About Kulasekarapattinam Mutharamman Temple

At a distance of 20 kms from Thiruchendur is the city of Kulasekarapattinam. This port city was built during the reign of Maravarman Kulasekaran, for the purpose of collecting tax on Salt and pearl export. This temple was erected in the belief that the goddesses here will be a watch guard of this Village and will help her devotees during their hardship. Likewise, this Goddess turned out to be more powerful and pious. While the king stayed in this port city, he built a temple for the goddess Durga, facing North at the northeast corner of the city. He decorated this deity with a chain of pearls, and hence the goddess was called MUTHAARAMMAN. This is an ancient temple about 300 years old.

Peculiarity:

As per the tradition of this temple, the devotees will transform themselves into Goddess Kali, Kings, Monkeys, Beggars, etc., and they will beg in the streets of the nearby places. The money collected will be given as an offering to Goddess Mutharamman. And also the people suffering from smallpox, chicken pox, and eye problems will be delivered from their pain, if they visit this temple.

Mythology:

The legend has it that Goddess Amman appeared in the dream of a sculptor and ordered him to carve a statue of her and give it to the priest from Kulasai. Ergo, the Amman is named Mutharamman, as she herself wanted to carve her idol.

Festival:

Next to Mysore, Kulasekarapattinam celebrates Dasara (Dussehra) in a grand manner for 10 days. The grand celebrations will commence on day 1 with the flag hoisting in the temple. Every year, the Dasara festival is celebrated in September or October. Maha Shivaratri, Ragu Pooja, and Villaku Pooja are some other festivals commemorated in this temple.

Special Features:

Every day, goddess Mutharamman is taken on a procession in the streets, decked up in different forms of gods and goddesses grandly. On the 10th day, the goddess takes the form of Mahishasura Mardini at 12 midnight on the beach, riding a lion and slaying the demon Mahisha. This slaying is known as “Soorasamharam”. This will be followed by the burning of colourful crackers. This is the climax of the festivity, called Vijayadashami. On the 10th day, when the slaying of the demon Mahishasura is performed by Devi Mutharamman on the shores of this village, it symbolises dharma that uproots adharma. On this 10-day festival, a lot of people gather and engage themselves in dance and prayer. There will be a variety of programmes, such as folk dance and mask shows.

Timings: We can visit this temple from 6 am to 11 am and then from 4 pm to 8 pm.

Nearby Tourist Places:

After visiting this temple, you can go to Manapad Beach, Sri Devi Jakkamma Temple and Veerapandiya Kattabomman Memorial Fort in Panchalankurichi.

Travel Mode:

Air: Thiruvananthapuram and Tuticorin airports are handy to this temple.

Bus: There are bus facilities to this temple from Thiruchendur, which is only about 12 km away from this temple.

Train: The nearby railway station is in Thiruchendur