Tamilnad temples - Mandaikadu Bhagavathiamman Temple

Mandaikadu Bhagavathi Amman Temple

There is a Bhagavathi (goddess) temple which is for the women like the famous Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple of Kerala is for men. It is known as the Ladies Sabarimala temple. This temple is in a place known as Mandaikadu (also pronounced as Mondaikadu) in the sea coast. The shore is covered with coconut trees. It is near to the Colachel Port on the North East side. It is temple of 7^th century, a temple of 14 centuries (1400 years) old. As the name suggests the temple is dedicated to Bhagavathi Amman. Women go to this temple with ‘vratha’ (a set of rituals to be observed by devotees) and at the end of the ‘vratha’ they carry an ‘iru mudi kettu’ (a cloth bundle with two bag like pouches) containing the Pooja items and offerings, to the Mandaikadu Bhagavathi Amman, on their heads just as men do in their worships to the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple. As per the local people the temple was renovated thrice. 

Peculiarity (specialty) of Mandaikadu Bhagavathiamman Temple 

The deity in this temple is special and rare – it is in the form of an ant hill (puttu) with 5 heads. At present the height of the ant hill is about 12 feet and the belief of the local people and others connected with the temple is that the ant hill is growing gradually. The face of the goddess is at the upper end of the ant hill. There is a Srichakra (holy disc) near the ant hill on ground level. It is a temple built in Kerala temples style though it is in Tamilnad. It may be because the entire District of Kanyakumari was in Kerala and at the time of States reorganizations parts of the areas were exchanged between Kerala and Tamilnad. If I remember correctly this area went to Tamilnad and the Malabar area which was under Tamilnad was released to Kerala. The Mandaikadu Bhagavathiamman Temple is a very simple styled one unlike most of the temples of Tamilnadu with the clay (mud) tile roof. 

Offerings at Mandaikadu Bhagavathiamman Temple

Those who want t get married with good spouse or where there is delay in marriages, the devotees offer silk cloths and mangalsutra to the goddess with a prayer. 

Those who are handicapped offer limbs made of silver to the deity for their cures.  

Those who go with the prayer for children offer cradles for their getting the blessings from the goddess for children. 

Those who feel that they are affected by evil looks of bad persons offer crackers for relief from the effects of evil looks.  

Devotees suffering from incurable or terrible headaches offer an item like a kind of pudding made out of rice flour, sugar/jaggery and water called Mandaiappam and take part of it as prasadam. 

Some devotees place the food on the floor and eat it after Pooja as prasadam. This prasadam and offering is called the ‘man soru’ eating. Man means mud and soru means cooked rice. 

The general belief f the devotees is that the goddess do not disappoint those who go to her with sincere devotion with the requests. 

Festivals of Mandaikadu Bhagavathiamman Temple

The annual festival is known as the Mandaikadu Kodai. This falls in the month of March – April of the English calendar. The festival is celebrated for 10 days known as the Masi (Masi is the name of a Tamil calendar month) festival. During the festival the Tamilnad Tourism Department arranges photographic exhibition and other programs. This festival draws huge crowds of around 10 lakh people.

Apart from the above festival, Pournamis (Poornima), Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays are important days in this temple. 

Poojas are performed 4 times a day and the timings are

Morning	-	5.00hrs
Noon	-	12.30hrs
Evening	-	18.30hrs
Night	-	20.30hrs

The Holy trees for this temple are Bo Tree (peepal) and Neem tree.

How to reach Mandaikadu Bhagavathi Amman temple

The temple is situated in Mandaikadu village in Kanyakumari District of Tamilnad on the sea shore neat to the Nagarcoil – Colachel State Highway. It is about 4 km from Colachel, 5km from Thingalnagar, 22 km from Nagarcoil, 41 km from Kanyakumari, 70 km from Thiruvananthapuram and 100 km from Tirunelveli.

Bus facilities are available from Nagarcoil. Nearest Railway Station is Iranial and Nagarcoil.

Nearest airport is Thiruvananthapuram and Madurai.

Accommodation facilities

The temple complex is having facility for staying. Charge may be around Rs 100. At Nagarcoil lodges are available for charges ranging from Rs. 250 to Rs. 400

Legend about the Mandaikadu Bhagavathi Amman temple

His Holiness Sri Sanklaracharya was performing pooja to the Sri Chakra here with his devotees. One day the Srichakra did not turn as was the custom after the pooja was over. The Acharya stayed back here and he attained Samadhi in this place. The present ant hill grew in the place where the Srichakra existed at that time. Over a period of time the place was deserted and became like a forest area. Once when some children were playing in the area and hit the ant hill and they were injured. This news went to the then ruler of the area the King Marthanda Varma of Travancore kingdom. He came to know of the incidents and he ordered a temple to be built in this place and arrange for Poojas regularly. Gradually the temple became famous with the satisfied devotees becoming its advertisers.