Eraniel Odupparai Nagaramman Temple- Kanyakumari

Address

Eraniel,

Kanyakumari District,

Tamil Nadu – 629810.

Amman

Thangamma, Thayamma

Introduction

Eranial is an ancient and historical town in Kanyakumari district. Here in the coconut groves and fields thousands of families dug longitudinal pits in which brick-sized puddings wrapped in coconut fronds were fired over kathambai (coconut bat) coals. This is the creation of our deities, Thangamma and Thayamma. Let’s put it in Oduparai Nagaramman temple and create it’, they say. Nagaramman appeared in the form of mercy. The shrines of Lord Vinayaka and Shiva Parvati are also located in the temple. There were only two rocks at the place indicated as Thangammai and Thayammai.

Puranic Significance

During the rule of the King of Kaveripoompattinam, a member of his court brought him a bagful of rare and beautiful pearls known then as “Kunni Muthu” (Abrus precatorius). These pearls were so beautiful; they were unlike any other the king had seen before. They were red on the one side and black on the other. On seeing these pearls, the king wished to make a beautiful necklace out of it for his queen. However, there was one big problem. These pearls were so tiny it was impossible to make holes to thread the pearls together. Several skillful jewelers tried their luck and ended up failing. The king was quite saddened and disappointed by this. The king’s chief trade adviser offered to help. The adviser took the pearls home and gave them to his two beautiful daughters, Thangammai and Thayammai, and asked them if they could help with this seemingly impossible task. Both girls, being quite clever, came up quickly with an ingenious solution. They took each pearl and stuck a grain of sugar on two opposite ends of it and arranged each pearl closer to one other in a straight line. They then took a thread and attached one end of it to the pearl on the top end. They did this and went to their beds. The next morning, the pearls were neatly threaded for them. The girl’s father was very surprised to see this. He later found out that it was the work of the ants that had followed the trail of food and drilled holes inside the pearls.

The king was extremely delighted to see the necklace made so quickly. He came to know that this was the work and creativity of his adviser’s young daughters. He asked the adviser to bring his daughters to him, so he can thank them and reward them personally. The daughters were brought before the king. The king thanked them both and rewarded them well. He then got immensely attracted by the beauty of the two girls. He immediately wished to have them as his wives.

The adviser was displeased with the king’s wishes. He couldn’t agree with the king and give away his daughters; at the same time he couldn’t dare disobey the king. The adviser discussed the issue with his other 6 siblings and they together came to a conclusion not to give away the daughters.

The legend goes that the girls were said to have been buried in a well and the family with all 7 siblings immediately fled to the south along with their belongings and deities’ idols.

Ezhur Chetty were originally residents of Kaveripoompattinam, part of the Chola empire, and were an affluent community involved in sea trade. This ancient town was destroyed by tsunami and the community members started migrating to other areas after this event.

The trading community left their properties and wealthy life, took their family deities’ (Vinayaka & Nagaramman) idols, left the Chola Empire and migrated to the Pandiya and Chera Empires across the river Cauveri. The people who reached Kottar did pooja for the Vinayaka idol. After the pooja, when they tried to remove the idol, they were unsuccessful. People who stayed back in Kottar are called Kottar Chetty. Later the Kottar Pillayar Temple was built there.

The rest of them reached Eraniel (formerly Hiranyasimhanallur) near the Shore of Valli River. That day was the last Sunday of Chithirai month of Tamil Calendar during the day of aayilyam nakshatra. They placed the Nagaramman (the snake goddess) idol and also idols for Thangammai and Thayammai there. The Temple is believed to be 1000 years old. On that night, they made nivedyam (a sweet offering for God) from a mixture of raw rice flour, banana (Matty) fruit, cardamom, dried ginger, coconut and jaggery. This mixture was pressed to form a solid rectangular shape (like a brick), which was then covered using banana and coconut leaves and tied using Kaithai (a plant which produces a very fragrant flower) root. This was baked using coconut husk and served to the god. This came to be known as the ‘Odupparai Kolukkattai’. Since then, the Odupparai Nagaramman Temple celebrations are being held to this day.