Umapatheeswarar Temple

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Overview

Sri Umapatheeswarar temple is a god Shiva temple located in the city of Umayalpuram, in Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu. About 1000 to 2000 years old place is titled after Umayal Achi, the mother of Muthaiah Chettiar,who constructed the temple in his native place, the minor village of Ramachandrapuram, near Thirumeyyam, about 18 kilometres from Pudukottai. They had a small house in size compared to many Chettinadu houses in Ramachandrapuram, that is part of Kadiyapatti. It is a unique example of Nagarathar architecture having beautiful images on the ceiling of the huge living room, which persist their original glow even after approximately 80 years. Originally, pujas were held daily three times, which slowly came down to once a day. Plans are being made to conduct pujas twice daily, with food preparation facilities in the temple itself. The temple is managed completely by the family of the Chettiar who is the son of original constructor, currently managed by octogenarian Arunachalam Muthaiah Chettiar. The temple is quite small itself, but the temple tank at the right is rather vast surrounded by grill work railings.

About The Temple

The Sankaracharya recommended that God Dakshinamurthy should be installed on the southern side of the wall besides Vinayaka in the mid of the northwest corner. The adjacent shrine was to keep the images carried on procession called Utsava vigrahas of Mangalambika ,Vinayaka, Umapatheeswara as well as Astradeva, prevalently called `Mulporukkisami.' At the northeast corner God Subrahmanya along with Valli and Deivanai was to be mounted; Chandikeswara would be installed on the outside wall of the Siva shrine while in the Easana corner the Navagrahas would be positioned. Sun and Moon separately set up at the front, in addition to the Balipeetam, Dwajasthamba and Nandikeswara. Outside the shrine built for Vinayaka the images of Nalvar or the four major Saivaite saints Thirugnanasambandar,Appar, Sundarar and Manikkavasakar are placed. In the corner one more image of Vinayaka is present. In the northwest corner Mahalakshmi is installed then at the northeast corner Bhairavar is set up. At the entrance small shrines for Sakthivinayaka on the left in addition to Pazhani Andavar on the right is seen while facing the temple. Just inside at the right is a temple with the pretty big standing statutes of Nachiappa Chettiar along with his wife Umayal Achi, parents of Muthaiah Chettiar. About the main shrine the circumambulatory passage surrounded by a wall topped by grills is the Prakaram. A huge hall having tin-roof is present in front of the temple.

Accessibility

Airport

The total flight time between Chennai Airport and Tiruchirapally is around 1 hours 5 minutes. A car can be hired from Tiruchirapalli to Pudukkottai. It takes around 41 minutes to cover a distance of 47.1 Km and reach Pudukkottai from Tiruchirapalli.

Railways

Regular trains are available to Pudukkottai from other major cities of the country.
Railway Station(s): Pudukkottai (PDKT)

Road

There are regular buses from other major cities of the country to Pudukkottai.
Bus Station(s): Pudukottai