Vadiveeswaram Azhagamman Temple, Kanyakumari

Address

Vadiveeswaram, Nagercoil Town,

Kanyakumari district,

Tamil Nadu

Moolavar

Sundareswarar

Amman

Azhagamman

Introduction

Azhagamman Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva located at Vadiveeswaram Village, now part of the town of Nagercoil in Kanyakumari District of Tamilnadu. The village was originally an agraharam, or a traditional double line of houses occupied by Brahmins and flanking a temple or pair of temples. It is most famous as the birthplace of Neelakanta Sivan, a well-known composer. The Temple is located at about 4 Kms from Nagercoil.

Puranic Significance

The name Vadiveeswaram is a compound of the words Vadivu, which means ‘beauty’ and Easwaran, an appellation of the God Shiva, in Tamil. The name thus means the beauty of Shiva, which could refer either to the area or to the presiding goddess of the Azhagamman Temple, a Saivite temple situated in the north-east corner of the village. Carnatic composer Neelakanta Sivan was born in Vadiveeswaram in 1839. He mentioned his birthplace twice in his work Thiruneelakanta Botham. A festival of Carnatic music was held in the village in 2007.

Special Features

The temple belongs to the eighteenth century. The Temple is situated in the North-East corner of the Vadiveeswaram Village. Azhagamman Temple is the biggest temple in Vadiveeswaram Village. The term Azhagamman means Beautiful Goddess. This caused the name of the surrounding circle as Vadiveeswaram, meaning Beautiful-God’s Place. The temple is situated in a peaceful environment with lot of God Avatars contained in it. This temple is dedicated to Vadivambal and Sundareswarar from whose names the name of the village is derived. There was a Temple tank attached to this temple. A rare image of Saint Vyagrapada Vigneswari was found in Vadiveeswaram by the Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre. The village is also home to five other temples: Mutharamman Kovil, Perumal Kovil, Idar Theertha Perumal Kovil, Sastha Kovil and Pillayar Kovil.

Festivals

The Azhagamman Temple, the biggest in the area presides car festival annually. The temple has two cars which were parked on the middle of the East car street (Keezha Ratha Veedhi / Kizhakku Ratha Veedhi). The four prominent streets were named after the car festival which was held in the streets was named as North, East, and West & South Car streets respectively. Another important festival worth to mention was the Soora Samharam which too was held under Azhagamman temple at Keezha Radha Veedhi.