On a warm afternoon in June, my wife
and I boarded the Tiruchendur Express from Egmore Railway Station on our trip
to the Podhigai Hills and around. Our
train reached Tirunelveli Junction by 06 15 next morning. I went to the ticket counter on platform 1
and purchased a ticket to Ambasamudram on the Tenkasi passenger that was slated
to leave at 06 45. The trip to
Ambasamudram took 45 minutes and the train was not very crowded. Tea and samosas from local vendors who
boarded the train helped us ward away our early morning blues. Outside the Ambai station, we boarded a local
bus to Papanasam, which is situated at the edge of the Kalakkad Mundanthurai
Wildlife Reserve. The journey took
around 20 minutes and after alighting at Papanasam, we hired an auto for
exploring the Podhigai hill area. The
deal was that the auto driver would take us to Upper Papanasam dam in Kariyar,
then to Suri Muthu Ayyanar temple at the banks of River Tamirabharani and then finally to Agasthiyar
falls before dropping us at Papanasam Sivan temple at the foot of the hill –
all this for Rs 500.
Driving through the forest area, the
driver stopped at places, providing photo opportunities to capture the serene
tree cover, a cheerful peacock, the flowing Tamirabharani and the lonely path
through the reserve. He dropped us at
the Kariyar village, about a km from the Upper Papanasam Dam. Reaching the dam by walking around 15 mins
from Kariyar village, we met the security guard who informed us that due to low
water level, the usual boat ride to Baanatheertham on the other side of the
river had been stopped. However, the
scenic beauty of the dam and its surroundings were inviting indeed. There were a few monkeys playing gleefully
around the dam. After enjoying the
beauty of the dam and surrounding fauna for a while, we reverted to the Kariyar
village where our auto driver waited.
The drive to SoruiMuthu Ayyanar temple
took around 15 mins. River Tamirabharani
was flowing at a brisk pace as it descended from the heights of the Podhigai
hills. The place was ideal for a jump
into the river – and yeah, that’s what we did.
With no one around, we enjoyed the cool waters and of course, the
isolation. After a much needed
refreshing bath, we walked to the nearby temple. The auto driver informed us that people believed
in the deity being extremely powerful, and capable of helping devotees with
pain in limbs, recover rather quickly.
After worshipping the deity, we ate breakfast – a few rotis we had
packed from Chennai. The driver drove us
to the Agastiyar falls next. The falls
was crowded and we did not want to spend much time there.
We returned to the auto and requested the
driver to drop us at Papanasam Sivan temple.
After a 10 min drive, we were at the temple. The temple’s main deity was Lord Siva and his
consort was Ulagamman. After a brief
worship, we asked the driver to drop us at the bus stop. We boarded the bus to Tirunelveli and were
dropped at the Old Bus Station in over an hour.
Without wasting much time, we found a
good vegetarian restaurant in Hotel Janakiram for a well-deserved afternoon
meal. Post lunch, we searched for rooms
in the hotel, only to be told that it had been over-booked. We checked a few more hotels around, before
finally booking a room at the New Anandha Hotel. A modest room with basic facilities was
sufficient and to our liking. We rested
for a while and drew out plans for our evening travel.
We took a local bus to Tenkasi, around
60 kms west of Tirunelveli, from the nearby Old Bus Station. The journey took us 1.5 hours and the bus
dropped us near the post office from where we walked a bit to reach the famous
Kasi Viswanathar Temple. A grand gopuram
welcomed us and as we entered the outer courtyard, we could see the Podhigai
hills in the background. We enjoyed the
wonderful view and proceeded towards the inner sanctum. The huge temple had Kasi Viswanathar as the
main deity and Ulagamman as his consort.
The complex for Ulagamman resembled the complex for Kasi Viswanathar in
most aspects. We spent our time admiring
the beauty of the temple architecture. With
less crowd, we worshipped all deities and returned to the outer courtyard,
where we sat for a while. The cool breeze
ripped through our faces as we smelt flavors of the countryside, a total
contrast to the polluted city life we were so used to. As we returned to Tirunelveli and completed
our dinner, we were tired enough to retire for the day at our hotel.
The next day we got up early and took
the 7.20 AM train to Tiruchendur. The train was crowded since it was a Sunday –
however, we were lucky enough to find seats for ourselves. We reached Tiruchendur by 9 AM and walked
about 0.5km to the temple. We were told by some devotees who returned from
worship, that the temple was crowded and it would take time for getting
darshan. We took a ticket for Rs 100 and
joined a queue in the inner circumambulatory.
We got darshan in 45 mins and proceeded to exit from the eastern gate of
the temple. The temple being on the
shore of Bay of Bengal, offered photo opportunities for devotees. The day was pretty warm and we quenched our
thirst with rose milk bought at a nearby shop.
Reaching the bus station, located by the shore, we boarded the bus to
Tirunelveli which dropped us in 2 hours.
After having lunch again at Hotel Janakiram, we retreated to our rooms
for a nap. In the evening, we visited
the famous Nellaiappar temple, from where Tirunelveli gets its name.
Nellaippar temple is huge – would be
an understatement. Adorned by numerous
deities, the temple would take atleast 2 hours to cover. Constructed in 7th Century AD, the
temple has Nellaiappar as the presiding deity and Kanthimathi Ambal as his
consort. A huge deity of Govindaraja
Perumal lies to the right of the main sanctum.
Originally the Nellaiappar and Kanthimathi temples were two independent
structures with spaces in between. In 17th
Century, the two temples were linked by building the "Chain
mandapam". Vast in area, this
temple never ceases to surprise visitors for the wealth of detail it has to
offer. The musical pillars in the Mani Mandapam which produce sound in various
pitches when struck, the Somavara Mandapam, the 1000 pillared hall, and the
Tamra sabha with intricate wood work, and the Vasantha Mandapam are some of the
noteworthy points in this temple. Lifelike sculptures adorn several of the
Mandapams in the temple, noteworthy ones being in the Sangili Mandapam which
links the temples of Nellaiappar and Kantimathi in this vast temple complex.
After exploring most parts of the
temple and feeling tired enough, we returned to our hotel and retired soon
after having our dinner.
Next day morning, we left for
Sankarankovil – a town located around 70 kms north of Tirunelveli. My friend’s marriage brought me to that
town. The route to Sankarankovil was
dotted with windmills on either side of the road. After attending the marriage, we returned to
Tirunelveli by afternoon. Our return
train to Chennai was at 07 50 PM in the evening. In order to spend time, we decided to watch
the newly released SuperStar starrer Kochadaiyaan at a local cinema. The animated movie was interesting, though
not giving the satisfied feeling of watching a SuperStar movie. After the movie, we went to the vicinity of
the Nellaiappar temple as we were told the temple opens by 4PM in the
evening. Opposite the main gate of the
temple, we found long queue of people standing outside a shut shop. There was no hoarding or banner on the
property – on checking with people, we understood that they were eagerly
waiting for the famous ‘Iruttu Kadai’ to open.
The shop serves the best halwas in town and opens only for a few hours
each day – 5 30 PM to 8 30 PM or in most cases, until day’s stock lasts. The shop baffles many marketing experts world
over. With no advertising or marketing,
the ‘Iruttu Kadai’ is the most sought after halwa shop in Tirunelveli and their
quality has been the reason for people referring to their halwa as the famous
‘Tirunelveli halwa’ or ‘Iruttu Kadai halwa’.
I was surprised to observe that the bags of halwas did not bear the
shop’s name. But the quality of their
product surely did. We bought our share
of halwa and had dinner to reach the station in time to catch our return train
to Chennai.
As we returned to our usual
routine the next morning, amongst our activities, we were reminded of our
isolation in the Podhigai hills, the cold waters of the Tamirabharani, the breezy
courtyard of the Kasi Viswanathar temple, the shore temple of Tiruchendur, the
grandeur of the Nellaiappar temple and finally, of course, the ‘Iruttu Kadai’.
