The Front entrance to Vinayagar Temple

The main temple devoted to Lord Vinayaga is probably the oldest Ganapathy temple in Tamilnadu as Ganapathi worship in other places has commenced only after the Pallava periods, much later. The installation of Ganapathi Idol was in open probably under the shades of Arasa maram & Vembu as  was the practice in early days. None of the idols had any roof to cover them in those days. The practice is continued  even to day with respect to  many village deitys such as Madan, chattan, Munisamy  and various female deities. In later development  the temple  was constructed  with only Ganapathi  Sanctom  sanatorium  and Arthamandapam in the beginning.  Ukrama Pandian has constructed the  present form of   other sannadhis for Kalastheeswarar, Kalyani Amman etc later, as the  pattern of constructions reveal. A deity in the form of  vishnu  was also worshipped by the brahmins within the precincts and later removed to a separate temple.Majority  of  brahmins brought in  from Narmada  were Vaishnavites (People worshipping Vishnu)  indicated  by the  Vishnu temples  all along Thambraparni  river banks installed by them . The sandyavandanam prayer is also directed  to Vishnu. and probably reveals that  all brahmins  were vaishnavites  in the beginning.

The Ayirathen Vinayagar Temple Vimanam

Ambal Vimanam

The present day Mahamandapam along with the  Sivan & Ambal sannadhis are  one time extensions. The so called Rayar Mandapam  ( West of Kodimaram& Balipeedam)   looks to be a separate extension probably during the period of  Krishnadeva raya. A statue of  Anjaneya  is  carved in one of the pillars and is found no where else. Subsequent mandapam extensions enclosing Dwajasthambam, Bali peetam etc is known to have been done Naicker dynasty and installation of Bali peetam Dwajasthambam etc have been done by Ponnambala Thambiran of  Thiruavaduthurai Atheenam, who have played  a major role in renovating Saiva  temples in this part of the country. The Adeenam had a mutt in the village called the Easana matam . Three descendants of the mutt namely,Muthiah Thambiran, Veliah Thambiran & Ponnambala Thambiran have lived in the village. They have also regulated the  and organised the festivals in the temple. The second day festival of the Chitrai festival and the first day of  Navarathri  were  conducted from the contributions from the mutt. The  statues of these Thambirans are available in the temple precincts. They have also contributed  in decorating the deities. The   State   scholar of  Veerapandia Kattabomman  has sung a song  on the contribution of the  ratham by  Thandavaraya mudaliar. Vahanamandapam was   another subsequent addition.. In recent times (1983) renovations have been done , open spaces roofed around prakaram etc  but no new constructions were added.

The Vinayagar Temple Madappalli

Available records show  Kumbabishekams have been performed  in 1913, 1924. 1945 and 1983. The temple is under the control of  Hindu Religious Endowment department  and administered by a Executive officer functioning from Authoor.

During the Kumbabishekam in 1945, a new idol in Panchaloka, being a Utsavamurthy of Pancha mukha Vinayaga was installed. The piece is a very rare art  piece  only one of its kind , with five faces on the same plane. Ten arms  carry different  mudras and  ayudams. The deity is in standing / dancing form. The dyana sloka of the deity resembles that of Heramba Vinayaga The Panchaloga Idol of Lord Nataraja of this temple is an unique one having Makudam (Kreedam) on his head  as different from  Jadamudi or  virichadai in other idols. Moreover  the Thiruvachi  of this idol is separate and detatchable. Probably this indicates the olden days of this idol when the complicated casting technology  for  the combination  was not available.

Annual festival is being celebrated in the month of  Chitrai. Lord Vinayaga in different vahanams   bless  the  devotees on first four days. On the fifth day  Lord Shiva and Ambal in Rishabha vahanam and Vinayaga  on Mushika vahanam  decorate the streets. On the seventh day as is practiced elsewhere, Lord Nataraja steels the show in Thrikala puja. The speciality in our temple is that Lord Panchamuga Vinayaga   joins  Lord Nataraja on these occasions. The festival closes on the tenth   day with car festival..   Till     around forty years ago, Annadanam in large scale used to be custom on all festival days. A separate  kitchen was available for this purpose on the  North west corner of the temple. A separate Murugan sannadhi  with panchaloka statue of Lord Subramania, Valli & Deivayanai was also  there ,  now the statues are  shifted  to  inside . The lads of the village used to enjoy  the serving  of food to the devotees  who sit on the  prakarams around the temple.

Chathurkala puja  as per the Agama  sasthras is being performed with  heriditory  Shivachariars. Donations from public  plays a major roll in financing the activities . The annual festival in the month of Chitrai  is being organized  by the local public  from funds collected  from   philonthrapic  individualls, organizations and institutions.

The erstwhile custom of  distributing  food pockets to the Paradesis  from the temple  and funded by the village administration  was also discontinued in the recent past.

The temple records indicate  donations from various people.

The Chapparam for Lord Natarajar is probably the biggest in the  district measuring about 9 ft square with a height of  9 ft. This is clad on outside with brass  plates. Lots of  bells are hung within. This is contributed by Sri. Vadamalaiappa pillai. The thandaudham for this  was specially brought from ceylon , donated by Swaminatha Pillai  A  pallaquin  was donated by the King of  Travancore.

Sri Sundaramurthia pillai also contributed for the construction of the ratham.

The vinayagar temple is   situated on the (bindusthanam)  centre  of the triangle formed by the three kaval  deivam,  namely Ilayanainar, Thoppachi Amman & Sudalaimadan  on west, North & South. This is a rare phenomena  as the  mulasthanam for  Vinayaga  is on the centre of  basic  triangle.

Offering of One hundred and eight or one thousand and eight  coconuts  is a special  feature in this temple wherein the Vinayaga is known to be varaprasathi. Such offerings frequent almost every day.

Lighting of 1008 deepams or part of it has become a new form of worship that has come to stay in recent days. This is done on all Amavasyas and specific days as part of Prarthanas. 

Vinayaga is the Athishtana  devathai for Kethu graha and in combination with Kalahastheeswara this place has become a parihara sthala for  Kethu graha dosha/ Kalasarpa dosha, next to Kalahasthi in Andhra Pradesh. The pariharams include performing  Ganapathihomam & Navagraha homam in the morning  followed by Abhisheka & aradana and offering of 108/1008  coaconuts. Lighting of deepams in the evening is also part of this.

Pundarikakshaperumal with SriDevi & Boo Devi in stone decorate the Garpagraham with Ananda Vimanam of Vaishnava style. Other Parivara devathas include, Garuda bagavan, Vishvagsenar, Navaneetha Krishnan & Peria Thiruvadi. They are located in Arthamandapam. There are no Utsavamurthys. The temple is erected before the commencement of Vaishnavism The deity adores Gopi Chandanam in U shape without the central line. This temple is maintained by a private committee. for daily pujas On specific days public organise pujas.

Thoppachi amman koil on the north boundary of the village, and till recently was in dilapilated condition. Thanks to the efforts put forth by the locals, weekly pujas have been restored now.

Chudalaimada chami koil more popularly known as Chami Kovil or High Court Maharaja Kovil on the South boundary, this temple attracts heavy crowds every Tuesday and on special festival days. The pujas in this temple are performed by the members of a single family. Special buses are being run for the benefit of devotees visiting this temple.

Ilayanainar koil is on the west side of both the villages. This is situated on the banks of feed channel that leads water to the tank. Residents of an erstwhile settlement by name Yagnammal puram had to move away due to the interruption by the canal when it was dug in 1927. Thus the temple aged about 1400 years is located on the northern bank of canal while Arumugamangalam_- Eral tank bund road in on the south side. Local people have taken interest to clean the area around and the temple and are organising weekly pujas. A foot bridge is constructed by Irai Pani Mandram across the canal to facilitate public visiting the temple.The presiding deity is Lord Muruga on Peacock with his consorts in standing posture. The statues in stone are carved in high artistic form.

The Amman Temple

The Kulathankarai Amman koil as it is known to be, is on the tank bund on north west corner of agraharam. Has no deity . A peetam erected serves as the sanctum sanctorium wherein the deity is invoked and prayed for. This temple and a bajanai madam near the Vishnu temple are under the control of theBramana Samajam functioning from the village.

Other temples include The vinayaga temple on the Ratha veedhi and a temple devoted to Mayilvahanamurthy in Arumugamangalam. 

Kottarakurichi village contains three more small temples Veeraswamy koil, Uchimakaliammam koil, & Badrakaliamman Koil. Regular pujas are not performed , but festive occasions are celebrated by the local devotees.

Philonthapists of the village had formed an Annadana Chatram with endowments managed by separate committees. A large building houses the chatram. Managing the activities have become difficult in recent days. In earlier days when the villagers around used to go Thiruchendur & Korankani amman koil in Bullock carts used to go through our village. Since there was no hotels etc these chatram had a major roll to play. After the construction of Mukkani bridge in 1954 and bus routes developed, devotees travelling through the village got dramatically reduced and necessity for annadanam to visitors became defunct. The chatram committee now undertakes social activities in participating in festivals etc.

The legendary Adi Sankara is learnt to have sung the Ganesa Pancharathna on the presiding deity of this village, prior to his song Subramania Bhujangam on Lord Subramania of Thiruchendur. It my be noted that Pancharathnam is being recited every day in Thiruchendur prior to Bhujangam recital. Andan Kavirayan is known to have cursed the village and deitys in his songs and that is said to be the reason for the degradation of the village. All these songs are given separately.

K V Jagannathan has sung a few songs on Ayirathen Vinayaga. Details of other songs although in plenty are not available .We will be extremely happy to include such information in this web site.