01Annan, the elder brother
Vellakkulam means the white tank. The temple katha says that King Shveta of the Ikshvaku line worshipped here and was blessed by the Lord. The Perumal is Srinivasa, standing as he does at Tirumala, and the temple is laid out like Tirupati; devotees call him Annan Perumal, the elder brother of Venkatesa, and some fulfil Tirupati vows here. Sri Vaishnava tradition holds that Kumudavalli, who later made Neelan into a giver of food and so set him on the road to becoming Thirumangai Alvar, was found here as a child; she has her own shrine in the temple.
02The temple
Thirumangai Alvar sings of Thiruvellakkulam in a decad of ten pasurams. A three-tiered rajagopuram leads into a single prakaram with shrines of the Perumal, the Thayar, Manavala Mamunigal and Nammalvar, and the tank lies opposite the gateway. A separate Hanuman shrine, Vijaya Anjaneya, stands in front of the gopuram. The latest samprokshanam, the reconsecration, was performed in October 2016. Annan Perumal is one of the eleven who come out on Garuda at Thirunangur on Thai Amavasai.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodThirumangai Alvar sings a decad on Thiruvellakkulam.
- October 2016The temple is reconsecrated (samprokshanam).
At Annan Koil, about 7 km east of Sirkazhi, at the western edge of the Thirunangur group.
