Venni Karumbeswarar temple of Kovil Venni

Visit   the  God who cures Diabetes, which is the major disease nowadays

Venni Karumbeswarar   temple of  Kovil Venni

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

(I saw about this temple  in the post of Athreya Gothram Bairava Ramani  and I collected   more info from various web sites. Thanks to Ramani    and the several web sites)

   This temple which is 1000-2000  years old   is situated   in a village called  “Kovil Venni”  near (5 km)  Needamangalam  of Thiruvarur district  of Tamil Nadu.

This place  was once upon a time called    as THiruvenni,   Venni thonnagar   or Venniyoor , The rays of the sun fall   on the Lord on 2, 3, and 4th   day of Panguni month. Lord in the temple is a Swayambumurthy. The Bana of the Shiva Linga appears as if covered by sugarcane bundles. The mandapam located on the outer side of Karuvarai was built at a later stage like Agazhi. Naalvar with Shankaracharya paintings can be found in Artha Mandapam. There are lots of inscriptions found on the outer walls of Karuvarai. 

History

This is the birth place of noted Tamil Scholar Vennikuyathiar belonging to the Sangam Age. One of her songs in Purananuru mentions the war of Karikal Chola known as Vennippor - war of Venni. The Battle of Venni was fought by Karikala Chola between Pandya and Chera kings. The battle resulted in absolute victory for Karikala Chola and the Chera King Uthiyan Cheralathan starved himself to death. The battle, dated approximately 190 CE, is considered historical and Karikala is believed to have contributed to this temple’s development after the victory. He won the Pandya, Cheras and other chieftains with the blessings of Mother Pidari Amman at the age of 18. This is mentioned as the Great Victory in an epigraphic note. It is believed that worshippers of Pidari Amman have no fear of enemies. Celebrating their victories, Karikal Chola and Emperor Muchukunda have done extensive renovations to the temple

There are no shops near the temple and so  people going to temple   should carry necessary pooja materials. If they are coming for cure of diabetes , they should bring Rava and Sugar   with them.

    The God   of this temple is Venni  Karumbeswarar  and the Goddess   is Soundara Nayagi (also called as Azhagiya nayagi)  .Venni  is a white flower called Nandiyar Vattai  which  is considered  as a flower dear to Lord Shiva.  The God in this temple appears as if he s made of tying   sugarcane stems . The god is also called as Rasapureeswarar  m, Trimbakeswarar and Venni nathar It seems this entire place   was once covered by sugarcane(Karumbu)   and Nandiar vattai (venni)  and two saints came here  and they found the Statue of God here and built a temple for him. There was some argument as   to  which should be the Sthala Vruksha(Temple tree)  and both   had different opinions and they finally decided  to call the God as  Venni Karumbeswarar    with Venni as the sthala Vruksha. Both Thirunavukarasar and Thirujnaa Sambandar   have sung about this temple, The God and Goddesses face east . The holy tanks of Surya Pushkarani and Chandra Pushkarani are situated  opposite the temple. is situated opposite the temple. Other deities in the temple include Murugan,Narthana   Vinayagar, Gajalaxmi, Bairavar and Navagraha. Goshta moorthies include Narthana Vinayagar, Dakshinamoorthy, Lingothbavar and Durgai.

    People with  Diabetes come to this temple  with a 50:50 mixture of sugar   andwheat Rava   and go round the temple sprinkling the mixture .It is believed that  as the ants keep  on removing sugar  , our sugar level would also get reduced ,After this they should worship the God and goddess  of the temple   and offer the God  SArkarai pongal.

iT is believed  that  if  ladies whose Valai Kappu , ceremony is over   come here and tiea few bangles in front of the goddess  , they would have   a sae delivery,

 People   With Shukra dosha come here   and light lamp before  Lingothbhavar  , For destruction of their enemies people pray before Pidari  Amman.

Nine dat  Navarathri  celebrations in September –october , Panguni Uthram , Chithra  Pournam , Vaikasi visagam  , Aani Thirumanjanam  , Trikarthigai , Thiruvadirai  , Thai poosam   and Masi magam are  celebrated in the temple.

Approach

The Temple is located at about 8 Kms from Needamangalam, 10 Kms from Avalivanallur, 13 Kms from Haridwaramangalam, 20 Kms from Mannargudi, 36 Kms from Thiruvarur, 26 Kms from Thanjavur, 31 Kms from Kumbakonam and 81 Kms from Trichy. This Shivasthalam is about 26 Kms from Thanjavur on the way to Needamangalam via Saliyamangalam and Ammapettai. Immediately after Ammapettai, one has to get down at Koil Venni bus stop and take a branch road going towards north for about 2 Kms to reach the temple. Koil Venni located on Tiruvarur to Thanjavur route. Nearest Railway Station is located at Koil Venni and Nearest Airport is located at Trichy.

The temple is open   8 Am to  12 noon   and from 5 pm – 8 PM

The temple priest can be contacted  in 9626769424/ 9842294416