Kannathal (kannudaya Nayagi) of Nattarasan Kottai
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
Nattarasan Kottai
is a small town in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu , which is
51 km from the city of Madhurai. There is a famous temple of Kannudaya
Nayagi (also called as Kannathal) , 2 km out of Nattarasan Kottai.
Once upon a
time the butter- milk merchants of Nattarasan Kottai were not able to go beyond Pirandikulam
which is a near by village in the forest , Some power upturned their
butter milk pots,
The merchants wanted to approach the king to solve this problem. That day Goddess Kannathal appeared
in their dream and told them that she was lying buried beneath
the mud in Pirandikulam, Under the orders of the king while the people
were digging in the village for finding
out the idol, the spade of a devotee hit his own eye and it started bleeding. When in spite of it he continued, he could recover the statue and as soon
as it was taken out , his eye injury
was cured. Because of that they started calling her “Kannathal(mother of the eye)”, The statue
has eight hands holds a small drum
(udukkai ) and trident in her hand and
her left leg is seen stamping an Asura
called Mahisha. When the people(Cowherds)
were trying to transport the statue, they were not able to take it beyond a point and there it was consecrated
facing east in a village called Nayanmarkulam. The Nattu Kottai Chettiars(Nagarathars) were directed by the Goddess to offer sacrifice
and Kaliyattam. .They assembled , made them selves in to two groups called Kallar and Kanakku Pillais and
sacrificed 1499sheep.No blood came out of any of them. But when the 1500 th
sheep was sacrificed , blood came out and the statue started moving and it halted in a place called Virakandan Urani in the south of the Shiva
temple and the statue faced north. Initially
the Pujas were performed by
people belonging to the Bangle sellers
(Valai chetty community) and then the Goddess ordered through voice
from the sky that she should be worshipped by people belonging to the
Uvachiar community (The poet Kambar
belonged to this communityand his tomb is situated near this temple ),Till
today only people belonging to this community are priests in this
temple.
A kaliyattam
festival is celebrated in this temple once in every twelve years, which coincides in the year when Mahamaham is celebrated in
Kumbakonam.This festival is celebrated
for 22 days. There is an annual
festival lasting for 10 days in the
month of Vaikasi(May-june). On 7th day the idol is taken out in a
golden chariot and on 8th day
the deity is taken out in a silver chariot wearing a Nagarathar ornament
called “Kuzhutu Uru” . On 9th
day she is taken out in a wooden chariot. On the 10th day a rabbit
is sacrificed to please her. On the
pongal day , pongal is offered to her by
the Nagarathar community.
The temple is
open from 7.30 Am to 12,30 PM and from 4 PM to 8.30 Pm. . The goddess is
decorated in a golden dress during the first Friday of every month and this dress is contributed by Nagarathar community in Singapore.
People with
eye problems, people wanting a child , people who are not able to get married
worship at this temple and get their wishes fulfilled. After fulfilling their
wishes, the devotees arrange for Abhishekam of the Amman and offer her new cloths .Maa vilakku is also offered to
the Goddess ,
Walking to Kannathal temple from Sivagangai is a ritual in our family. Anyone having any ailment worship Kannathal and offer a walking trip to Her temple and kanikkai to Her. She is varaprasadi... Kan kanda deivam... thanks for writing on Kannathal.
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