Tirunelveli Nellaiyappar and Kanthimathi Temple Structure - Part 3

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Read: Tirunelveli Nellaiyappar and Kanthimathi Temple Structure Part 1 and Part 2

Nellaiyappar and Kanthimathi temple, an ancient temple located in Tirunelveli city of South India, is one of the most prominent temples of South India. I have been writing about the architecture and iconography of the temple in the past two posts. This article is the third part. As I have already mentioned, the temple is divided into two main sections - Kanthimathi temple and Nellaiyappar temple. I have written about the structure of the Kanthimathi temple. I continue to write about the portion that connects Nellaiyappar and Kanthimathi temples.


Nellaiyappar Temple - Monkey statue

In my previous posts, I wrote about the Karumari tank and the Pottramarai tank. Near the Karumari tank, there is a prominent shrine for Subramanya. Lord Subramanya is present with his consorts Valli and Devasena. 


Near the Pottramarai tank, there are many small shrines for Shiv Linga and various snake icons. There is a famous shrine of Lord Ganesha - Pottramarai Pillaiyar - where he appears along with his consort Siddhi. There is another renowned shrine for Mother Goddess - Manjana Vadivamman, which many devotees visit daily. Besides, there is a shrine for Dakshinamurti and Saraswati. 


Sangili Mandapa, the hall connecting Kanthimathi temple and Nellaiyappar temple, has a lot of giant statues on either side, such as Bheema, Arjuna, Vaali, Sugriva, the monkey with kid, monkey, and various Yazhi (a mythical animal). Near Sangili Mandapa, there is a garden called Nanda Vanam, where Vasanta Mandapa is located. 


 I will write about the Nellaiyappar temple in my next blog post. Till then...


Happy travelling.

Nellaiyappar Temple Tank

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