Thiruthani Subramanya Swamy Temple

Deity

Thanigai Andavar (Murugan), who married Valli

Where

Tiruttani, Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu · 13.18N 79.61E

Usual hours

5.30 am – 12.30 pm, 4 pm – 9 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Sevvai

Visited for

The fifth house, 365 steps for the days of the year, where Murugan’s anger cooled. New Year’s Eve and Krithikai draw lakhs; visited for marriage and for Sevvai dosham.

The sthala purana has it that after the war with Surapadman, Murugan came to this hill and his anger cooled here — thani, in Tamil, is to cool or to subside. The name of the place is read from that.

Valli, brought up among the hill people, is said to have been married to Murugan here after he came to her in several disguises and Vinayagar helped him. Thiruthani is therefore the Valli house among the six, as Thirupparamkunram is the Deivanai house.

Thiruthani is one of the six of the Arupadai Veedu, and is heavily sung in Arunagirinathar’s Thiruppugazh.

The first day of the English new year has become the temple’s largest single day within living memory: lakhs of people climb the steps between midnight and morning, and the district makes arrangements for it. That is a modern observance rather than an old one, and it is worth saying so.

The shrine is on a low hill reached by 365 steps, one for each day of the year, with a road for vehicles going round the back.

Murugan stands with Valli and Deivanai. The prakaram is small and the queue moves along the hill face, so the view over the plain is part of the climb.

1 January, when the steps are climbed through the night, and the Krithikai day of each month are the heaviest days.

Aadi Krithikai, Skanda Sashti in Aippasi and the annual Brahmotsavam are the temple’s own festivals.

Also called

Thanigai, Tiruttani, the fifth padai veedu

Reaching it

Tiruttani is about 85 km north-west of Chennai in Tiruvallur district. It has its own railway station on the Arakkonam–Renigunta line, and the hill is a short ride from it.

• Vadaranyeswarar Temple, Thiruvalangadu 20.8 km · Saiva
• Sholingur Yoga Narasimha Temple (Ghatikachalam) 21.6 km · Vaishnava
• Veeraraghava Perumal Temple, Thiruvallur 32.8 km · Vaishnava
• Ekambareswarar Temple, Kanchipuram 38 km · Saiva
• Kanchi Kamakshi Amman Temple 39 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram 42.1 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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