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Punnainallur Maariamman temple near Thanjavur city, TN. .findmytemple.com |
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Punnainallur Maariamman idol(Moolavar), near Thanjavur city. picasaweb.google.com |
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| Temple entrance at Punnainallur Maariamman temple near Thanjavur city, TN. en.wikipedia.org |
Particularly on Sundays and auspicious days the Maariamman temple here is over crowded. Venkoji Maharajah (a half-brother of the great Maratha king Shivaji; reign April 1674 till 1684) of the Thanjavur Maratha Dynasty was the first Raja of Thanjavur from the Bhosale dynasty. Once he went on a pilgrimage to Samayapuram (now near the city of Tiruchirapalli or Trichy), also known as Kannapuram and offered worship at the Amman temple. He stayed there for the night and, while in deep sleep, he had a strange dream in which the Goddess (Ambal) appeared in divine form and advised him to go to ‘Punnaikkadu’, about 5 km east of Tanjore town and worship her there. Following morning upon recalling his reverie, he realized that it was a divine dispensation and he had to follow what had been told. Later he went to Punnaikkadu with his paraphernalia and, to his surprise, he found an idol of the Goddess. Soon he had a temporary shelter built over the idol and named it ‘Punnai Nallur‘, a place rich in Punna trees in those days. Further, Venkoji Maharaja donated the entire village to the shrine to take care of the temple needs and puja rituals.
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Thanjavur Maratha kingdom, Tamil nadu. america.pink |
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According to yet another legend associated with this temple, once the daughter of the Maratha ruler Thulajaji Maharajah(1770s) contracted smallpox and lost her vision because it reached the advanced stage. The ruler, having no other recourse sought refuge in Punnainallur Amman and prayed to her intensely. The goddess not only cured the disease but also restored the vision of the ruler’s daughter. Since then this temple had become well-known in that region. The main temple structure was built during the Maratha regime. Punnainallur Maariamman is supposedly the elder sister of Samyapuram Maariamman, near Tiruchirapalli. |
Devotees come here to fulfill their Prarthana - prayer by way of shaving their head, conducting ear-boring ceremony for their kids, bringing their baby or kid for the very first Mottai– first tonsuring. Paal Kudam rituals are well known here in the month of April. Quite famous is the Brahmin community Paal Kudam; women and men with a pot of milk on their head walk barefoot to the shrine all the way from Thanjavur city, a distance of 5 plus kilometer, barring hot summer. More than 1000 plus people participate at a time and there will be Annadhanam– free food for thousands of people on that day.
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Indian President Pranab Mukerji and T.N.State Governor Rosaiah offering worship at Punnainallur Maariamman temple near Thanjavur city,TN. www.thehindu.com |
Sadasiva Brahmendral was a saint, composer of Carnatic music and also an Advaita philosopher who lived near Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu during the 18th century. He was from the Telugu Brahmin community and was the one who installed the deity at this temple as per Agama Sastras.
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punnainallur_Mariamman