01Ashvatthama is dead
The Mahabharata tells how Drona could not be stopped while he held his bow, and how Yudhishthira, who had never lied, said that Ashvatthama was dead, and softly that it was an elephant. Drona laid down his arms. Yudhishthira’s chariot, which had always run a hand’s breadth above the ground, touched the earth. The temple holds that he did penance here for that word, and that the devas had worshipped here before him, so the Lord is Imayavarappan, father of the devas. Of the five Pandava temples this is counted first.
02Nammalvar’s decad
Nammalvar sang Thiruchengundrur in a decad of the Thiruvaimozhi, eleven pasurams, naming the town and its river. The temple stands in the Kerala manner, with a gopuram over the drum hall, a walled compound, a flagstaff and lamp pillar on the axis, and a round sanctum under a conical roof. Pilgrims coming for the five temples usually start here, then go to Thiruppuliyur, Aranmula, Thiruvanvandoor and Thrikkodithanam.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodNammalvar sings Thiruchengundrur in the Thiruvaimozhi.
In Chengannur, about 1 km from the railway station, the usual stop for Sabarimala pilgrims.
