About Vekkali Amman Temple

The Main Goddess, Amman, is facing the north in this temple. It was believed by the ancient kings that the Gods and goddesses facing north bless the kings with victory in the battle. Hence, all the ancient kings offer special poojas to this Amman before leaving for the battlefield. King Gochenkan Chol, who was born in Woraiyur, built this temple for Goddess Shakthi.

Special Feature:

Vekkaliamman temple doesn't have a roof. The Moolavar is open to the sky, be it rain or shine. It is said that many attempts have been made to build a roof for this temple at various times, which ended in vain.

Generally, in Shakti temples without a roof, the deity is seen bending the left leg and the right leg placed on the demon. But here, it is a rare form that Mother Vekkali Amman is seen with her left leg on the demon and the right bent.

People used to submit their problems in writing and tie it in the trident. They believe that the Amman would go through their petitions and redress their grievances. They light lamps in her shrine for the removal of obstacles in marriage talks and also get the adverse aspects on their children solved.

The Legend for not having the roof:

An ancient saint, Sarama Rishi, who lived in Woraiyur, owned a wonderful garden with rare flowers in it. He used to worship Thayumanavar Swamy in Trichy every day, offering a garland of flowers from his own garden to Lord Shiva.

A local florist, Pranthakan, saw the beauty of those flowers and started stealing them regularly from Sarama Rishi's garden and supplying them to the Palace, to keep himself in the good books of the king.

The sage one day found Paranthakan to be the culprit and went complaining to the King that the flowers were meant exclusively for Lord Thayumanavar and Paranthakan was stealing them every day, but the king didn't give an ear to it, as he already started liking those flowers very much. With much grief, the sage went straight to Lord Thayumanavar, praying him to put an end to Pranthakan's activity.

The Lord turned wild after hearing this. God was facing the east till then. Immediately, he turned facing west (towards Woraiyur), with his powerful eyes open, emitting anger, which resulted in a huge sand storm that started spoiling the whole city of Woraiyur. Every place was filled with sand, burying the whole city. People were helpless and didn't know the reason for the sudden sandstorm in Woraiyur. They went and surrendered to Vekkali Amman, praying to save them.

The Goddess went to Lord Thayumanavar and prayed to him to bring down his anger. On this, Thayumanavar subsided his anger, and the sand storm came to a halt. People thanked the Goddess for saving them. Though the sand storm stopped, the people of the city had already lost their shelters. Hence, the Goddess also decided to live in a temple without a roof, until everyone in the city gets a shelter for himself/herself.

Temple Location:

7 kms from Trichy city, Uraiyur Vekkali Amman Temple, Trichy - 6260003.

Festivals

The temple has been conducting Sarva Chandi Homam for the past 23 years in the month of Avani (August-September). Apart from this,

• 5-day festival in Chithirai (April-May)
• Panguni Poochoridal in March-April. The goddess will be decorated with plenty of colourful flowers.
• Mango Abishek on the last Friday of Vaikasi (May-June)
• Navarathri in Purattasi (September-October)
• Fridays in Thai (January-February)
• Fridays and Tuesdays in Aadi (July-August) are the festivals celebrated in the temple.

Opening Timings:

The temple is open from 6.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.

Other Names:

Worayur near Trichy also has other names, such as Vasapuri, Kozhiyur, and Mukkeeswaram.