Sri Sanishwaran Temple Thuckley
Sri Sanishwaran Temple Thuckley
The South of India is abundantly filled with beautiful temples, many of which are centuries old. Undeniably, much of these temples are very unique compared to the rest of the country because of their magnificent architecture. Sri SanishwaranTemple, located at Marthandum in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu is one among the plenty of temples of the state, with the distinctive Dravidian structural design.
The ‘Gopuram’ or the Gateway to the charming little temple is the typical conical steep of striking sculptures that are very typical to Tamil Nadu temple architecture. The Sanishwaran temple is one of the shrines clustered inside a beautiful compound which is laced with lush green gardens and a charming little temple pond. The main deity of the temple is Lord Vishnu, who is fondly referred to as the “Perummal of Thuckley”. The temple has several small shrines for other Hindu Gods too. Lord Ganesha, Lord Ayyappa or Sashta, Lord Hanuman, Goddess Bhuweneshwari, and Naga Raja- the Serpent King, are the other prominent deities of the temple. The striking temple pond radiates a beguiling charm for its moss covered walls, green waters and its crooked stone steps- all invariably adding a mythical beauty to the temple. Adjoining the temple pond is a small grove of banana trees and a vegetable garden grown by the temple trustee members.
The Sanishwaran shrine in Thuckley is supposedly the second of such temples that was built exclusively for Lord Saturn in South India after the famous Thirunallar temple in Tamil Nadu. Usually the shrines for Lord Sanishwaran have the idols of six celestial planets and the two grahas- the intersection points between the Sun and the Moon. The nine holy celestials, The Sun (Surya, father of Lord Saturn), The Moon (Chandra), Mars (Mangal), Mercury (Buddha), Jupiter (Guru), Venus (Sukhra) and the two Grahas, Rahu and Ketu together are called the “Navagrahas”. In almost all places across India, the “Navagrahas” have a single sacrosanct temple built for them.
The Significance of Lord Saturn
Lord Sani is the son of the Sun God and his wife Chaya. He is prominently figured as the black God seen driving his chariot across the skies, eagerly dropping on gods and human beings to purify them of their karmic dues. Sani is often portrayed with his weapons: the sword, the bow, the quiver of arrows, the axe and sometimes the trident. He is also imagined as the celestial god riding on his bird vehicle, ‘the crow’ or at times, ‘the vulture’. However, for the troublemaker he is and more for the angry god as he is very often described, Lord Sani does bestow bountiful of blessings upon his victims after he cleanses them of their backlog of karmic effects. As per the ancient Hindu scripture, the “Surya Siddhanta”, Sani did penance to invoke the blessings of Lord Shiva. Lord Sani asked Lord Shiva to grant him the power to bestow appropriate punishment on people for their misdeeds and rewards accordingly afterwards, be it the Gods or the mortals.
There is a fascinating story associated with what made Lord Saturn do the heavy, intense penance, when he was just a child. When Lord Sani’s mother, Goddess Chaya, was pregnant with him, she did penance in order to please Lord Shiva and therein never took care of her health. Due to this, it seems Lord Sani was born black and very weak. His father was repulsed at the sight of him and soon abandoned both mother and son. Lord Saturn was downright humiliated at his father’s injustice and therefore he did penance to invoke Lord Shiva in order to gain powers at par with his father.
The Sun God understood the mistake he made and wanted to make peace with his son and wife. However, Lord Saturn did not relent. The Sun God asked Lord Hanuman to help him in lieu of the Guru Dakshina or the teacher’s fee, which the Monkey God owed him. Lord Hanuman approached Sani with the message from his father. But Lord Sani was blinded by pride that he ridiculed the Monkey God, without even waiting to hear to what he had to say. Lord Hanuman known for his antics, decided to teach Lord Sani a lesson. He tightly tied Lord Saturn with his tail. Sani writhed in pain from the tight binding. He soon realized his mistake and asked Hanuman to pardon him and said he will forgive his father and go back to him. Hanuman released Sani, however, he was still reeling in great pain. Hanuman brought til seeds and oil to cure Lord Saturn of his pains. Devotees offer til and oil every Saturday to Lord Sani. Devotees pray to Hanuman to plead on behalf of them to Lord Sani for some relief from his tests.
History of the Temple
No one exactly knows the date when the old Sri Perumal temple was built. The Sri Perumal Temple was earlier part of the Kerala state and was called Pirappancodekonam Maha Vishnu temple. The road surrounding the temple was supposedly for the king to travel and was called the ‘Raja Patha’ or the King’s Road. There was also a rest house opposite to the temple, built for devotees of Lord Shiva to rest while on their pilgrimage to various Shiva temples located in Tamil Nadu. The rest house is now converted to a charming little temple for Serpent Gods.
With the dawn of the 20th century, a major part of the main temple was left unattended for several decades. With time, the temple and its surroundings areas were in a completely derelict state and most of the idols of the shrine were destroyed. The holy place and its adjoining properties were infringed upon by many non-believers. In 1972, the members of the prominent Hindu organization- The ‘Hindu Brothers Movement’ decided to reconstruct the temple. The temple belonged to ‘Naduvile Mutt’, one of the several Hindu institutions established by the Great Sage Adi Sankara, in order to propagate “Sanathana Dharma”. The members of the Hindu Brothers Movement under the leadership of Swami Maduranatha Maharaj obtained the permission of the head of the Naduville Mutt to reconstruct the dilapidated temple. As per the findings of the “Deva Prashanam” (the Astrological predictions related to temples and deities), that was conducted as a part of the temple reconstruction, the foundation stone for the new temple was laid out on 29 March 1973 by Swami Thiru Muruga Kripanantha Warrier. New idols of the deities were sculpted as most of the old ones were destroyed. The main idol of Lord Vishnu was consecrated on 20th April 1978 in the newly reconstructed temple. From then on regular pujas are performed. The other major shrines were built in the early nineties by various devotees of the temple.
The Sanishwaran shrine and the beautiful temple portico studded with wide arches were donated by RC Suresh- a native of Kanyakumari district who is an entrepreneur living in Kuwait. The Sanishwaran shrine was constructed in 1993 under the guidance of Mr.Chellam- a longtime patron of the temple and Mr. Vishwanathan Nair- who was a major help in constructing the unique holy shrine. R C Suresh was a longtime devotee of the temple. While on one of his routine visits to Thirunallar Sanishwaran temple, Suresh continuously got this persistent inner calling to build a shrine for Lord Saturn inside the temple compound of Lord Perumal. Suresh met with Mr. Chellam, who encouraged him to implement his plans or foresight as soon as possible. Chellam and Vishwanathan Nair- the maternal uncle of Suresh undertook the work of constructing the shrine on behalf of the businessman.
