Keezhperumpallam Naganathaswamy Temple

Deity

Naganathar (Sivan) and Vaidyanayaki with Ketu Bhagavan

Where

Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu · 11.19N 79.83E

Usual hours

6.30 am – 12 pm, 5 pm – 8 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Ketu

Visited for

The Ketu sthalam, near Poompuhar, where Ketu worships Sivan with a serpent body and a human face. Tuesday is its day; it is paired with Thirunageswaram for Kala sarpa and Naga dosham.

The sthala purana takes up the churning of the ocean. When the asura Swarbhanu slipped into the line of the devas to take the amrita, the Sun and Moon pointed him out and Vishnu cut him in two — but the amrita had already passed his throat, so neither half died. The head became Rahu and the tail became Ketu.

Ketu is said to have come here and worshipped Sivan as Naganathar, and to have been given his place among the nine grahas. He is shown at this temple with the body of a serpent and a human face, hands joined, which is a different image from the one most navagraha groups carry.

A small temple in a quiet village near the coast, with a modest tower and one main prakaram.

Naganathar is the moolavar, with Vaidyanayaki in her own shrine. The Ketu sannidhi stands in the prakaram and is the reason most visitors are there.

Tuesday is the day most often kept for Ketu here, and Ayilyam and amavasai bring the Sarpa dosham visitors.

The temple is busiest when a family is doing the whole nine-temple circuit, since it is usually the last or the last but one on the route.

Also called

Vanagiri, Ketu Sthalam, Naganathaswamy Temple

Reaching it

Keezhperumpallam is near Poompuhar on the coast, about 22 km from Mayiladuthurai and roughly 6 km from Thiruvenkadu. Mayiladuthurai is the nearest railway station.

• Thiruvenkadu Swetharanyeswarar Temple 5.9 km · Saiva
• Thirunangur Divya Desams (Garuda Sevai) 7.7 km · Vaishnava
• Sattainathar Temple, Sirkazhi 12.2 km · Saiva
• Thirukkadaiyur Amirthaghateswarar Temple 14.6 km · Saiva
• Thirupariyalur Veerateswarar Temple 15.6 km · Saiva
• Vaitheeswaran Koil 18.5 km · Saiva

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• Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?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

A contribution carries a name, so a reader knows whose account it came from. That is why it needs an account, and it is the only reason.

Sign in and add yours