Nanmadhiya Perumal Temple of Thalaichangadu



 At the outset, let us join in congratulating ISRO for having landed Indian rover on the moon!

Coincidentally, the temple about which I am going to write is associated with the moon. The name of this temple is Nanmadhiya Perumal temple, also called as Thalaichanga Nanmathiyam temple. This is a Divya Desham of Maha Vishnu and the lord is presiding as Nanmadhiya Perumal and His consort is Thalaichanga Nachiar. This temple is located in a village called Thalaichangadu in Akkur, Mayiladuthrai district of Tamil Nadu. 

Most of the legends associated with this temple revolve around Chandra, the moon-god and his curse which was relieved by Maha Vishnu at the place where the temple is located currently. 

During the Samudra-manthan, Chandra came out of the ocean, followed by Devi Lakshmi. Hence he is considered as the elder brother of the Devi. As per one legend, Chandra took away Tara, the wife of his Guru Brihaspati and got cursed by him. As per another legend, Chandra married all the daughters of Daksha and promised him that he would care for all of them equally. However, Chandra paid attention only to Rohini and ignored the others. Enraged by this, Daksha cursed Chandra that every day he would lose his lustre, there by leading to the various cycles of the moon.

Chandra who was suffering from the curse, prayed to Maha Vishnu for deliverance. The Lord advised him to bath in the holy pond named Chandra Pushkarini which is now the pond of the said temple. Chandra got relief from his curse. To propitiate him, the deity of this temple has a crescent moon over His head, just like Lord Shiva, and is also referred to as Chandra-sapha-hara, the one who relieved Chandra off his curse. 

There is a conch in this temple which is believed to be one of a kind, thereby earning the village its name Thalaichangadu (changu/shankh - conch).

People pray here to get relief from negative influence of the moon over them.

Om Namo Narayana! Om Devyai Namaha!

Picture Courtesy: Tamilnadu Tourism

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