Narayana Perumal Temple, Thiru Manimada Koil (Thirunangur)

01The gathering place

Manimadam means the jewelled mansion; the Alvars’ verses describe Nangur as a town of rich houses with balconies. This temple is the largest of the eleven, with a five-tiered rajagopuram, a granite wall and the sanctum raised on a base reached by steps. Beside the gopuram is the hall where, for the Thirumangai Alvar festival in Thai, the festival images of the Thirunangur temples and others around are brought to rest before the Garuda Sevai. Three openings in the gopuram let the sun’s rays fall on the Lord, and the temple katha says Surya worships him all year.

02Twelve pasurams

Thirumangai Alvar sings of Manimada Koil in twelve pasurams. The temple holds inscriptions of the tenth-century Cholas and of the Nayaka period. The Perumal is Narayanan, also called Nanda Vilakku, the lamp that never goes out, and Pundarikavalli’s shrine is in the second prakaram; the tank lies opposite the gopuram. The temple katha links Nangur with the sages Matanga, Dhaumya, Vyaghrapada and Uthanka, who are said to have kept their ashrams here, and with the eleven forms of Vishnu taken at Shiva’s request.

The life of this place