Sri Nerkuthi Vinayaka Temple

Overview

Nerkuthi Vinayaka temple is found in Theevanur, Viluppuram district, Tamil Nadu state, India. This temple is a Vinayagar Koil and the main deity here is Nerkuthi Vinayaka and Amman (Thayar).

About the Temple

In the temple, Lord Vinayaka can be seen in the form of a Linga, which would be visible only during milk abishek. Three banyan trees, representing three Murthis – Brahmma, Vishnu and Shiva, without hanging stems (Vizhudhu in Tamil) are behind the temple. On his way to the shanty, a pepper merchant stayed in the temple for a night and was asked by the servants there a little quantity of pepper to prepare Nivedhana for the Lord. He lied that he had no pepper and it was Ulund dal in the bag. When he unpacked the bundle after reaching his shanty, to his shock and surprise, it was dal only. The shocked merchant came to the temple and begged His pardon placing his dal before the Lord. The dal became pepper again. Since then, the Lord also came to be known as Poyyamozhi Vinayaka, meaning the Lord will not allow falsehood.

About the Deity

The presiding deity is Nerkuthi Vinayaka and Amman (Thayar).

Legend and Stories

Some shepherds of the region used to steal paddy pads from fields, pound them with stone and used to cook it as their food. One day, when they were searching for a stone, they saw one that looked like the head of an elephant which they thought was useless and went away. When they came back, they saw that paddy was pound; the husk and the waste were separated and were placed properly and they wanted to keep the stone safe. But, the next day the shepherds could not find it and found some bubbles emanating out of the temple water and found the stone in the tank. They decided that they should be more careful in keeping the stone safe, tying it to a tree. In the meantime, the villagers reported to the head of the village about their paddy being stolen. Investigations revealed that the shepherds were the culprits. The village head brought the stone to his house.

Lord Vinayaka, appeared in the dream of the village head, in the form of the stone and said that He was in the stone and that he would become prosperous if he worshipped the stone. He handed over the stone to his brother, who was secular in nature, as the village head was a Vaishnava. His brother built the temple. The people understood the grace of Vinayaka and named Him Nerkuthi Vinayaka (Vinayaka pounding the paddy)

Festivals

Vinayaka Chaturthi.

Significance

People pray for removal of obstacles in marriage talks and progress in academic pursuits and those seeking wedding knot and child boon go round the banyan threes. Pujas are performed to the trees daily.

Nearby Place To Visit

Aadhi Tiruvarangam Perumal
Sivalokanathar
Swarnakadeswarar
Atulya Nadeswarar
Maha Kaleswarar
Selva Lalithambikai

Accessibility

Road

Theevanur is on Zenji road 13 km from Tindivanam.

Railways

Tindivanam

Airport

Tiruchi

Temple Address

Sri Nerkuthi Vinayaka Temple,
Theevanur,
Villupuram district.