Why
the name Tiruvelvikkudi?
Tiruvelvikkudi means thiru (a salutation attached to
divine or holy or great personalities) velvi (wedding or marriage) kudi (house,
dwelling place, temples). The temple place where a holy marriage took place.
Whose marriage was that, that took place here? The earthly marriage of Lord
Shiva as Kalyanasundarar and goddess Parvathy (goddess Uma) as Parimalasugandha
Nayaki was the one referred. Kalyanasundarar means handsome personality in
marriage attire. Parimalasugandha Nayaki means the great fragrant female
personality. Parimala and sugandha means same thing as fragrance, scent.
The
place of earthly marriage of Lord Siva and goddess Uma
Though the name suggests that the marriage of the
Lord Kalyana Sundarar (Siva) and goddess Parimalasugandha Nayaki (Uma) took
place here, the marriage was performed at a nearby place called Thirumananjeri.
However, the pre wedding Vedic rituals mainly of Homa related to wedding were
done in the place Tiruvelvikkudi for the marriage of the divine couple – the Lord
Siva and Goddess Parvathy. A temple was built in the place as it was sanctified
by the Homa done which purified this place. Those who built the temple wanted
the benefit of the divinity of the place to be available to all devotees who
come here to offer worship. This is one of the ancient Siva temples in whose
honour praising songs were composed and sung by the great Siva devotees Sambandar
and Sundarar who along with about 64 are known as the ‘Nayanmar’. Naturally the main deities of this temple are
the Kalyanasundarar and Parimalasugandha Nayaki.
Kalyana Sundarar temple
structure
The temple is not a huge one as the temples around
this village. It is a medium one with 3 tiers Gopuram (main entrance
structure). Tiruvelvikkudi temple has 2 prakarams, an inner one and an outer
one. A prakaram is an outer part to the Sanctum (the holy shrine where the
deities are installed). This can be a closed one or an open one. While many
temples have a closed one, some are having open prakaram or pragaram and some
will have partially closed one. The Prakaram will have a path for circumambulation
(walk around the shrine) for the devotees.
It will also have normally at least a partially closed (wall and roof
but not fully enclosed) place for doing namaskarams (prostrations), chanting
stotras, cooking the offerings to the deities, dress chanting place for the
Archaks (priests, poojaris), an office or counters for offering/prasad tickets
etc. In addition to this prakaram there is also an outer pragaram (outer
pathway around the temple complex) which is open around the prakaram around
the shrine. The outer walls of the
sanctum have the carved images of the sub deities of the temple, Lord
Ganapathy, Agasthya Maharishi, Dakshinamurthy (an aspect of Lord Siva
representing the planet Guru - Jupiter), Lingodhbhavar (manifestation as Linga
the symbol of Lord Siva), Chandrasekharar (Lord Siva with the crescent moon) and
Ardhanareeswar (half woman and half man form of the Lord Siva symbolizing the
unity of Siva and Sakti (power – energy). The temple walls have the
inscriptions from the periods of Sembian, Mahadevi, Rajaraja and Parantaka
Cholas.
Tiruvelvikkudi temple
location
As mentioned this temple is located near the Thirumananjeri
temple about 5 km from Ktthalam on the Mayiladuthurai – Kumbakonam Road. Buses
are available to Tiruvelvikkudi temple from Mayiladuthurai and Kumbakonam. At Kuththalam
autos are available for this place and other nearby temples either on single
place basis or packages.
Postal address of the
temple
Sri Kalyana Sundareswarar Temple
Tiruvelvikkudi, Kuththalam Post
Mayiladuthurai Taluk, Nagapattinam District
PIN code: 609801
Tiruvelvikkudi, Kuththalam Post
Mayiladuthurai Taluk, Nagapattinam District
PIN code: 609801
