Thirumalai Murugan Temple

Thirumalai Kovil is one of my favorite temples from child hood. I have strong believed that He will listen to my Prayers. Yearly 2 or 3 times we visit the temple.. We climb 625 steps by saying Muruga Muruga..Once My mother suffered from Knee pain and unable to walk I Prayed this Lord to cure my Mothers Pain and I will come to your temple Instead of her..In few months she get cured .. From onthat I visit this temple Often. But after coming to Mumbai It isnot possible to visit.But when climbing steps anywhere I think of Lord and saying name and climbed steps..After 25 yrs I visit this temple After seeing Lord My eyes filled with tears..

 

Thirumalai Kovil is a Murugan temple situated at Panpoli8 km from Coutraalam, Tenkasi taluk, Tirunelveli district of Tamil nadu. The temple is situated on a small hill surrounded by Western Ghats in the border of kerala. The lord murugan in this temples shrine is called as 'Thirumalai kumarasamy' or 'Thirumalai murugan'. Because of the lords name most of the people in this region have the name 'thirumalai'.a quiet and calm place named Thirumalai in Western Ghats. This small village is famous for its hilltop temple of Murugan. Lord Muruga gave darshan to sage Agasthiar at Thirumalai. 

Thirumalai Murugan temple, located at a height of 400 m in Western Ghats can be reached by 625 steep steps from the foothills. Before you start climbing the steps, you can find the huge idol of Vallaba Vinayak along with Siddhi. This is also called Tirikoodamalai.  At the entrance of the hill, there is a shrine for Lord Vallabha Vinayaka.  There are two Padukas – Foot Symbol.  There is another Vinayaka shrine in the middle of the hill path followed by one to Idumban.The shrine of Meenakshi-Sundareshwar along with Ganesh is also found at the foothills.

 You can find some small mandaps and shrines such as Murugan with Valli-Devasena, Naduvatta Vinayakar and Idumban between foothills and the top of the hills. 

 

The main temple is located at the top of the hills at the backdrop of Western Ghats and breathtaking aerial view of the surrounding villages.

 

 The main deity Murugan is found with four hands in the standing posture. It is belived that Lord Agastya used to visit the deity daily. It is believed that Sage Agasthiar worships Lord Muruga even today.The current structure of the temple appears to be at least 300-400 years old. 

 

This temple with 2 prakarams has two entrances. The sanctum faces the east; there are the Ardha mandapam, the mani mandapam and the maha mandapam in front of the sanctum. A three tiered gopuram covers the entrance to the innerprakaram. Shiva's shrine faces east while Ambal's shrine faces south. Much of the current structure of the temple dates back to the 15th century. There are some 18th century inscriptions found in the temple.

 

Stala Theertham : 

The sacred spring at the top of the hill is called Ashta Padmakulam.  It is presently called Idumban Sunai /Kuvalai Poonjunai. The Kuvalai Poonchunai consists of the Soma, Surya and the Agni theerthams. There will be always water in this pit . When the water level decreases it gets filled by rain . 

 

A flower called Kuvalai mentioned in Tamil literatures blossomed here.Everyday a flower (Kuvalaipoo) bloomed in this spring. The Sabdha Kannigar worshipped Lord Muruga by offering the flower.  Only one flower would blossom a day.  The seven virgins (Saptha Kannikas) worshipped Muruga by offering the flower..  While the idols of Saptha Kannikas are found only in Lord Shiva temple, they are installed on the banks of the spring in this temple too.  The seven powers of Mother Parvathi are called Saptha Kannikas.

 
For Temple History Visit Here