One of the Aru Padai Veedu (6 abodes) of Lord Murugan, this is certainly not a lesser known temple to many and a popular pilgrimage site. We have included it here as it is not as well known to others.One of the largest temple complexes and one of the richest in Tamil Nadu, it is an ancient site. It is located on a seashore. It is the second most important Aru Padai Veedu. Although there is plenty of inscriptional evidence of Pandian benevolence towards this temple, much of the architecture that you see today is relatively recent and was built by private donors over the centuries rather than by royal grant or decree. The Rajagopuram is on the west, away from the seashore and is only about 300 years old. In most temples the main gopuram is on the east.
In the mid 1600s the Dutch occupied this area. The story goes that one day the Dutch soldiers raided this temple and took the idol out to sea thinking that it contained gold or precious stones. When they did not find any, they threw into the sea. A few years later one of the ardent devotees of Lord Murugan had a dream about its location and divers dove to the sea bed and found the idol and reinstalled it.
Thiru means holy and Chendur means red land. The legend is that Lord Murugan slew the evil demon Surapadman here in a classic battle between good and evil. The land became blood soaked and red by the epic fight. Today the land around here does not look red. But we will explore a few kilometres west of here for an explanation in a subsequent post.
Visited Aug 2019 Base Thoothukudi
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