This is a series of articles on the temples of Nepal which I had the opportunity to visit with Balaji Davey and Mantra Yatra. This is not a paid partnership. The first two parts of the series can be found here - Part 1& Part 2 . Day 3 commenced at Pokhara. It was our base station before we set out on the Muktinath Yatra. Pokhara is the capital of the Gandaki Province and the second busiest city after Kathmandu. It is also known as the Trekker's Paradise as it serves as the base and recharge unit for all those who visit Nepal for mountain tourism and trekking. The word Pokhar ..read more

 In the first part of the Nepal Yathra series, we had covered the visit to Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. On Day 2, we started to Pokhara from Kathmandu. Although there are flights available from Kathmandu and Pokhara, we took the road with a view to visit Manakamana Devi temple on the way. The bumpy ride from Kathmandu to Manakamana Devi Temple The distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara is less than a hundred kilometres, it takes over five hours by road as there are road improvement works currently going on. However, our driver Manish steered the vehicle as smoothly as he c ..read more

Visiting Nepal and its temples had been on the cards for me for a long time now, even before the massive earthquake of 2015 that damaged many temples across the Kathmandu valley. Similarly, I have known Balaji Davey of Mantra Yatra, ever since he was recommended by a mutual friend for a proposed Bhutan trip, but I never got around to actually going on a trip with them. So when I saw an announcement for Nepal Muktinath Yatra from Mantra I had to get on it. It was my first ever time on a group tour and we were very happy with the manner and pace in which the entire trip was rolled out. I look fo ..read more

The entrance to the Murugeeswarar Temple, Thaiyur I had been invited to visit the Murugeeswarar temple at Thaiyur by Kaushik, a long-time volunteer of the Aalayam Kanden Trust, about three years ago. However, due to personal and COVID-19 situations, I was unable to do so. During this time, some of my blogger colleagues had the opportunity to visit and write about this temple. Generally, Aalayam Kanden focuses on temples that are not popularly featured, as I do not believe in competing with fellow bloggers. So when I was invited again a few days ago, by Mr Uma Magesh, who takes excelle ..read more

Shri Nateswara Swamy Temple, Aavarani Pudhuchery Some temples are unique and the joy one gets while visiting them is immense. The purpose of Aalayam Kanden is to identify these lesser known gems and to highlight them so that those in search of such temples can visit and experience them easily. A couple of years ago, I had written an article on the Aavarani Ananthanarayana Perumal temple in Nagapattinam district, where the gigantic 21 feet Perumal is bedecked with beautiful jewels rendered through the hymns of  Thirumangai Azhwar. The link to the article is here. Just on ..read more

  The Adi Annamalai Temple in Tiruvannamalai Come Margazhi - Tamil Households, temples and sabhas come alive to the hymns of Thirupaavai and Thiruvempavai, songs that sing the glory of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva respectively. While the former was rendered by Andal, the latter is to the credit of Saint Manickavasagar, one among the quartet of Shaiva saints who sang hymns in praise of Lord Shiva.  Thirupaavai and Thiruvempaavai have a couple of similarities - the singer along with female friends is observing the "Paavai Nonbu", a ritual followed by unmarried girls during the m ..read more

Aditya Mahadevar Temple, Anaikattaputhur Anaikattaputhur is a non-descript village in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. Referred to as Anai Akkarai Puthur in inscriptions, the village is found along the banks of the Cooum river.  Sthalapuranam: Today the temple has very little antiquarian remains. However, the Sthalapuranam states that the Lingam was installed by Sage Bhrigu, and worshipped by Sage Sukracharya and Goddess Lakshmi. Historical Evidences : The Shiva temple now known as Ekambareswarar temple is significant from the epigraphical evidences around it. The sole inscription ..read more

Sri Sammohana Gopalan Shrine at Mohanur  It was an article by Shri A M Rajagopalan, in Kumudam Jothidam that I read way back in 2007-08 that introduced me to Sammohana Gopalan. The article carried a picture of Krishna as Ardhanari with Radha occupying the left half of his body.  The article further mentioned that worshipping Sammohana Gopalan and reciting the Sloka dedicated to him would bring about harmony in discordant couples. I pulled out the page and saved it more out of fancy for the form of Sammohana Gopala. Soon, a colleague spoke to me about a problem her niece was ..read more

Amaravathi river near Veeraraghavapuram Agraharam I had mentioned in Part 3 about how we were unable to see the Vyasaraja Hanumans in Veeraraghavapuram and Bheemaraya Agraharams as the temples were closed. Two other Hanumans are in the middle of cultivated fields and hence could not be witnessed, as there was no access. After I returned to Chennai, the Hanumans were still in my mind. When there is a very strong and genuine desire, the Universe finds a way to grant it to you. Every year, through Aalayam Kanden Trust, the Sthalapuranam of a temple is written in Tamil and Engli ..read more

This is the third in the series of articles on the ten Vyasaraja Hanumans of Dharapuram. Please click here to access Part 1 and here for Part 2. After visting the Kadu Hanumantharaya Swamy temple, which is the central temple for all the ten Hanumans, and then proceeding towards the Uttara Veeraraghava Swamy temple, where we worshipped Veera Hanuman and Kottai Vaasal Hanuman, we were in a dilemma as to which direction to proceed next. To the North was Virajimangalam, now known  as Veerachimangalam and to the South was Dalavoypattinam. The remaining five Hanumans were around ..read more