Travel To A Temple | Pillaiyarpatti

A Travel to Lord Ganesh Temple in Pillaiyarpatti:

Pillaiyarpatti is a small town in India. It is twelve kilometers from Karaikudi, near Madurai, in the Sivagangi District of Tamil Nadu. The town is named after the Ganesh Temple that adorns it. Here, Lord Ganesh is known as Pillaiyar, and 'Karpaga Vinayakar', Lord who offers his blessings like the celestial tree Kalpaka whose specialty is ' you ask and it will be given'.

Karpaga Vinayakar is one of the oldest Vinayakar images in the world for it has only two arms. The significance of the two arms is that the first god evolved by ancient man was in the shape of man. This male god created out of stone was called Yaksha and the female god was called Yakshi. Later on to show the superiority of god to man the head of the man was removed and in its place a head in the shape of OM was fixed. OM is the Pranav Manthra, the sound form of the Almighty, the creator of this Universe. The symbolic representation of Om was similar to that of an elephant.

There are only two images of Vinayakars with two arms in the world. One is at Pillaiyarpatti the other is in Afghanistan. The one at Afghanistan must have been made later, for it is in a standing posture and has a number of ornaments adorning it. The one at Pillaiyarpatti is in a sitting posture mediating. He does not have Modakam (the most favourite sweet of Pillaiyar) but a Siva Linga in his palm. He mediates for the well being of the people and so their prayers are answered immediately.


Travel Information:

Travel to this temple from Chettinad Heritage Hotels will make the trip more enjoyable. There are good number of well maintained hotels in Chettinad near Karaikudi.

Nearest Airport : Madurai and Thiruchirapalli.

Train Root: Chennai Rameshwaram Express and Kamban Express