Arulmigu Sri Mariamman Temple | |
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அருள்மிகு மாரியம்மன் திருக்கோயில் | |
![]() View of the entrance arch | |
Religion | |
Affiliation | Hinduism |
District | Tiruchirappalli |
Deity | Samayapuram Mariamman |
Festivals | Chithirai Car Festival, Poo Choridal Festival, Vaikasi Panchaprakaram Festival and Thai Poosam Festival |
Governing body | Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department |
Location | |
Location | Samayapuram |
State | Tamil Nadu |
Country | ![]() |
Mariamman Temple, Samayapuram, Tamil Nadu | |
Geographic coordinates | 10°55′07″N78°44′20″E / 10.9185°N 78.7389°E |
Architecture | |
Type | Tamil architecture |
Specifications | |
Temple(s) | One |
Elevation | 115 m (377 ft) |
Website | |
Arulmigu Sri Mariamman Temple, Samayapuram is an ancient Hindu temple in Tiruchirappalli district in Tamil Nadu, India. The main deity, Samayapuram Mariamman, a form of Adi Parashakti and Mariamman, is made of sand and clay with extractions of medicinal herbs unlike many of the traditional stone idols and is considered as most powerful Goddess, and hence unlike many other Hindu deities there are no abhishekams (sacred bathing) conducted to the main deity, but instead the "abishekam" is done to the small stone statue in front of it.
It is believed by the devotees that the Goddess has enormous powers over curing illnesses [1] and hence, it is a ritual to buy small metallic replicas, made with silver or steel, of various body parts that need to be cured, and these are deposited in the donation box.[ citation needed ]
Devotees also offer mavilakku (Tamil - மாவிளக்கு), a sweet dish made of jaggery, rice flour and ghee. [2] Offerings of raw salt and neem leaves are also made to the Goddess by the rural devotees.
The temple attracts thousands of devotees on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays, the holy days for Mariamman. Samayapuram is the second most wealthy (in terms of cash flows) temple in Tamil Nadu after Palani.
The history of the temple is unclear. In the early 18th century, King Vijayaraya Chakravarti II built the present day form of the temple. [3] There is scant history of the period before that though it is believed that the locals worshipped the Goddess for many centuries before building the current temple. One legend says that the present deity was at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, and one of the chief priests of the temple believed that the idol caused illness to Ranganathar and hence asked it to be removed from the temple. It is a common belief in that part of the region that such local deities have immense powers and they must always be satisfied by proper offerings and sacrifices, otherwise, they cause epidemics. The idol was moved outside Srirangam and later found by some of the passersby who built a temple named, the Kannanur Mariamman Temple.
During that period (around the 17th century CE), Tiruchirapalli was ruled by the Vijayanagar kings and the area was used as an army base. It is believed that they made a commitment to build the temple if they win the war and after attaining success, they built a shrine for the Goddess. [4] Originally it was under the management of the Jambukeswarar Temple in nearby Thiruvanaikaval. Later, the control was split and currently, the temple is under an independent trust monitored by the Government of Tamil Nadu, which also monitors the annadanam distribution (an act of offering food to the devotees).
The temple is approached by a huge hallway. The entrance hallway leading to the temple houses a number of shops selling paraphernalia, paintings and pictures of the goddess, toys, etc. The ceiling of the hallway and the temple are covered with paintings of various goddesses of India. In front of the hallway, are more shops, restaurants and places to keep footwear before entering the area. Many people offer huge blocks of salt in front of the hallway. Surrounding the hallway are parking spaces for vehicles, restrooms, a shopping complex and a hair donation area, just like in Tirupati. The temple has two concentric enclosure walls (prakaras). The outermost prakara has four gopurams (entrance towers), with the eastern one being the tallest. Devotees mainly enter from the east, north and south gopurams. Due to the high level of congestion at the eastern entrance, sometimes, the western entrance is used. After entering from the southern tower, there is a shrine to Ganesha, a popular deity in Tamil Nadu, positioned so that devotees will first see him before any deity. Devotees then enter the second prakara, to join the huge line of visitors entering the sanctum. The tower (vimana) of the sanctum is plated in gold. A pillared hall adjoins the sanctum.
The sanctum is square in shape. The outermost door of the sanctum is flanked by two door-keeper (dwarapalaka) statues on the left and right and a statue of Lakshmi on the top. From this gold-plated door, devotees are able to see the main idol of Mariamman, located in the innermost sanctum after a doorway. Devotees are barred from going all the way inside, as per tradition. In front of the door, there is a donation box. The huge red-coloured idol of Mariamman, depicts the goddess sitting on a throne, having four pairs of hands holding weapons, wearing a crown with a five-headed serpent hood emerging from behind and her right foot stamping the severed heads of three demons. She wears a garland made from the heads of demons that she killed. Sometimes, three pairs of hands are covered by cloth. The idol is not made of stone but made from clay, sand and extractions of medicinal herbs. The idol's jewellery is made of gold. Two huge silver lamps flank the goddess. The stone and metal idols used for ritual baths are kept in front of it. A bowl of kumkuma is kept near the feet of the goddess. After seeing the idol, one comes across the idol of Madurai Veeran, a village deity. Then a door leads to the space outside for the circumambulation (pradakshina) of the deity. Then, devotees exit the sanctum and end up in the first prakara, where smaller shrines are found. Devotees then exit through the north entrance and back into the hallway.
The new utsava murti idol, made out of panchaloha , was donated to the temple in the year 1991. [5]
The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. [6]
Thai Poosam usually occurs in the Tamil month of Thai. Like at most Tamil temples, the main festival happens before summer, generally in April, including the temple chariot and lake processions (teppams). [7] All the Fridays in the Tamil months of Aadi (15 July - 17 August) and Thai (15 January – 15 February) are celebrated in a grand manner.
Samayapuram is a significant symbol of the native culture in rural Tamil Nadu and there a number of unique practices concerning the Mariamman temples. Samayapuram has been used a model to describe rural folklore in a number of research works on sociology and religion. [8] [9] [10]
During festivals, it is not unusual to find people doing extreme things to make their bodies suffer as an act of sacrifice including, walking over a red-hot bed of charcoal and holding hot mud-vessel in bare hands. Mariamman temples also typically involve Samiyattam wherein through a devotee (usually a female), Goddess Mariamman chooses to talk to help and bless the gathered devotees. The personality of the Goddess as well as the tremendous strain put on the body by the channelling (both physically and emotionally), may be interpreted by non-believers as hysteria or hyper-excitement. [8] [9]
The legacy of Mariamman is well spread beyond Tamil Nadu and even after centuries of emigrating from India, many people in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Fiji still maintain their loyalties to the temple and try to create similar shrines in their new country, raising both a cause of concern and an appreciation of diversity. There are many shrines to Mariamman in Malaysia and Singapore. [10] [11]
Samayapuram is located 15 km from Tiruchirappalli on the National Highway (NH-45) which is now a 4-lane road from Chennai to Tiruchirappalli.
At Samayapuram, the Chithirai Chariot Festival is celebrated for a period of 13 days. The Festival Starts on the 1st Tuesday of the month "Chithirai" (April). The 'Ther' (chariot) procession during the Chariot Festival is on the 10th day of the Festival. The chariot with the idol will be pulled around the Temple by devotees. It is a grand festival, which attracts a huge number of Devotees.
During the Chariot Festival, no vehicle is allowed to go inside the town, so all the vehicles are parked one kilometre away from the town and everybody has to go to the temple by foot.
The Crowd is so much, and though the Government made so many arrangements, still it is unmanageable. Luckily for devotees, nowadays, they are following the traffic rule of left-side walking on the road. This helps a lot for smooth movement, which avoids any complications associated with big crowds. Still, you will find many children missing, which is being announced during the festival time on the loudspeakers.
During the Chariot Festival, the Government arranges a makeshift bus stop, which is one kilometre away from Samayapuram. All the buses and any other vehicles are stopped there only. The vehicles that are going beyond Samayapuram in NH-45 will only be allowed with a little bit of delay.
The 4 laning of the National Highway 45 has helped to ease traffic congestion to a considerable extent. Onward traffic can take the flyover, while those going to Samayapuram for worship, can take the service road which leads to the temple.
For festival days, during the Chithirai Chariot Festivals, there are 24-hour bus services to nearby places like Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Thuraiyur, Thanjavur and other nearby Small Towns. Further, there are continuous Town Bus Services provided which mainly connect to Tollgate (Salem-Trichy main road junction), Chatram Bus Stand and Central Bus Stand.
During the Festival days, we can see that, the Tamil Nadu Police, NCC, and Scout (School and College Students) Control the Crowd everywhere including the Temple premises.
Srirangam is a neighbourhood in the city of Tiruchirappalli in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A river island, Srirangam is bounded by the Kaveri River on one side and its distributary Kollidam on the other side. Considered as the first among the 108 Divya Desams, a group of Vishnu temples, it is famous for the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, the largest temple complex in India and the biggest functioning Hindu temple in the world. Srirangam is also home to a significant population of Sri Vaishnavas.
Mariamman, often abbreviated to Amman, is a Hindu goddess of weather, predominantly venerated in the rural areas of South India. Her festivals are held during the late summer/early autumn season of Ādi throughout Tamil Nadu and the Deccan region, the largest being the Ādi Thiruviḻa. Her worship mainly focuses on bringing rains and curing diseases like cholera, smallpox, and chicken pox. Mariamman is worshipped in accordance with local traditions such as Pidari or the Gramadevatai. She is considered as a guardian deity by many South Indian village-dwellers.
Uthamar Kovil in Uthamarkoil, a village in the outskirts of Tiruchirappalli in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu Trimurti of Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Purushothaman Perumal and his consort Lakshmi as Poornavalli Thayar.
Ranganathaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Ranganatha and is located in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. Constructed in the Dravidian architectural style, the temple is glorified by the Tamil poet-saints called the Alvars in their canon, the Naalayira Divya Prabhandam, and has the unique distinction of being the foremost among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to the god Vishnu. The Srirangam temple is the largest temple compound in India and is one of the largest religious complexes in the world. Some of these structures have been renovated, expanded and rebuilt over the centuries as a living temple. The latest addition is the outer tower that is approximately 73 metres (240 ft) tall, it was completed in 1987. Srirangam temple is often listed as the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world, the still larger Angkor Wat being the largest existing temple. The temple is an active Hindu house of worship and follows the Tenkalai tradition of Sri Vaishnavism. The annual 21-day festival conducted during the Tamil month of Margali (December–January) attracts 1 million visitors. The temple complex has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is in UNESCO's tentative list. In 2017 the temple won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Award of Merit 2017 for cultural heritage conservation, making it the first temple in Tamil Nadu to receive the award from the UNESCO.
Varadharaja Perumal Temple, also called Hastagiri and Attiyuran, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu located in the city of Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the Divya Desams, the 108 temples of Vishnu believed to have been visited by the 12 poet saints, or the Alvars. It is located in a suburb of Kanchipuram known as the Vishnu Kanchi that is a home for many famous Vishnu temples. One of the greatest Hindu scholars of Vaishnava Vishishtadvaita philosophy, Ramanuja, is believed to have resided in this temple.
The Sri Mahamariamman Temple is the oldest Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Founded in 1873, it is situated at the edge of Chinatown in Jalan Bandar. In 1968, a new structure was built, featuring the ornate 'Raja Gopuram' tower in the style of South Indian temples.
The Arulmigu Sri Mahamariamman Temple is a Hindu temple within George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. The oldest Hindu temple in the state, it was built in 1833, and features sculptures of gods and goddesses over its main entrance and facade.
Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval is a temple of Shiva in Tiruchirapalli district, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the five major Shiva Temples of Tamil Nadu representing the Mahābhūta or five elements; this temple represents the element of water, or neer in Tamil. The sanctum of Jambukeswara has an underground stream.
Azhagiya Manavalan Perumal Temple in Uraiyur, a suburb Tiruchirappalli in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. It is one of the 108 Divyadesam dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Azhagiya Manavalan and his consort Lakshmi as Kamalavalli.
The Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple or Thiruvellarai Temple in Thiruvellarai, a village in the outskirts of Tiruchirappalli in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Pundarikakshan and his consort Lakshmi as Pankajavalli.
Thiru Anbil, or Sundararaja Perumal Temple, in Anbil, a village in the outskirts of Tiruchirappalli in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Sundararajan and his consort Lakshmi as Sundaravalli.
The Pancharanga Kshetrams or Pancharangams is a group of five sacred Hindu temples, dedicated to Ranganatha, a form of the deity Vishnu, on the banks of the Kaveri River. The five Pancharanga Kshetrams in the order of their successive locations, on the banks of the Kaveri River are:
The Sarangapani Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu, located in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the Divya Desams, the 108 temples of Vishnu revered in Nalayira Divya Prabandham by the 12 poet saints, or Alvars. This temple is along Kaveri and is one of the Pancharanga Kshetrams.
Sthalasayana Perumal Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu located near Kollumangudi, Tamil Nadu, India. It is located 2 km away from Kollumangudi, 40 km away from Kumbakonam and 10 km from Karaikal. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Sthalasayana Perumal and his consort Lakshmi as Thirumagal Nachiyar. A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all the shrines. There is a four-tiered rajagopuram, the temple's gateway tower, in the temple.
Thiruvanaikaval Paadal Petra Sthalam (திருவனைகோவில்) or Thiruvanaikovil is a neighbourhood in the city of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated on the northern banks of the Kaveri river, on the Srirangam Island.
The flower festival or flower sprinkling festival is an important festival celebrated in the Samayapuram Mariamman temple near Tiruchirappalli, India. This festival is usually held in the Tamil month of Masi. During this festival, devotees throng the temple to sprinkle flowers on the idol of the Hindu goddess Mariamman. During this period, it is believed, that the goddess fasts for the welfare of her devotees for a period of 28 days. As a result, the ritual consecration of food at the temple does not take place.
The Neelamegha Perumal Temple or Sowriraja Perumal Temple is a Hindu temple in Thirukannapuram, a village in the outskirts of Nagapattinam in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desam dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Neelamegha Perumal and his consort Lakshmi as Thirukannapura Nayagi. As per Hindu legend, the presiding deity is believed to have appeared with a wig to save a devotee, leading to the name Sowriraja Perumal.
Vekkali Amman Temple is a temple dedicated to the Goddess Vekkaali, a form of the goddess Kali. It is located in Woraiyur, a neighbourhood in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. The central shrine of the temple houses the image of Vekkali Amman and the major feature of the temple is the absence of roof over the sanctum. The temple is known from the period of early Cholas, but there are no historical records. The people of Woraiyur see Vekkali Amman as their guardian deity. The temple has six daily rituals in its calendar and celebrates six annual festivals. The temple chariot is made of gold and was launched during 2010. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu.
The Bhu Varaha Swamy temple is a Hindu temple, located at Srimushnam, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Constructed in the South Indian style of architecture, the temple is dedicated to Varaha, the boar-avatar of the god Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi as Ambujavalli Thayar. It is Classified one among the 108 Abhimana Kshethram of Vaishnavate tradition. One of the greatest Hindu scholars of Vaishnava Tattvavada (Dvaita) philosophy, Madhvacharya, have come and resided in this temple many times.
Kodeeswarar Temple(Tamil: :கொட்டையூர் கோடீஸ்வரர் கோயில்) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, located in Kottaiyur, a village on the western outskirts of Kumbakonam, in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India. Shiva is worshipped as Koteeswarar and His consort Parvathi as Pandhadu Nayaki. Lord Koteeswarar is revered in the 7th century Tamil Saiva canonical and greatest work, Tevaram, written by Tamil saint poets known as the Nayanmars and classified as Paadal Petra Sthalam, the 275 temples revered in the canon.