Samayapuram Mariamman Temple – Trichy

Address

Samayapuram, Trichy district,

Tamil Nadu 621112

Amman

Mariamman

Introduction

Arulmigu Mariamman Temple, Samayapuram is an ancient Amman Temple in Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India. The main deity, Samayapurathal or Mariamman, a form of supreme mother goddess Durga or Maha Kali or Aadi Shakthi, is made of sand and clay like many of the traditional Mariamman deities is considered as most powerful Goddess, and hence unlike many other deities there are no abhishekams (sacred bathing) conducted to the main deity, but instead the “abishekam” is done to the small stone statue in front of it. The temple attracts thousands of devotees on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays, the holy days for Mariamman. Samayapuram is the second wealthiest (in terms of cash flows) temple in Tamil Nadu after Palani.

Puranic Significance

History of the temple is unclear. In the early 18th century, King Vijayaraya Chakkaravarthi built the present day form of the temple. There is scant history of the period before that though it is believed that the locals worship the Goddess for many centuries before building the current temple. One legend says that the present deity was at the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam, and one of chief priests of the temple believed that the idol caused him illness and hence asked it to be removed from the temple. It is a common belief in that part of the region that such local Gods have immense powers and they must always be satisfied by proper offerings and sacrifices. The idol was moved outside Srirangam, and later found by some of the passerby who built a temple named, the Kannanur Mariamman temple.

During that period (around the 17th century CE), Trichy was ruled by the Vijayanagar kings and the area was used as an army base. It is believed that they made a commitment to build the temple if they win the war and after attaining success they built a shrine for the Goddess. Originally it was under the management of the Thiruvanaikaval temple, a popular one in the region. Later, the control was split and currently Samayapuram is under an independent trust monitored by the Government of Tamil Nadu, which also monitors the annadanam distribution (an act of offering food to the devotees).The new urchavar panchaloga idol was donated to the temple in the year 1991. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Beliefs

It is believed by the devotees that the Goddess has enormous powers over curing illnessesand hence, it is a ritual to buy small metallic replicas, made with silver or steel, of various body parts that need to be cured, and these are deposited in the donation box. Devotees also offer mavilakku , a sweet dish made of jaggery, rice flour and ghee. An offering of raw salt is also made to the Goddess by the rural devotees.

Special Features

Samayapuram is a significant symbol of the native culture in rural Tamil Nadu and there a number of unique practices concerning the Mariamman temples. Samayapuram has been used a model to describe rural folklore in a number of research works on sociology and religion.

During festivals, it is not unusual to find people doing extreme things to make their bodies suffer as an act of sacrifice including, walking over a red-hot bed of charcoal and holding hot mud-vessel in bare hands. Mariamman temples also typically involve Samiyattam wherein through a devotee (usually a female) Goddess Mariamman chooses to talk to help and bless the gathered devotees. The personality of the Goddess as well as the tremendous strain put on the body by the channeling (both physically and emotionally), maybe interpreted by non-believers as hysteria or hyper-excitement.

Festivals

Thai Poosam, usually occurring in the Tamil month of Thai.
Like most Tamil temples the main festival is during the start of the summer, generally in April. During this time, the temple chariot processions and teppams (lake processions) happen.
All the Fridays in the Tamil months of Aadi (15 July – 17 August) and Thai (15 January – 15 February) are celebrated in a grand manner.