SUCHINDRAM TEMPLE-9

HAVE A NICE DAY!

      THAANUMAALAYAN-SUCHINDRAM

          

SUCHINDRAM TEMPLE-9

    SRI.S.V.VARADARAJAN

   Now, let us see the structure of the temple and the deities sanctified there and the artistic items, and the festivals.The Gopuram with seven levels towering to a height of 134 feet can be seen even from a distance. It has many artefact works,paintings and carvings on it. On the front side we can see Lord Siva, Parasakthi and Mahavishnu. We cross the Nartakasala which is suported by majestic stone pillars and reach the  main entrance which has a gigantic door with beautiful hand work. On top of the door , the three Goddesses Kalaimagal, Thirumagal and Malaimagal can be seen sitting  in penance pose.


    Next, we come to 'oonchal mandapam' with a stone bench in the middle and on the pillars around that, we see the figures of Manmatha,Rathi, Karnan,Arjunan etc. beautifully carved with life - like features. Next we reach the Vasanta Mandapam. On the eastern side of it, we can see Dakshinamoorthy in a penance pose as a great preceptor. During the Vasantha Utsava festival, this mandapam will be decorated nicely and we can see water columns surrounding this Mandapam. Suchindhra perumaal along with Uma Devi will be majestically seated on the throne and placed on the stage here. A special feature in this temple is that Navagrahas are carved on the inner surface of the stone ceiling of the Mandapam and on the floor, we see Parvathi Devi and so Vinayaka sprinkled the water from the vessel in his hand and the Navagrahas were lifted upwards and got stuck into the upper ceiling. Thus, vinayaga saved his mother from the bad effects of Saneeswara and affectionately got her seated on his lap. So goes the Puranic story.


To be continued