blogger thaan 😉 I shall post the details which i know about each temple in trichy with photos ! Have taken some photos in trichy here and there, just have a look in my blog !
Thanks a lot aparna for posting this !
Sorry it is onbathu gajam saree ! 🙂
Puranjoy,
Huh?
Srikanth,
Oh 🙂 Thanks for all the trivia that you have shared.
>Hey, did you visited dasavathara sannidhi, raamanujar sannidhi
Yup
Thanks!
Hariiii,
Thanks!
You have seen that? That’s nice
Sami,
Thank you! Yours was the comment I was waiting for, for this post 🙂
Thanks for the comment that has lots of info about the temples 🙂
>I am inviting you to Trichy to write more about it
🙂
>you have taken photos from your mobile,
Not from mobile. These were taken with my digicam
>Have you visited amma mandapam.
Nope
>visited chakrathaazhwar sannithi in srirangam ?
Yup
>when cauvery over flows, siva lingam will be fully submerged !
Oh!
>Already naane periya post pannitean…very sorry for that
No prob. You are welcome to write about ucchi piLLayAr also.
>Pro blogger pro blogger thaan 😉
😛
>I shall post the details which i know about each temple in trichy with photos
Oh please do
yay!! trichy…
the view from Uchhi pillayar kovil is awesome, had you been there in daylight you can get a glimpse of Srirangam, thiruvanaika gopurams from there. You will find photographers lined up for the panaroma.
and as put above try Kumbakonam, especially Darashuram 🙂
-karthik
I expected more than temples in the post, I guess.
Karthik,
🙂 Oh I was able to see the gopuram of Srirangam in the evening too.
Puranjoy,
Hmmm
Nice writeup. I find that there are two stations. Uttama Kovil Halt and a Pichander Koil. Are these different temples? Or same temples, but stations have got different names?
And, did you visit Samayapuram? I think it’s near Pichander Kovil.
Krishna Kumar,
Thanks. Both are same temples. I have no idea about the stations. I think I have visited Samayapuram long back. Not sure
a nice gift….. very useful.. u could hav added some photos of god..
sowmia,
Welcome to my blog!
Hi Aparna.. Seems that you have visited only few temples in Trichy… Well, actually i have visited around 30 temples in trichy alone.. If you like to know be advised…
Continue your work..
Bye di….
Deep,
Welcome to my blog! I’ll be glad to know the list of temples.
Hello aparna,
I’m also from Trichy.. I have some photos of Trichy in my orkut album.. can download it from http://www.orkut.com/premkumar219
hi. it is relly wonderful job to bring out the what is hidden in our culture,arts and temples
Thanks to you, I could visit some articles and pages related to ‘Silpi’ the great artist.Had been one of the many inspired into taking up seriously.Thanks again!