Tirunelveli : Gandhimathi Nellaiappar temple

place : Tirunelveli
goddess : Gandhimathi
god : Nelliappar

How to Reach?
Tirunelveli town is connected by buses and trains. The nearest airport is thoothukudi airport and it is 40-50km away from the city. Nearest International airport is Coimbatore airport. The city is surrounded by lots of sight seeing places. If you are planning to visit Tirunelveli, staying at the place for 5 days would be a good option.

About the temple
The temple is magnificent. It is a very big temple with many architecture details. The most important architecture detail is The musical pillars. The main god is Nellaiappar and the main goddess is Gandhimathi. The temple is open from morning to noon and again from evening to night.

temple corridor on the way to goddess shrine

Sangili mandapam connecting both the temples

Pillars produce musical sound pitches

Govindaraja perumal shrine near  nellaiappar. Govindaraja perumal came to this temple to initiate the divine marrige for Shiva and Parvati

Lord Dhakshinamoorthy shrine opposite to the entrance of Gandhimadhi ambal temple

History
Once upon a time, bamboo trees were grown in the place, the temple is built in. Everyday a milk man would pass through this way and everyday one of the milk cans will be hit by one bamboo tree. The King questioned the milk man about the reduced quantity of milk. The milk man revealed that one of the bamboo trees will hit one of his milk cans. Hearing this, the king ordered the bamboo tree to be cut down. So, people went there to cut it. On cutting it, blood burst out from the bamboo tree.  Realizing that The bamboo tree is not any other ordinary tree, king started to build a temple. The temple is built by Pandian kings for three generations. Since the god appeared in the form of bamboo forest, he was known as Venu vana nathar. Initially Gandhimathi amman temple was separate from Nelliappar swamy temple. The sangili mandapam was built to connect both the temples.

Sthala vriksham, Bamboo tree

Corridor to Thamira sabhai

Thamira sabhai

After the temple was buillt, people worshipped the god. As a part of worship, food is offered to god. One pandithar would cook the food specially. The pandithar would soak and wash the grains. After washing the grains, he would spread the grains under the sun for drying. later he would separate rice from its skin(நெல்). Then the rice will be cooked and used for worshiping god. One day, the pandithar lay the grains under the sun for drying and went to river Tamirabarani for bathing. At the time, rain started pouring. Realizing that grains were laid outside, the pandithar ran back to save the grains from getting wet. If the grains got wet, then preparing food for worshiping would not happen that day. When the pandithar got back to the grains laid down on the ground under the sun, he was surprised to the core when none of the grain was wet but the area surrounding the grains was wet. From then on the city is known as Thirunelveli and the god as Nellaiappar.