Kunnakudi Temple

Travel to Kunnakudi Temple



Kunnakudi Temple is situated at a small village called Kunnakudi. It is 10 Kms from Karaikudi, near Madurai in the Sivaganga District of Tamil Nadu State (India).

Lord Shanmuganathan is the presiding deity here. Lord Shanmuganatha is also called ‘Muruga’,’Shanmuga’’ and ‘Skandha’. Temple is built on a hill top around 1000 AD. It is a cave temple. Marudhu Pandiyars Kings of Sivaganga renovated the Temple.





On the western side of the hill are three excavated cave shrines at the ground level. These are in a line and are adjacent to one another. Later structures have been added to these shrines in the front. All these cave shrines are dedicated to Shiva. The first two shrines are embellished with very fine sculptural details, with beautifully carved 'Dwarapalas', but the third one is very plain. There are a number of old inscriptions in this region which are found to be useful to the research minded historians.

Here Lord Shanmuganathan is mounted on his peacock flanked by Valli and Deivayanai. Prayers in this temple bring relief from diseases and mental worries. The Devotees are blessed with good Children. Devotees bring their child after a year of birth and give its hair as offering to Shanmuganatha.

Legend has it that Vishnu and Bhrama once paid a visit to Skanda - at which time, the peacock mount of Skanda behaved with arrogance towards the guests. Skanda cursed the peacock to turn into stone. This peacock manifested itself as a hill and carried out penances towards Skanda, after which it was restored to its original form. Part of the rock is said to remain as Mayuragiri or Kunnakkudi, enshrining Skanda.

There are also shrines to Vinayakar, Kuzhandai Vadivelar, Meenakshi Sundareswarar, Dakshinamurthy, Natarajar, Chandeswarar and the Navagrahams. Images of Veerabahu and Idumban are also in this temple.

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, a famous master of the Violin hails from this temple village. He was a great devotee of lord Muruga. Here is an Album from him , Ustad Zakir Hussain and Rehman. It is perfect blend of two instruments tabla and violin.




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