Temple Trails Tamil Nadu : Putlur Angala Parameswari

Putlur Angala Parameswari

The next temple we visited was the Putlur Angala Parameswari Koil. After reading on the net that this temple could be quite crowded during weekends, I was a little bothered, but when we reached, we found the temple was fairly empty. There were many shops selling flowers, lemons, bangles etc. We bought a garland of lemon and neem leaves and entered the temple. On the left was a putru (snake hole) which was decked with manjal and kumgumam and there was an idol of Ambal next to the putru. People tie cradles here wishing for progeny. We prayed here and proceeded towards the main sannidhi after completing some pradakshinams. The main sannidhi was quite crowded as the queue was moving rather slowly. As soon as we entered the sannidhi, we could see Ganapathy on the left side. We prayed to him and moved further.

What a sight it was! The main deity is actually a putru, but it is decorated as Ambal’s face and body as Ambal rested here in the form of a putru.

The story behind this is quite fascinating. Once upon a time when Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi were travelling in this area, the Goddess became tired and wanted to rest here as this place was cool surrounded by Mango, Neem and Iluppai trees. She told Lord Shiva that she was thirsty and the Lord went in search of water. Out of tiredness, she lay down on her back to rest here. Her mouth was slightly open. This is the form in which the putru is at present. It looks like a lady lying on her back with her mouth slightly open while resting.

Lord Shiva came back to see the Goddess in the form of a putru and he also stands here as Thandavarayan. Since both the God and Goddess are present in the same sannidhi, Nandi stands in the front as a vahanam instead of the usual Simha vahanam of the Goddess.

Legend also says that the Goddess wanted to experience pregnancy herself and she is resting here in the form of a tired pregnant lady with her mouth slightly open.

The putru was covered with land and once when a farmer was wielding his plough, he found blood oozing out of the land. The people in the village found the putru and built the temple here.

As we visited the temple right after Aadi Pooram, there were garlands of glass bangles around the deity and the Goddess herself was looking colourful with the yellow from manjal and red from kumgumam. One can go around the main deity in the form of putru as a pradakshinam and right behind the Goddess, is Thandavarayan and Angala Parameswari as bronze statues. We prayed to them, completed the pradakshinam and then all of us were given a lemon each with the Goddess’s blessing right from the feet of the reclining deity and we collected same in our pallu/dupatta/shirt.

We came out, prayed to the Murugan on the right side of the main sannidhi on our way out.

Opposite the temple is a huge tank with fairly clean water.