Vaishnava · Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Oppiliappan Temple, Thirunageswaram
ஒப்பிலியப்பன் கோயில்
Oppiliappan (Venkatachalapathy) with Bhumidevi
MarriageHealth
The temple in short
- Deity
- Oppiliappan (Venkatachalapathy) with Bhumidevi
- Where
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu · 10.97N 79.44E
- 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 Sukran
- Visited for
- Where the Perumal accepted a bride and food without salt is still offered. Sanikizhamai and Saturdays in Purattasi are its days; visited for marriage and health.
The sthala purana
Tradition, as it is told at the temple
The sthala purana has it that Markandeya did penance to have Lakshmi born as his daughter, and that Bhumidevi came to him as a girl child found under a tulasi plant.
When she was still young, Vishnu is said to have come as an old brahmin and asked for her in marriage. Markandeya objected that she was a child and could not so much as measure salt into the cooking. The old man is said to have answered that he would take his food without salt for the rest of time, and the marriage was made.
No salt is used in anything offered here. The prasadam is cooked without it and served without it, and that is the one thing everybody knows about the temple.
What is recorded
Documented history
Oppiliappan is one of the 108 Divya Desams, sung by the Azhwars under the name Thiruvinnagar. The saltless offering is not a recent custom; it is the practice the temple is identified by in its own literature.
It stands in the same village as the Thirunageswaram Rahu sthalam, a few minutes’ walk away, so the two are visited together by almost everyone doing the Navagraha circuit.
What there is to see
Description
The Perumal stands with Bhumidevi at his side and Markandeya beside them, which fixes the sthala purana in the sanctum itself.
The temple has a tall gopuram and a walled enclosure with a broad outer court, and is quieter than its neighbour except on a Saturday.
The temple year
The days it is fullest
Saturdays are the day here, and the Saturdays of Purattasi are the fullest — the connection with Tirumala is part of why.
Vaikunta Ekadasi, the Panguni Brahmotsavam and the Sravanam star of each month are the other days.
Getting there, and what else it is called
- Also called
- Thiruvinnagar, Uppiliappan Koil, Venkatachalapathy Temple
- Reaching it
- Oppiliappan Koil is in Thirunageswaram, about 6 km from Kumbakonam on the Karaikal road. Kumbakonam is the nearest railway station.
Where it is
Others within reach
Nearest first, by straight-line distance
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.