Sri Tenkasi Kashi Viswanathar Temple

Sri Tenkasi Kashi Viswanathar Temple is located in Tenkasi -Tamilnadu and is dedicated to Lord Sri Tenkasi Kashi Viswanathar. Sages Narada, Agasthya and Mrugandu as well as Indra, Vali and Nandhi had worshipped the God in this temple.Tenkasi gets is name from the sthala purana of this temple.

Constructed in the Tamilnadu style of architecture, the temple is believed to have been built by Pandyan ruler Parakrama Pandyan during the 13th century, with later additions from Madurai Nayaks. Shiva is worshipped as Kasi Viswanathar and his consort Parvathi as Ulagamman.

Tenkasi is built around the Kasi Viswanathar temple. The temple has a seven-tiered gopuram (temple tower) and has concentric granite walls that enshrines all the shrines in the temple. The temple has a pillared hall from the entrance leading to the flagstaff hall. The sanctum is located axial to the entrance facing east. The image of Kasi Viswanathar in the form of lingam is housed in the sanctum.

The Pandya king Parakrama Pandyan wanted to visit Kashi , but was never able to make the trip. Once, he had a dream in which Lord Shiva advised him to follow an army of ants, and build a temple at the spot where the ants entered their anthill. The very next day, the king saw the ants, and located the spot by the Chitraru river, to build the temple. As he always wanted to go to Kashi on pilgrimage, he trusted the divine intervention and built a temple where tha anthill ended for Lord Shiva as Viswanathar (at Kashi), with the Lingam being brought from Kashi itself (one version of the sthala purana says this was a swayambhu murti already present at the location of the anthill). Because this temple is said to represent all that is Kashi, but is located in the south, the place gets the name Ten-Kasi (southern Kasi).

There are various festivals celebrated in the temple.The Masi Magam festival during the Tamil month of Masi (February – Marchl) is the most prominent festival celebrated in the temple. Tirukalyanam festival during Aipassi (October – November), Moola festival during Aavani (August – September), Navarathri, Karthikai festival, Thiruvathirai, Thaipusam, Sivarathri, Panguni Uthiram are the other festivals celebrated in the temple.