Karunellinathar Temple, Thiruthangal – The Temple
It is
built on a hillock 100 ft. (30 m) and houses a small gateway tower
known as gopurams. The temple has many shrines, with those of Karunellinathar
and Chokki Amman being the most prominent. The temple is located on the other
side of Ninra Narayana Perumal temple, a famous Vishnu temple and can be reached from that
temple on the hillock. The temple is a rock cut temple and the main shrine of
the temple is of Karunellinathar. There are separate shrines for Vinayaka, Surya, Chandra and Dakshinamurthi.
There is
a huge life size stone image of Nataraja and Sivakami and housed in the dancing hall of the temple. The
temple is more known for the shrine of Palaniandavar, which is found near the
entrance of the temple. As in Palani, Lord Muruga graces darshan in an ascetic
form. This is a very ancient temple which has a mention in the
celebrated Tamil epic Silappathikaram.
Arumugha
Tambiran was an ardent devotee of Muruga. He used to travel to Palani carrying a Kavadi and returned to Thiruthangal the same day. As
years rolled by, Thambiran found it difficult to travel all the way to Palani.
He used to ascend a few steps and then return. While cooking food one day, god
Murugan showered gold coins in his route. He took up the gold coins and built
the shrine of Palani Andavar. The place where he breathed his last is marked by
a mutt and his articles are still maintained.
The
temple is believed to have been built by Gurukalathirayan during the Pandyan
regime in 1233 CE. The place where the temple was located was believed to be
housing two Amla trees (called nelli in Tamil) and hence got the name as
Irunellinathar, which later went on to become Karunellinathar. Sthalavruksham
is Amla Tree and Theertham is Arjuna Theertham.
