Samayapuram
Arulmigu Mariamman Temple,
Samayapuram is an ancient Hindu temple
in Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India. The main deity, Samayapurathal or Mariamman, is a form of the supreme mother goddess Durga
or Maha Kali or Aadi Shakthi is made of
sand and clay like many the traditional
Mariamman deities are considered as most
powerful Goddess, and hence unlike many other Hindu deities there are no
abhisheka's (sacred bathing) was conducted to the main deity, but instead the
"abishekam" is done to the small stone
statue in front of it.
அ
மி மாரிய ம
த
ேகாய
Religion
District
Festivals
Chithirai Car Festival,
Poo Choridal Festival,
Vaikasi
Panchaprakaram
Poosam Festival
Governing body
Location
State
Country
Architecture
Type
Website
tiruchendurmurugantemple. three.in (http://ti
ruchendurmurugantemple.three.in)
It is believed by the devotees that the
Goddess has enormous powers over
curing illnesses[1] and hence, it is a ritual to buy small metallic replicas, made with
silver or steel, of various body parts that
need to be cured, and these are deposited
in the donation box.
Devotees also offer mavilakku (Tamil -
மாவ ள
), a sweet dish made of
jaggery, rice flour and ghee. [2] Offerings of raw salt are also made to the Goddess by
the rural devotees.
The temple attracts thousands of
devotees on Sundays, Tuesdays and
Fridays, the holy days for Mariamman.
Samayapuram is the second most wealthy
(in terms of cash flows) Temple in Tamil
Nadu after Palani.
Temple tower of Samayapuram Mariamman
The history of the temple is unclear. In the
early 18th century, King Vijayaraya
Chakkaravarthi built the present-day form
of the temple. [3] There is a scant history of the period before that though it is believed
that the locals worship the Goddess for
many centuries before building the current
Temple. One legend says that the present
the deity was at the Ranganathaswamy
temple at Srirangam, and one of chief
priests of the time believed that the idol
caused his illness and hence asked it to
be removed from the temple. It is a
a common belief in that part of the region
that such local Gods have immense
powers and they must always be satisfied
by proper offerings and sacrifices. The idol
was moved outside Srirangam, and later
found by some of the passersby who built a
temple named, the Kannanur Mariamman
Temple.
During that period (around the 17th
century CE), Trichi was ruled by the
Vijayanagar kings and the area was used as an army base. It is believed that they
committed to building the temple if
they win the war and after attaining
the success they built a shrine for the
Goddess.[4] Originally it was under the
management of the Thiruvanaikaval
Temple, is a popular one in the region. Later,
the control was split and currently
Samayapuram is under an independent
trust monitored by the Government of
Tamil Nadu, which also monitors the
annadanam distribution (an act of offering
food to the devotees).
The new archival panchaloha idol was
donated to the temple in the year 1991. [5]
The temple is maintained and
administered by the Hindu Religious and
Charitable Endowments Department of the
Festivals
Thai Poosam, usually occurring in the
Like most Tamil temples the main
the festival is during the start of the
summer, generally in April. During this
time, the temple chariot processions and teams (lake processions)
All the Fridays in the Tamil months of
Aadi (15 July - 17 August) and Thai (15
January – 15 February) are celebrated in
a grand manner.
Significance of the temple
Samayapuram is a significant symbol of
the native culture in rural Tamil Nadu and
there are several unique practices
concerning the Mariamman temples.
Samayapuram has been used as a model to
describe rural folklore in several
research works on sociology and
During festivals, it is not unusual to find
people doing extreme things to make their
bodies suffer as an act of sacrifice
including, walking over a red-hot bed of
charcoal and holding hot mud-vessel in
bare hands. Mariamman temples also
typically involve Samiyattam wherein
through a devotee (usually a female)
Goddess Mariamman chooses to talk to
help and bless the gathered devotees. The
the personality of the Goddess as well as the
the tremendous strain put on the body by the
channelling (both physically and
emotionally), may be interpreted by non-
believers as hysteria or hyper-
excitement. [8][9]
Heritage of Samayapuram
outside India
The legacy of Samayapuram is well spread
beyond Tamil Nadu and even after
centuries of emigrating from India, many
people in Sri Lanka, Singapore, South
Africa and Fiji still maintain their loyalties
to the temple and try to create similarly
temples and environment in their new
country, raising both a cause of concern
and an appreciation of diversity. There is also a Samayapuram Mariamman Temple
in Tanjong Rambutan in Malaysia. There is
also a shrine for Goddess Sri
Samayapuram Mariamman at the Sri
Veeramuthu Muneeswarar Temple which
is located at Yishun Industrial Park and
Veeramakaliamman Temple, Serangoon
Road, Singapore. During the month of
Aadi, the annual Kozh Valarpu festival is
conducted with much grandeur by the Sri
Samayapuram Mariamman Pillaigal at
Jurong West, Singapore. An annual
Samayapuram Sri Mariamman puja takes
place at Jurong West Street 71, before the
annual fire-walking festival by Anbalahan and Family [10][11]
Chithirai Ther Thiruvila
(Chariot Festival in the month
of Chithirai)
Samayapuram is located 15 km from
Tiruchirappalli on the National Highway
(NH-45) which is now a 4-lane road from
Chennai to Tiruchirappalli.
At Samayapuram, the Chithirai Chariot
The Festival is celebrated for a period of 13
days. The Festival Starts on the 1st
Tuesday of the month "Chithirai" (April).
The ' Ther' (Ther = chariot) procession
during the Chariot Festival is on the 10th day of the Festival. The 'other' with Goddess
Samayapuram Mariamman will be pulled
around the Temple by devotees. It is a
Maha Festival --- Grand Festival, which
attracts Lakhs of Devotees.
Arrangement during the Chariot
Festival
During the Chariot Festival, no vehicle is
allowed to go inside SamayaPuram Town
and all the vehicles are stopped one
Kilometer away from the Town and
everybody has to go to the temple by
walk.
The Crowd is so much, though the
The government made so many arrangements,
still, it is unmanageable. Luckily for
Devotees, nowadays, are following
the traffic rule of left-side walking in the
road. This helps a lot for the smooth
movement, which avoids any
complications associated with big crowds.
Still, you will find that so many children
missing, which is being announced during
the festival time in the loudspeakers.
During the Chariot Festival time, the Local
Government arranges a ‘’’ Special Bus
Stand’’’, which is one Kilometer away from
the SamayaPuram Town. All the Buses and
any other 2 / 3 / 4 wheelers are stopped
there only. The vehicles which are going
beyond Samayapuram in NH-45 will only
be allowed with a little bit of delay.
The 4 laning of the National Highway 45
has helped to ease traffic congestion to a
considerable extent. Onward traffic can
take the flyover, while those going to
Samayapuram for Darshan can take the
Service Lane which leads to the Temple.
For festival days, during the Chithirai
Chariot Festivals, there are 24 hours bus
services to nearby places like Salem,
Namakkal, Karur, Thuraiyur, Thanjavur and
other nearby Small Towns. Further, there
are continuous Town Bus Services
provided which mainly connects to Tollgate
(Salem-Trichy main road junction),
Chatram Bus Stand and Central Bus Stand.
During the Festival days, we can see that,
the Tamil Nadu Police, NCC, Scout (School
and College Students) Controlling the
Crowd everywhere including the Temple
premises.
Mother of all Mothers, Samayapurathal is
a very powerful goddess Who fulfils the
heartfelt prayers of her devotees. Only in a
very few temples, you can see the
presiding deity from the entrance of the
Temple itself. Samayapurathu
Mariyamman can be seen even from the
the main entrance of the Temple and it will
look like that the Mother has been waiting
for your arrival all along.
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