01Milk for Upamanyu
The temple katha remembers the boy Upamanyu, son of the tiger-footed sage Vyaghrapada, left in an ashram where there was no milk. He cried for it, and the Lord, moved, brought the Ocean of Milk itself to feed him. Vyaghrapada and the sages Matanga, Dhaumya and Uthanka are said to have kept their ashrams around Nangur. The temple is the plainest of the eleven: one shrine with a small hall in front, the Perumal and Purushottama Nayaki standing together in the sanctum with the festival images, and a small Garuda mandapam on the axis.
02Vanpurushothamam
Thirumangai Alvar gives the temple a decad of ten pasurams; van means generous, and the name is his, the bountiful Purushottama. The vimana over the sanctum has three tiers, and the shrines are enclosed by a rectangular wall, with a modern pillared hall leading to the Garuda mandapam. Like the other Thirunangur temples, its Perumal comes out on Garuda at the Thai Amavasai festival, when Thirumangai’s verses for each of the eleven are recited. The paddy fields of the Kaveri delta surround it on all sides.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodThirumangai Alvar sings a decad on Vanpurushothamam.
In Thirunangur, about 10 km from Sirkazhi; visit with the other Nangur temples. Hours are short.
