Thiruchendur Subramanya Swamy Temple

Deity

Senthilandavar (Murugan) on the shore

Where

Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu · 8.49N 78.12E

Usual hours

4 am – 12.30 pm, 4 pm – 9.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Sevvai

Visited for

The second house, the only one at sea level, where Murugan stood after the war with Surapadman. Skanda Sashti in Aippasi is its great festival; visited for health and for Sevvai dosham.

The sthala purana places the war with Surapadman on this shore. Murugan is said to have camped here with his army, to have worshipped Sivan before the fighting, and to have returned here afterwards — which is why the temple is on the beach and not on a hill like the other five.

Surapadman, when he was beaten, is said to have taken the form of a mango tree; the tree was split, and the two halves became the peacock Murugan rides and the cock on his banner. The Soorasamharam enacted here on the sixth day of Skanda Sashti is that episode.

Thiruchendur is named in Nakkeerar’s Thirumurugatrupadai as Thiruchiralaivai, and it is one of the two of the six that stand in the poem without argument.

The temple keeps its own account of the seventeenth century, when the Dutch took the processional image away by sea and it was afterwards recovered. The episode is part of the temple’s recorded history rather than of its purana.

The temple stands on the sand with the Bay of Bengal immediately in front of it, and the gopuram is visible from a long way down the coast. It is the only one of the six at sea level.

The Nazhi Kinaru, a small well on the beach that gives fresh water within reach of the surf, is part of the visit; pilgrims draw from it after the sea bath.

North of the temple, along the shore, is the rock-cut Valli Guhai. The long inner corridors are cut low and dim, which is characteristic of the place.

Skanda Sashti in Aippasi is the great festival: six days of observance ending in the Soorasamharam on the shore, which draws crowds large enough to close the town.

The Aavani and Masi festivals, Vaikasi Visakam and the monthly Krithikai are the other days. The sea bath at Agni theertham before darshan is kept all year.

Also called

Thiruchiralaivai, Senthil, the second padai veedu

Reaching it

Thiruchendur is about 40 km south of Thoothukudi and roughly 75 km from Tirunelveli. It is the terminus of a branch railway line, and buses run frequently from Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi.

• Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar Temple, Thenthiruperai 18.8 km · Vaishnava
• Irattai Tirupathi, Thirutholaivillimangalam 21.2 km · Vaishnava
• Vaithamanidhi Perumal Temple, Thirukkolur 21.4 km · Vaishnava
• Mayakoothan Perumal Temple, Perungulam 22 km · Vaishnava
• Adinathar Perumal Temple, Alwarthirunagari 23.9 km · Vaishnava
• Kaisina Vendan Perumal Temple, Thirupuliangudi 26.7 km · Vaishnava

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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