Kandaneswarar, Kandanur, Sivaganga

Basic information about the temple

Moolavar:	Sundareswarar	Ambal / Thayar:	–
Deity:	Siva	Historical name:
Vriksham:		Teertham:
Agamam:		Age (years):
Timing:	6 to 12 & 4 to 8	Parikaram:
Temple group:		–
Sung by:		Temple set:
Navagraham:		Nakshatram:
City / town:	Kandanur	District:	Sivaganga
Maps from (click):	Current location	Karaikudi (8 km)	Pudukkottai (37 km)
	Tiruchirappalli (97 km)	Madurai (101 km)

Location

Sthala puranam and temple information

This temple for Siva as Sundareswarar and Parvati as Meenakshi Amman, is located in Kandanur, about 9 km northeast of Karaikudi.

The temple is not very old, and was built about 200 years ago, by the local Nagarathar community, who continue to maintain and administer the temple till today. There is no sthala puranam associated with this temple.

Since the temple is located in Kandanur, Siva here is also called Kandeeswarar and Kandaneeswarar. The temple is said to have been built on the lines as the Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple, to a large extent.

The east-facing temple has a large tank to its east, and a covered pathway between the Teertham and the temple’s raja gopuram. The entrance has massive doors with beautiful woodwork, followed by the outer prakaram, and then the maha mandapam.

Inside the maha mandapam is another prakaram, in which the dhwajasthambam, bali peetham, Nandi mandapam, and the shrines of the moolavar and Amman are located, on a raised mandapam. This mandapam has several pillars constructed in typical Nagarathar / Chettinadu style architecture.

Beyond this is the pradosha Nandi, followed by the ardha mandapam and garbhagriham in front and Amman shrine on the right. Inside the ardha mandapam is also the Natarajar sabhai and Somaskandar shrine. Facing the moolavar are a brass Nandi and darpanam (see overview of Nagarathar temples).

In the southern corridor are the vigrahams of the 63 Nayanmars – Arupathu Moovar. In the koshtam opposite are Vinayakar, Dakshinamurti, Lingodhbhavar, Brahma and Durga. Dakshinamurti here is beautifully crafted, particularly the banyan tree under which He is seated.

As we come around the prakaram, the are shrines for Vinayakar, Kasi Viswanathar and Visalakshi Amman, Somaskandar, Santhana Gopala Krishnan, Murugan with his consorts Valli and Deivanai, Saraswati, Gajalakshmi, Chandikeswarar and Sarabeswarar. There is a separate Navagraham shrine.

The architecture in the long corridors are stunning and breathtaking! Not only are they so brilliantly and perfectly aligned, each of them features a different deity or scene from a puranam, exquisitely crafted in stone.

Despite its large size, the temple is clean and maintained very well, as is the case with most (if not all) Nagarathar temples.