Nagaraja Temple is the one of the Hindus Temple located in the main part of the Nagercoil Town in Tamil Nadu. This temple is dedicated to the God Nagaraja, who is the King of all the serpents.
This Temple serves as the Parihara Sthalam for the people who suffer from the Naga Dosha in their life. There are many numbers of naga statues, which resembles the statues from all parts of India.
Architecture
The Nagaraja Temple is built in the Kerala style. There are many numbers of Jain tirthankara images which are engraved on the pillars. As this Temple is built in the Kerala style, it uses the metals, wood and the stone for construction. There are coconut leaves and the bamboo poles on the roof of this Temple. Here the walls that surrounds the temple contains the mud. This mud cures all types of the skin diseases as per the belief of the devotees.
History
The place where the Temple lies, had been an area filled with the bushes and grasses in the olden days. Once, a lady who was cutting the grasses in this field to feed her cattle saw the blood on the knife. Then she uncovered the grasses and saw at the place where she had cut the grasses. There she had accidently cut the five headed Cobra which was lying there. She ran away with the fear and said about the incident to the villagers. While the people came to that place, the snake turned into the statue.
Then the villagers found that the snake cut was nothing, other than the God Nagarajar . From then, they began worshipping the statue, by covering the statue with the coconut leaves. On hearing this story, many devotees with the Naga Dosha from the Tamil Nadu and the Kerala are worshipping this Temple.
Features of the Temple
The eight nagas of this Temple are the Shesha, Takshaka, Vasuki, Karkotaka, Gulika, Shankhapala, Padma and the Mahapadma. Some of them, see this Temple as a Jain Temple even though it is a Hindu Temple, since the Jain Tirthankaras and the Mahavira images are found on the pillars.
Other Places
The other famous places nearer to this temple, are the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, Padmanabhapuram Palace and the Devi Kanya Kumari Temple.
Celebrations
The main festivals celebrated in this Temple are the Thai Brahmotsavam in the Tamil month of Thai (mid January to mid February), the Navaratri in the month of Purataasi (Mid September to Mid October) and the Tirukarthigai festival.
Transport facilities
The devotees can easily reach this Temple either by the Road or Rail transport. Then the devotees who choose the road transport must reach the Nagercoil Vadaseri or Meenakshipuram bus stand. This temple is at a distance of 1Km from these two bus stands. You can reach Nagercoil from all parts of the India. Then the Airports nearer to this Temple are the Madurai and the Thiruvanthapuram Airport. From these Airports, the devotees can book the cab or choose the local bus to come to this Nagaraja temple. If you wish to come through the train, then the devotees must reach the Nagercoil Railway station. The Trains for Nagercoil is available from all parts of the Tamil Nadu.
Location: Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu.
Timings: Morning – 5.00A.M to 11.30 A.M (Timings may vary with the festivals)
Evening – 5.00 to 8.00 P.M.