Kunnuvarankottai Kasi Visalakshi-Viswanathar Temple

The Kasi Visalakshi Viswanathar temple is in the village of Kunnuvarankottai. This village is served by three rivers — Vaigai, Maruda and Manjalaru — called the Triveni Sangam (tri = three, veni = river, sangam = confluence). The river Vaigai takes a slightly northern course (Tamil: உத்தரவாஹினீ) near this village, like the Ganges takes at Varanasi.

Kunnuvarankottai

Kunnuvarankottai is a village near Batlagundu which is on the foothills of Kodaikanal in Dindigul district. The Tamil name for this village is Kundru-Aran-Kottai which now is known as Kunnuvarankottai or Kannapatti.

Kasi Visalakshi Viswanathar temple

Villagers believe that bathing in the confluence during holy days like Amavasya will enable the devotees to realise the purpose of life. There is a 300-year-old Visalakshi Viswanathar temple in the village by the riverside. The presiding deities are Goddess Visalakshi and God Viswanathar. It is similar in nature to the Kasi Visalakshi Viswanathar temple in many respects. As per the temple legend, the locals say that this idol was brought by a devotee from Kasi or Varanasi.^[1]

The Kumbhabishekam of this temple was completed in 2001. Shri K. V. Vishwanathan Sivachariyar is the priest. The temple conducts many festivals every year including Sivarathri (பிரதோஷம், சங்கடஹர சதுர்த்தி, சஷ்டி, நவராத்திரி).

Special feature

Sri Sacchidananda Bharati I (1623–1663) was born in this area and the annual birthday is celebrated in this temple every year in Sravana month Rohini star. A Dhyana mandapam in the memory of this saint is in this village near the Vaigai River.

References

External references

• (29-8-2010, P.7). "Kunnuvarankottayil Sacchidananda Bharathi Jayanthi", குன்னுவாரங்கோட்டையில் சச்சிதாநந்த பாரதீ ஜயந்தி, Dinamalar Tamil daily newspaper, Madurai and Dindigul editions.
• Pandit Re. Ramamurthy and Vidwan Ra. Arangakrishnan. (February 2010. P. 11). "Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsar Aruliya Inkadhai Kavidai', Tamil: பண்டித திரு. ரெ. ராமமூர்த்தி, வித்துவான் ரா. அரங்க கிருஷ்ணன், ஸ்ரீ ராமக்ருஷ்ண பரமஹம்சர் அருளிய இன்கதை கவிதை, சரவணா பதிப்பகம், Saravana Padippagam, Chinmaya Nagar, Chennai-600 092, Collection of Tamil poems and short stories.
• R. Venkataramani. (August 2003. P. 8,9,10,11,12,13). "Sringeri Sarada Peedathin 25th Peetadhipadhi - Mudalam Sachchidananda Bharathi", 'Amman Darisanam', Tamil periodical.
• R. Gopalaiyer. (26-1-2001). Kunnuvarankottai Shri Visalakshi Visvesvarar Thiruchadakam, Kasturi Press, Thirumangalam.
• http://www.sringeri.net/branches/tamil-nadu/vattalagundu - Link to Vattalagundu and Kunnuvarankottai related to Sringeri Mutt branch
• http://wikitravel.org/en/Dindigul - Wikitravel website for Dindigul city useful for travelers and devotees to the Pilgrimage sites in the area
• http://wikitravel.org/en/Dindigul_district - Wikitravel website for Dindigul district useful for travelers and devotees to the Pilgrimage sites in the area
• http://wikitravel.org/en/Madurai - Wikitravel website for Madurai district useful for devotees to the Pilgrimage sites and travelers in the area