Sankaranarayana Swamy Temple, Sankaran Koil, Tirunelveli







     Visited the 1000 year old Sankaranarayana  Swamy temple  at Sankaran  Kovil around  50km from  Tirunelveli today. This is a temple  dedicated to  Lord Siva and was built  around  1076 AD by Pandian  King Ukkirapandian. A statue of the king is there as you  enter the  temple on the  left side of  Rajagopuram. The  presiding  deity  is Sankaralinga swamy in a small Linga vadivam on a line direct from the main gopuram. It is believed that he revealed himself  from a  Snake Putru and is also called Vanmeega Nathar. Goddess here is called Gomathiyambikai having a separate sanctum on the north side.  The statue of the goddess is exquisitely beautiful. In between  there is a separate sanctum for Sankaranarayana  Swamy where  Sankaran  and Narayanan  are together in one form called  Sankaranarayana Swamy which god revealed himself  at the request of Parvathy.  The  beautiful  gigantic  Temple  tower is 125 feet  tall consisting of 9 storeys. The gigantic gates of the  tower and the stone carvings  on the  sides speaks volumes of the quality of work of our people centuries ago.  The temple was renovated added during later Pandian  kingdoms and there are inscriptions dating more than 600 years on the  walls of the temple as per the Sthala Puranam.  A temple to visit at least once in your life.

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