01Azhagar enters the Vaigai
Kallazhagar, the handsome lord of the Kallar country, is held to be Meenakshi’s brother, come to give her away to Sundareswarar. The katha says he arrives late, finds the wedding already over, and turns back from the river bank. Every year in Chithirai (April–May) the utsava murti is carried from the hill to Madurai in a procession of several days, dressed as a Kallar chieftain, and on the full moon morning rides a golden horse into the Vaigai. It was the Madurai Nayaka Thirumalai Nayak, in the 17th century, who joined this Vaishnava festival to the Shaiva wedding festival of Meenakshi, so that the whole city keeps one feast.
02Karuppasamy at the gate
The great gate of the temple, the Pathinettampadi, is guarded by Karuppasamy, and oaths sworn before its closed doors were once held binding in village disputes. The Alvars Periyalvar, Andal, Bhoothathalvar, Peyalvar, Nammalvar and Thirumangai Alvar sang this Divya Desam, called Thirumaliruncholai. Higher up the same hill is the Nupura Gangai spring, whose water alone is used for the deity’s abhishekam, and beyond it Pazhamudircholai, one of Murugan’s six abodes.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodSix Alvars sing Thirumaliruncholai in the Divya Prabandham.
- 17th centuryThirumalai Nayak joins the Azhagar festival to the Chithirai festival of Madurai.
About 21 km north-east of Madurai; buses run from Madurai Periyar stand. The Vaigai entry falls on Chithirai full moon.
