The Southern Kasi - Tenkasi Viswanathar Temple

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Tenkasi is a small town located near the ancient city of Tirunelveli in South India. Near Tenkasi, you can find the popular tourist destination Courtallm, famous due to its number of waterfalls. "Ten Kasi" means "southern Kasi" in the Tamil language. Kasi is an ancient sacred city for Hindus located in North India. As Tenkasi is considered equivalent to Kasi, this city got the name Tenkasi - the southern Kasi.

Tenkasi Temple
Tenkasi is famous for its centrally located huge temple, Kasi Viswanathar temple. Of course, the original Kasi city in North India doesn't have such a massive temple for Kasi Viswanath as it was destroyed by foreign rulers. If you want to visit a big temple for Kasi Viswanath, you must travel down to Southern Kasi.

The Kasi Viswanathar temple was constructed by the king Parakkirama Pandian in 1455 CE. As he wanted to visit Kasi and couldn't visit as it was ruled by Muslim rulers at that time, he ultimately built a temple for Kasi Viswanathar in his own city. The temple's presiding deity is Lord Shiva in the name of Kasi Viswanathar. The presiding goddess is Ulagammai. The temple didn't have a tower for many years, and it was built towards the end of the 20th century CE. The beautiful temple tower is a highlight of this temple; it is 178 feet high nine tiered tower.

Tenkasi Sculpture

The Kasi Viswanathar temple, which spreads over approximately 4 acres, is built in Somaskanda style. The temple is divided into three main sections with three shrines. In one shrine, you can find the main deity Kasi Viswanathar in the form of Shiv Linga. There is another shrine dedicated to the goddess Ulagammai or Loganayaki. The third main shrine is dedicated to Lord Subramanya or Bala Subramanian.

There is a small Ganesha shrine near the temple tower. The southern corridor of the temple has the icons of Sapta Kanya, Suradevar, 63 nayanmars and the shrine of Velavan (Subramanya). The western passage has the murtis of Ayyanar, Mahalakshmi, Vinayaka and Subramanya. The northern gallery has the sculptures of Gajalakshmi, Shaneeswara, Chandikeswara, Nataraj and the temple tank named Kasi Teertha. There is a hall with musical pillars.  Ganesha, Subramanya, Parasakthi Peeth, Sahasra Linga Bhairav and Meenakshi & Chokkanathan are some of the other deities found in the temple.

The temple's highlight is its beautiful sculptures present in the mandapa of Bala Subramanian. The sculptures such as Rati, Arjun, Krishna with the flute, Bheem, Manmadan, Soldier, Bhairav, and Badrakali are extremely wonderfully carved statues. Especially the figures of Krishna with the flute, Shiva with his leg raised towards the top, and the dancing Kali are absolutely lively. They are considered one of the best collections of sculptures in entire South India.
When you happen to go to South India, don't miss to visit Tenkasi and Kasi Viswanathar temple.

Happy travelling.

Visit my site, krishnakumartk.com, to know more about the travel guides and other books that I have written.



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