Mohanur Temple Tour Part I (Namakkal - Tamil Nadu)

Mohanur Temple Tour Part I (Namakkal - Tamil Nadu)

Mid of Jan is auspicious all over India. In Punjab its Lohri, in rest of north India its Makara Sankaranthi, in south India it’s called Pongal. It’s all and one and one and all and it’s a harvest festival very special all over India. And I am usually at my home with my parents for every Pongal, but this Pongal, I couldn’t get back home. I was down with 102 deg the previous night of Pongal and was a bit better only the next day. The next day was Maatu Pongal which is the auspicious day for the animal that’s so important for harvesting – cows and oxes!!!

On this day, I left to Mohanur, a place where I heard about the existence of 3 different ancient temples.

Before getting into the details about the temple, first lemme tell you about Mohanur. The reason for the name Mohanur itself is interesting.

One reason is that the people of this region worked as middle men or agents in the ancient era. Mugavar is the term in Tamizh for agents. So the place came to be known as Mugavanur which derived later on as Moganur.

Another reason is that Lord Shiva wanted to see the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu as a woman i.e. Mohini, here in this location. So Mohanur!!!

Another reason goes as a reasonably longer. Once all the heavenly devas went in search of Lord Shiva accompanied by Ganga. But he was alone there. So they started their search for Ganga and went to Lord Muruga. He too started to search her. Searching her, they reached Madurai where Madurai Meenakshi directed them towards north near Cauvery. Lord Muruga came to Cauvery, yet didn’t find her. So He went on a severe meditation on her. Ganga appeared in front of him. She was so over-whelmed by his motherly love and hugged him. Since the mother-son love between them was found here, the place was called Maganur. Magan means son in Tamizh. Maganur later derived as Mohanur!!!

So, here is my first temple visit. The first one was the Kalyana Venkatramanar Temple. Its again a wedding special temple. Remember the other 2 – Thanthondrimalai venkatramanar and Nithyakalyana Perumal. This temple has no epitaphs in it and so the origin dates are not found. However, the entrance of the sanctum sanctorum has a wristband and sword symbol on it. It’s a signature of the Nayaks. So it is assumed that this temple belongs to the Nayak Era. The main god here is Lord Vishnu as Lord Kalyana Venkatramanar.

The legend here is that a poor old Brahmin was on his foot towards Tirupathi. But his leg got fractured enroute. So he cried to the Lord about his inability to proceed further. So the Lord said that the next morning he would appear here itself in front of him. He slept in peace of mind and the next morning there the Lord appeared to him in the very location. Now that very location is where the temple is.

Radha Kalyanam is an auspicious festival which occurs here often. Last week Radha Kalyanam happened here for 4 days. So, what exactly is Radha Kalyanam – Remember the Radha Kalyanam I attended in Manathattai Agraharam?

First shrine here in the circumambulatory passage is of Chakkarathazhvar which is essentially newly constructed. He is one among the 12 Vaishnavaite Saints or Azhwars. He is depicted as on a wheel or Chakram. On the anterior side of the wheel is Yoga Narasimhar.

Further on the circumambulation passage is the shrine of Dhanvanthri who is considered as the medical God. He is considered as the doctor of doctors.

From there the next shrine is of Shri Lakshmi Hayagreevar. Hayagreevar is the horse faced incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Just opposite to his shrine is the shrine of Medha Saraswasthi, who is essentially the Goddess of knowledge and education. She is usually seen holding the musical instrument Veena in her hand. But here quite unusually she doesn’t have one.

The Sthala Vruksham (Holy Tree) here is the Vilvam and the Theertham (Holy Water) here is River Cauvery as this temple is located at the shores of River Cauvery.

From there my next destination was Achaladeepeshwarar temple which is a Lord Shiva Temple. This temple was located at the end of the road leading to the river from Kalyana Venkatramanar Temple.

Guess my post is going too long. I’ll get back about Achaladeepeshwarar and the 3^rd temple back soon!!!

Before I go, this shot from near the temple is of a little wooden bridge that caught my attention!!! Here for you to enjoy as well!!!

TO GET THERE:

From Karur: 40 km via Velur

From Erode: 71 km via Paramathi

From Trichy: 80 km via Kulithalai

From Salem: 70 km via Namakkal

TO STAY:

Mohanur has a government guest house near the river near Achaladeepeshwarar temple about which I do not know the details.

However the nearest town to stay in private hotels of all price ranges is Karur.