Friday, October 6, 2017

Azhagamman Temple, Vadiveeswaram, Kanyakumari

Azhagamman Temple, Vadiveeswaram, Kanyakumari
Azhagamman Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located at Vadiveeswaram Village, now part of the town of Nagercoil in Kanyakumari District of Tamilnadu. The village was originally an agraharam, or a traditional double line of houses occupied by Brahmins and flanking a temple or pair of temples. It is most famous as the birthplace of Neelakanta Sivan, a well-known 19th-century composer.

History
The name Vadiveeswaram is a compound of the words Vadivu, which means 'beauty' and Easwaran, an appellation of the God Shiva, in Tamil. The name thus means the beauty of Shiva, which could refer either to the area or to the presiding goddess of the Azhagamman Temple, a Hindu Saivite temple situated in the north-east corner of the village.
Carnatic composer Neelakanta Sivan was born in Vadiveeswaram in 1839. He mentioned his birthplace twice in his work Thiruneelakanta Botham. A festival of Carnatic music was held in the village in 2007.
The Temple
The Temple is situated in the North-East corner of the Vadiveeswaram Village. Azhagamman Temple is the biggest temple in Vadiveeswaram Village. The term Azhagamman means Beautiful Goddess. This caused the name of the surrounding circle as Vadiveeswaram, meaning Beautiful-God's Place. The temple is situated in a peaceful environment with lot of Hindu God Avatars contained in it.
This temple is dedicated to Vadivambal and Sundareswarar from whose names the name of the village is derived. There was a Temple tank attached to this temple. A rare image of saint Vyagrapada Vigneswari was found in Vadiveeswaram by the Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre. The village is also home to five other temples: Mutharamman Kovil, Perumal Kovil, Idar Theertha Perumal Kovil, Sastha Kovil and Pillayar Kovil.
Festivals
The Azhagamman Temple, the biggest in the area presides car festival annually. The temple has two cars which was parked on the middle of the East car street (Keezha Ratha Veedhi / Kizhakku Ratha Veedhi). The four prominent streets were named after the car festival which was held in the streets was named as North, East, West & South Car streets respectively. Another important festival worth to mention was the Soora Samharam which too was held under Azhagamman temple at Keezha Radha Veedhi.
Connectivity
The Temple is located at about 4 Kms from Nagercoil, 800 meters from Nagercoil Bus Stand, 850 meters from Nagercoil Railway Station, 6 Kms from Suchindrum, 19 Kms from Kanyakumari, 12 Kms from Boothapandi, 17 Kms from Thuckalay and 75 Kms from Thiruvananthapuram. Nearest Railway Station is located at Nagercoil and Nearest Airport is located at Thiruvananthapuram.