Kurangani Muthu Malai Amman temple
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
Kuraangani can mean an ornament of monkeys.It can also
mean the battalion of monkeys.This small
village in near Thoothukudi town of Tamil nadu
It Seems while
Ravana was kidnappig Sita, she dropped a
pearl necklace when she was flying over
this place .It seems Lord Hanuman found it and showed it to rqama( kurangu anI)
whom he met at this place .Rama identified it and after wards Rama and
sugrreeva agreed to search and
later the monkey army (kurangu ani)
marched from here,It is believed that Goddess Sita gave that pearl
necklace to Hanuman as present during
Rama pattabhishekam,
Near the present
day temple there is a huge banyan tree
,It is believed that Rama met Hanuman below that tree,.
There are other
stories about the origin of this temple
Ancient times
A sage
called Sathyama munivar was doing penance in the shores of THamravarni,The thapas (penance) was so intense that the heat of the thapas reached Kailasa .God shiva was at that time
dancing and so sent Goddess Parvathi
to enquire about the source of the heat,When she reached the place the hear produced pearl like eruptions all over her body. It seems sweat covered her forehead
and it dropped in the fire,From that several deva maidens arose and all of them
were shining because they were wearing pearl necklaces.After goddess
went back they all went to take
bath in river Thamra barni. While going
for bathing they kept all their ornaments on the banks of the river.When they
came back they saw that all their ornaments had merged in to a huge flame of
light.They worshipped that light and went for pilgrimage.That light was waiting for some one
Modern times
Long long
afterwards A toddy tapper called Panayadiyan was tapping for
toddy on Palmyrah palms near the
present temple.From the tree he saw some
thing shining on the earth,He got down
from the tree and thinking it is a teasure ,tried to go near the shining light.He cosed
the light by the pot in his hand and went home.At night when he came he was not
able to move the pot.That night the
goddess appeared in his dream .She told that she was Muthumari amman and
instructed him to do worship to her on Tuesdays
and Fridays.
Panayadiyan told about this to the villagers, and stage was erected for the Goddess made of mud
and thatched shed waxmade over
that,Panayadiyan was appointed as the priest,.There was only two days in
a worship in the intial days Later a
huge temple was built over there
and a stone idol was installed
.The nadars s of that area became trustees to this temple,The morning
and night worship was introduced.
It seems during
invasion of Navabs this temple was about to be destroyed,He wanted to
straighten the Thamra barni river
and for that destroy the temple,Four
brothers of the village prevented them and said the goddess was very powerful.Then that captain said.”I
will call her.Will she reply me” They said yes.When the captain called three
times there was a thundering reply and the captain fainted and fell down.His
horses also fell down.When the villagers
sprayed the amman’s theertha on his face he woke up.He also built
two horses in front of the temple
The main
goddess is called Muthu Malai Amman ,On its left side is the statue of
Narayana Murthi
There is a separate temple for
Periya swami.There is a story about it,.It seems one day the Goddess came in dream of the trustees and
the priest that her Body guard made of huge stone will come
floating in the river ,She ordered them
to to build a seperatwe temple for him .
There is a peculiar
type of worship there.Daily one pot of water would be brought from
thamrabarni river and kept in
temple Narayana swami.In the noon priest
will take the water to the temple of goddess,he
will offer dhal kuzhambu and rice on
palm leaf.later he will spray that pot of water
in face of devotees and give
Vibhuthi.Devotees believe that
blacxk magic will go away and mad
people would be cured.
Festivals
The biggest
festival in this temple is on the last Tuesday
of month of aani (June-july) .The goddess would be decorated with pure gold,Fifteen
days before that, Maha Abishekam will take place to all Gods surrounding main
God,At that time without fail eagle will go round and round on the sky, There
is another small festival in month of
thai(January- February)
The temple is kept open on all days between 5 AM to 1.30
PM and 5 PM to 8.30 PM
You can
travel in the bus going to
Thichendur from Thirunelveli and get down in a place called Then Thiruperai.
The temple is 2 km from there
\
