KUTRALANATHAR TEMPLE

KUTRALA NATHAR TEMPLE

Kutralam is a popular tourist resort in Southern Tamil Nadu known for its waterfalls, amidst picturesque

surroundings - and is a source of inspiration of many a literary work. Thousands visit this town when the waterfalls are in season. Kutralam represents one of the 5 Pancha Sabhas of Nataraja - Chitra Sabhai. The five dance halls of Shiva are Chidambaram, Madurai, Tiruvalankadu, Tirunelveli and Kutralam. Kutralam is also known as Trikootaachalam.

During the pandiya rein the karuvarai Artha mandapam, maha mandapam, separate temple for kulalvai

mozhi Amman and pillayan kattalai mandapam.

At the time of nayakkar rule parasakthi temple was constructed , the compound wall , sangu street and

inner street and new sannithis were built.Shiva devotee agathiyar may here removed the perumal sannithi and that place is used as vengam room at present.

Thirikooda mandapam, Pasupirai, Thattodi, vaitheeyappa vilasam, The front mandapam of kulalvai 

mozhi amman, sangai veethi and kalpavuthal at vasantha veethi. Were build by the things of vadakarai Aathikkam sokkampatti.

In 1925, The Aaralvai mozhi temple was renovated by the people of the town.

Stala Puranam:

When parvathi’s marriage took place in the Himalayas, All three world come to be in a single line the 

south seemed to be higher than the north. Lord sent sage agasthiar equaling him to the status of devas to the trigooda hills. When sage agasthiar came this temple was a vairava temple. when he tired to entered the temple was a stopped by dwara palagas. so he worshipped Ilanji kumaran. He was granted a wish to get whatever he wanted. At this instance agasthiyar told Ilanji Kumaran the problem he faced while trying to enter the temple. So he granded him the boon to take the form of a Vairavate, took bath in the eascade and entered the temple successfully.

Every one considered him as a guru and showed due respect when enquired about his where about

agasthiar replied that he came from tirupathi mularri kannan tirupathi and ordered that all pooja articles to be brought he removed the priest from the street he worshipped the stupa and the surrounding gods and lord thirumal.He took the vishwaroopa form and kept his hand on loard thirumal saying ‘kuru kuru kutralanathre!’ and turned him into thiru kutralanathar says the stala purana.

Purana stories says that this place was a vaishnava temple and sage agasthiyar turned it into kuru kuru 

kutralanathar temple this leed to a heavy headache to thirukutralanathar so he was done abhishegams by 64 herbals and shanthanathi oil palam. Prepared and applied to the lord.this is done even today by the devotiees. Revealing its vainava base the temple is in the form of a conch.

The sage Agastyar, at Shiva's request, proceeded southward to stabilize the balance of the earth, and

relieve the instability caused by the multitude of entities at Shiva's and Parvati's wedding in the Himalayas, to wait for a glimpse of the divine couple. There he is said to have created the Shivalingam here by shrinking an image of Vishnu, hence the name Kutralam. The temple has a conch shaped temple (prakaram (closed precincts of a temple)) plan and is referred to as Sangakkovil. In the shrine, Shiva showed himself as Bhrama and Vishnu. The presiding deity lord shiva is called as Kuttralanathar and the Ambal his consort mother Parvathy is called as Kuzhalvoi Mozhiammai. The Tirikootamandapam here is the site of festivities here.Parvati's shrine is also of significance here and is regarded as one of the 64 Shakti Peethams. The Chitra Sabhai or the hall of pictures is located in a picturesque locale away from the main temple. Architecturally the Chitrasabha resembles that of the other Nataraja Sabhas elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, and its interior is decked with hundreds of murals, depicting images from the Indian epics. Natarajar is brought here during festivals from the Kurumpalaveesar temple. The sthala vriksham is Kurum Palaa and the Theertham is Chitranadhi.