Kallazhagar Temple, Alagar Koil

Deity

Kallazhagar (Sundararaja Perumal) of the hills

Where

Madurai, Tamil Nadu · 10.08N 78.21E

Usual hours

6 am – 12.30 pm, 4 pm – 8.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Guru

Visited for

Meenakshi’s brother, who rides into the Vaigai every Chithirai for her wedding. Visited for prosperity and for a brother’s protection.

The sthala purana of the hill is of a sage cursed to live as a frog and released here, from which the place takes one of its old names. The Perumal of the hill is Sundararaja, called Kallazhagar in Tamil.

The story the district keeps is of the Chithirai festival. Kallazhagar is Meenakshi’s brother, and sets out from this hill for her wedding at Madurai. He is delayed on the way; by the time he reaches the Vaigai the wedding is over, and he turns back from the river without entering the city. The riding into the river and the turning back are enacted every year, and the crowd on the bank is enormous.

Andal, in the Nachiyar Thirumozhi, promised the Perumal of Thirumaliruncholai a hundred pots of butter and a hundred pots of sweet rice. Tradition has it that Ramanuja came here and made the offering on her behalf, and akkaravadisal is offered at this temple still.

Alagar Koil is one of the 108 Divya Desams, sung by the Azhwars as Thirumaliruncholai. The Pazhamudircholai Murugan shrine, the sixth of the Arupadai Veedu, is higher up the same hill.

The temple sits in a heavy walled enclosure at the foot of the hills, with stone ramparts that make it look like a small fort from outside.

Sundararaja Perumal stands in the sanctum. The Karuppanna Swamy shrine, where the Perumal’s weapons are said to be left before he goes down to Madurai, is outside the walls.

The Noopura Gangai spring is on the hill above, reached by a path and steps, and is where people bathe before coming down.

Chithirai is the festival, and it belongs as much to Madurai as to this temple: Kallazhagar leaves the hill, travels the road, enters the Vaigai and returns over several days.

Vaikunta Ekadasi, Purattasi Saturdays and the Panguni days are kept here in the ordinary way.

Also called

Thirumaliruncholai, Kallazhagar Temple, Azhagar Kovil

Reaching it

Alagar Koil is about 21 km north-east of Madurai by road. Madurai is the nearest railway station; buses run from the city, and Pazhamudircholai is a further climb from the temple.

• Pazhamudircholai Murugan Temple 1.1 km · Murugan
• Kalamegha Perumal Temple, Thirumogur 11.3 km · Vaishnava
• Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple 20.3 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Thirupparamkunram Subramanya Swamy Temple 27 km · Murugan
• Sowmya Narayana Perumal Temple, Thirukoshtiyur 37.9 km · Vaishnava
• Pillaiyarpatti Karpaga Vinayagar Temple 51.9 km · Ganapathi

Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.

• Were the hours right when you went?
• Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
• A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board

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