Puttu Chokkanathar Temple, Puttu Thoppu, Madurai
Puttu Chokkanathar Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to
Lord Shiva located at Puttu Thoppu near Arappalayam in Madurai City in Madurai
District of Tamilnadu. Presiding Deity is called as Puttu
Chokkanathar and Mother is called as Meenakshi. The Temple is Administrated by
The Hindu Religion Charitable Endowment Department.
Legends
Most of
Lord Shiva’s Tiruvilayadal (Holy Play) happened in Madurai. Lord played his
63rd Tiruvilayadal here in Puttu Thoppu. This Temple is the venue where
Lord Shiva has done one of his Thiruvilaiyadalgal (a way of
testing the faith of his devotees by creating a trouble and then blessing them
after they prove their faith). As per the myth, once, the Pandiya King ordered
every household in Madurai to offer one person for putting sand on the banks of
the river Vaigai to control flood.
An old
lady, who sold Puttu (a kind of rice
pudding) to make a living, had none whom she can send for the flood control
work. Lord Shiva disguised as a youth
approached the old lady with a deal. He will do the work for the lady and in
return she has to give him Puttu every day and
hence the name "Puttukku Mann sumantha Thiru Thalam" meaning - place
(Thiru Thalam) where Shiva carried (sumantha) sand (mann) for 'Puttu'.
The
agreement is, she need not give him the 'Puttu' which is in good shape, but only the left-overs. The
old lady agreed. But Lord Shiva, with his magical powers, made each of the 'Puttu' she cooked as a shapeless unsellable left-over and ate
everything. And worse, he didn't do any work in the river Vaigai either but he
chose to sleep under a tree. The King, who was supervising the work, found the
lazy man and beat him at the back with a stick.
As per
the myth, everyone including the king felt the pain in their back. Then the
king came to know that the lazy man is none other than Lord Shiva and apologized. Even now, to mark this event, on
September 4 of every year, a function is held in the river bank of Arappalayam
and 'Puttu' is cooked in every household.
The
Temple
Presiding
Deity is called as Puttu Chokkanathar. Mother is called as Meenakshi. Lord and
Mother are housed in separate shrines. Puttu Chokkanathar Temple was perhaps
built during the period of Thirumalai Nayak as the architecture of his palace
is similar to the 36-pillared mandapam in Puttu Thoppu. Sthala Vriksham is
Vanni Tree. Theertham associated with this Temple is Vaigai River.
There
are shrines for Vinayaga, Bala Murugan, Meenakshi Sundareswarar in marriage
Posture, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Sundaranthar, Durga, Veerabhadra, Saptha
Kanniyars, Kalyana Vinayagar, Appar, Gnana Sambandar, Sundarar, Manickavasagar,
Kaliya Nayanar, Ayyappan, Kanni Moola Ganapathy, Dhakshinamoorthy, Lord
Subramanya with his consorts Valli and Deivanai, Lingodhbava, Chandikeswarar,
Irattai Kala Bhairavar, Anjaneya and Navagrahas in the temple premises.
Temple
Opening Time
The
Temple remains open from 06.00 A.M to 10.30 A.M and 05.00 P.M to 08.30 P.M.
Pooja
Timings
·
Pradhosha Pooja (3.00 P.M
to 8.30 P.M)
·
Ragukala Pooja (3.00 P.M
to 8.30 P.M)
Festivals
Avani
Pooradam, Puttu Thiruvizha, Monthly Pradoshams, Shivarathri, Tamil New Year,
Pournami are the festivals celebrated here with much fanfare.
Puttu Thiruvizha:
In
remembrance of this incident, people celebrate Puttu Thiruvizha during the
month of Aavani even today. Though the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment
made attempts to take over the temple, the Puttu Utsava Kattalai Trust has
restored the temple under custody. The trust founder, Mariappa Chettiar of
Vaania Vysya Chettiar community, along with his relatives belonging to 18
villages, jointly bought about six acres of land of coconut groves, which was
earlier called Arappalyam Village.
The
temple was built on one-fourth of the area roughly and the remaining land was
leased out to people, who were required to pay rent for the site but could
build their own houses. The Puttu festival is conducted even now with much
fanfare with the rent collected from the tenants now. The unique feature of the
Puttu festival is that Goddess Meenakshi, Lord Shiva from Meenakshi
Sundareswarar Temple and Murugan from Thiruparankundram visit the temple.
Contact
Puttu Chokkanathar
Temple
Puttu
Thoppu Main Road,
Arappalayam, Madurai
– 625 016
Mobile: +91 9942361461 / 9842157457 / 9942360796 / 8973559558
Connectivity
The Temple is located at about 1 Km from Arappalayam Bus
Stand, 3 Kms from Koodal Azhagar Temple, 2 Kms from Madurai Meenakshi Amman
Temple, 2 Kms from Periyar Bus Stand, 7 Kms from Mattuthavani Integrated Bus
Terminus, 9 Kms from Thiruparankundram, 2 Kms from Madurai Railway Junction and
13 Kms from Madurai International Airport. It is very easy to reach the temple
as it is situated very near to both the bus stand and the railway
station.
Location