Kuzhanthai Velappar Temple – Lord Muruga who Admires Chocolate Offerings!

Kuzhanthai Velappar is a temple dedicated to Lord Muruga. As the name implies, where Kuzhanthai means child and Velappar means God, the meaning of the temple is Child of God. Lord Muruga is depicted here as a child of God, and he is the main deity. The temple is situated in the village of Poombarai near Kodaikanal, which is the city in the hills of Dindigul. Hence the village Poombarai not only serves the devotees with the Lord Muruga’s temple but welcomes them with the picturesque as well.

In the temple, every year, the TherThiruvizha festival is celebrated, which comes in Thai or Maasi month. This is also known as the Car festival since, on this day, temple cars that are the chariots of the Gods are worshipped. These are huge wooden carts that are used in the procession of Gods during different festivities.

The Legend Behind Construction

Bogar is considered as the original creator of the temple, who was a Siddhamigrated from China to Tamil Nadu. In the back days, it was just the idol of Lord Muruga, which with time was formed into a beautiful temple with all facilities for the devotees.

Bogar also installed the Palani Murugan idol, which was made of nine alloys that are known for their great medicinal values. Hence idol of Lord Muruga in the KuzhanthaiVelappar temple was also built using the same alloys.

There is a story associated with the temple. Once a devotee didn’t have any child prayed in this temple to Lord Muruga or Velappan. With the blessings of the Lord, that devotee got a child and was filled with joy. Out of happiness, he distributed chocolates and candies to all his people. That night Lord Muruga appeared in his dream and asked why he didn’t offer chocolates to him.

Listening to this, the devotee visited the temple the next day and showed immense gratitude to the Lord while offering him lots of chocolates and candies. Since that time, it is a practice to offer the Lord in this temple chocolates, which is an uncommon practice in any other temple.

The Shrine of the Lord 

The shrine is said to have a perfectly sculpted face but a bit less perfect sculpture for the rest of the body. This is because the sculptor had a very less time limit to complete the idol, and he used most of the time in sculpting the face only. He found very little time for the rest of the body, and that is why the face of the deity is better carved as compared to the body.

In the temple, a shrine to Bhogar, the creator of the temple, also exists. It is in the southwestern corridor of the temple, which leads to a cave to reach the heart of the hill, as per a legend. This heart of the hill is considered the place of Bhogar’s meditation.

There is another legend, too; according to it, after years of worship, the deity faced abandonment and further submerged in the forest. Then one night, Perumal, a king of the CheraDynastys who used to control that area, got separated from his hunting team and lost in the forest.

He then had to take a shelter at the foot of the hill on which the deity was established. That night, Lord Muruga came into his dream and told him to restore the idol in a better state. The next morning, the King remembered what he saw last night, and he started searching for the deity in that area.

After finding the idol, he ordered his people to construct a temple so the deity can be worshipped properly. Since then, continuous changes were made as per the need, and till this time, the temple is maintained well and has gained recognition.

The architecture of the temple has a typical South Indian resemblance. The temple’s sanctorum faces the east direction, and the main deity is built in a standing position. The idol has his vehicle peacock, which is near the Bali peetham, and a flag facing the shrine. The temple timings are 6 AM to 12.30 PM and 4 PM to 8 PM. Every year devotees can come to witness the TherThiruvizha and the Skanda Shasti as well.

Read more : https://www.astroved.com/astropedia/en/festivals/skanda-sashti