Saiva · Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu
Alangudi Apatsahayesvarar Temple
ஆலங்குடி ஆபத்சகாயேஸ்வரர் கோயில்
Apatsahayesvarar (Sivan) and Elavarkuzhali Ammai with Dakshinamurthy as Guru Bhagavan
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The temple in short
- Deity
- Apatsahayesvarar (Sivan) and Elavarkuzhali Ammai with Dakshinamurthy as Guru Bhagavan
- Where
- Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu · 10.80N 79.32E
- 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
- The Guru sthalam, where Guru Bhagavan is worshipped as Dakshinamurthy. Thursday, and Guru peyarchi day, draw enormous crowds; visited for marriage, for children and for a student’s progress.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
Alangudi takes its name from aalam, the poison. The sthala purana has it that when the ocean was churned and the halahala rose from it, Sivan swallowed the poison here to save the worlds — and so is worshipped as Apatsahayesvarar, the one who comes to help in danger.
Guru Bhagavan is not worshipped here as a planet with a separate shrine and a separate garland. He is worshipped as Dakshinamurthy, the teacher seated under the banyan facing south, which is why the Thursday queue at Alangudi forms at the Dakshinamurthy niche rather than at a navagraha group.
What is recorded
Documented history
Alangudi is a Tevaram Paadal Petra Sthalam; the hymns know it as Thiruirumpoolai.
What there is to see
Description
A tall gopuram and a long corridor lead in, and the temple is bigger than most of the nine — the Guru crowd needs the room.
Apatsahayesvarar is the moolavar and Elavarkuzhali Ammai has her own shrine. The Dakshinamurthy on the south wall of the sanctum is the image people come for, and he is dressed and garlanded as Guru.
The temple tank, Amrita Pushkarani, lies beside the complex.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
Thursday is the day, and Guru peyarchi — the day Jupiter changes sign, once in about a year — is one of the biggest single-day gatherings anywhere in the delta. The town fills the night before and the queue runs for hours.
Thursdays through the month of Purattasi and the Thai Poosam days are the next busiest.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Thiruirumpoolai, Guru Sthalam
- Period
- Chola period, with later additions
- Reaching it
- Alangudi is about 17 km from Kumbakonam on the road towards Mannargudi, in Thiruvarur district. Kumbakonam is the nearest railway station.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
- Garbarakshambigai Temple, Thirukarukavur 14.1 km · Saiva
- Punnainallur Mariamman Temple 15.3 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Papanasanathar Temple, Papanasam 15.5 km · Saiva
- Patteeswaram Durgai Amman Temple 15.6 km · Sakta (Amman)
- Thirukkandiyur Brahmasirakandeeswarar Temple 16.3 km · Saiva
- Thiruvalanchuzhi Kapardeeswarar Temple 16.7 km · Ganapathi
Add what you know
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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Parihaaram is traditional practice, offered for devotion and peace of mind; it is not a guaranteed cure of any condition. Temple hours change with festivals and the season, so check before travelling.