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Punnainallur Maariamman temple,Thanjavur TN. .findmytemple.com
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Punnainallur Maariamman idol(Moolavar),Thanjavur picasaweb.google.com
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Across the state of Tamil Nadu there many famous Maariamman temples, Samayapuram Maariamman, near Trichy, Kootai Maariamman in Salem city, Mangadu Amman in Chennai are a few examples. Punnainallur Maariamman temple is equally famous and is being visited by lots of people from Tamil Nadu. Goddess Maariamman is a form of Parvathi or Durga or Kaali. The worship of this goddess is quite prominent through out Tamil Nadu, cutting across caste distinctions. In rural Tamil Nadu, Maariamman shrine is an integral part of the community.
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| entrance at Punnainallur Maariamman temple,Thanjavur,TN. en.wikipedia.org |
Particularly on Sundays and auspicious days the
Maariamman temple here is over crowded. Venkoji
Maharajah (a half-brother of the great Maratha
king Shivaji; reign
April 1674 till 1684) of the Thanjavur Maratha Dynasty
was the first Raja of Thanjavur from the Bhosale dynasty. Once he went on a pilgrimage
to Samayapuram (now near the city of Tiruchirapalli or Trichy), also known as Kannapuram and offered worship at the Amman
temple. He stayed there for the night
and, while in deep sleep, he had a strange dream in which the Goddess
(Ambal) appeared in divine form and advised him to go to ‘Punnaikkadu’, about 5 km east of Tanjore town and worship
her there. Following morning upon recalling his reverie, he realized that it
was a divine dispensation and he had to follow what had been told. Later he went to Punnaikkadu with his paraphernalia and, to his surprise, he found an idol of the Goddess. Soon he had a temporary shelter built over the idol and
named it ‘Punnai Nallur‘, a place rich in Punna trees in those days. Further, Venkoji
Maharaja donated the entire village to the shrine to take care of the temple needs and
puja rituals.
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Thanjavur Maratha kingdom, Tamil nadu. america.pink
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Sadasiva Brahmendral istalled the
Maariamman idol at Punnainallur,
guruvenkatasubramanian.blogspot.com
According to
yet another legend associated with this temple,
once the daughter of the Maratha ruler Thulajaji Maharajah(1770s) contracted smallpox and lost her
vision because it reached the advanced stage. The ruler, having no other
recourse sought refuge in Punnainallur Amman and prayed to her intensely. The
goddess not only cured the disease but also restored the vision of the ruler’s
daughter. Since then this temple had become well-known in that region. The main temple structure was
built during the Maratha regime. Punnainallur
Maariamman is supposedly the elder sister of
Samyapuram Maariamman, near Tiruchirapalli.
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Devotees
come here to fulfill their Prarthana - prayer by way of shaving their head,
conducting ear-boring ceremony for their kids, bringing their baby or kid for
the very first Mottai – first tonsuring. Paal Kudam rituals are well known here
in the month of April. Quite famous is the Brahmin community Paal Kudam; women
and men with a pot of milk on their head walk barefoot to the shrine all the
way from Thanjavur city, a distance of 5 plus kilometer, barring hot summer. More
than 1000 plus people participate at a time and there will be Annadhanam – free food
for thousands of people on that day.
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| Indian President Pranab Mukerji at Punnainallur Maariamman temple TN. thehindu.com |
Sadasiva Brahmendral was
a saint, composer of Carnatic music and also an Advaita
philosopher who lived near Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu during the 18th century. He was from the Telugu Brahmin community and was
the one who installed the deity at this temple as per Agama Sastras.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnainallur_Mariamman
