Kalamega Perumal Temple, Thirumohur

Kalamega Perumal Temple , Thirumohur , madhurai outskirt , 108 divya desam

thirumohoor kalamegaperumal temple is a vishnu temple near madurai in tamir nadu. the temple is one of the 108 divya desams, and is located 12 km north-east of madurai. the temple is accessible by the town bus services available from madurai.

architecture and temple layout

the temple is situated on a 2.5-acre land area, and has a 5 tier rajagopuram. the temple is more than 2000 years old and has been referred to in older tamir scripts like akananuru, padhitrupathu, maduraikanchi and also in one of the five great epics of tamil literature, silappatikaram.

the main deity (moolavar) is kalamegaperumal in panchayudha kolam and in a standing posture, thayar – mogavalli.  thala viruksham – vilvam and vimanam – kethaki vimanam. the prathanasayana appearance of the main deity is not found anywhere in 108 divya desam temples. rest of the details can be visualised from photos.

• as the legend goes, when the devas and asuras were churning the milk ocean for amrut, to help devas vishnu took the shape of mohini , a beautiful woman. while the devas were worshipping the lord , asuras fell for the beauty of mohini and started following the woman. vishnu disappeared from their site and gave darshan to devas to give amrut. a drop of that amrut is believed to have fallen into this temple tank known as kshirabtha pushkarini and the lord appeared to the south of this tank. due to the name mohini , the village started to be called as thirumohini-yur or thirumohur.
• bramma worshipped this lord as well. bramma was tortured by 2 asuras named madhu and kaitaban because bramma told madhu and kaitaba stole the vedhas and vishnu took the machchavathar ( fish form ) to bring them back from the ocean where it was kept secretively.   they would stroke heavily the stem of the lotus where bramma was sitting which would start from vishnu’s navel. vishnu then hit them against his thigh to kill and threw them into the ocean. in return bramma came to thirumohur and created a tank called bramma theertham and worshipped vishnu.

• the consort lakshmi here never comes out of the sannidhi even on festival days. its only the swaamy that is taken out on procession. hence she is called ‘padi thanda pathini’ meaning the woman that never disobeyed thy lords order or literally the woman that never stepped out of the house.
• the front of the sudarshana chakra is chakrathazhvar and the back side is narasingha perumal, situated amidst 48 fairies and inside the six circles there are 16 aayuthams with 154 letters. perumal is depicted with 16 hands and three eyes glowing like fire.
• sudharsanar is very famous here and it is said circling his sannidhi 6 times or in multiples of six would give one all that he wants.
• it is said when nammazhvar ascended to heaven , he would request vishnu to have him aided thru the journey. instead of sending garudan or adhiseshan perumal himself took him to heaven.

there is one more perumal sannadhi with the lord giving darshan in prathana sayana thirukolam on adisheshan with sridevi and bhoomidevi thayaar praying at the lord’s feet. an interesting feature is that adishesan has thanga kavacham and this form of the lord was prior to the lord taking mohini avatharam.

nammazhvar and thirumangaiazhvar have sung the mangalaasaasanams for the deity here.

location and contact details

nearby town : madurai

railway station : madurai

ph : 0452 – 2423227, 0452 – 2423444 , 98422 – 69683

arulmigu kalamegaperumal temple,
thirumohur – 625 107,
madurai district.