Ramanathaswami Temple

The Ramanathaswami Temple is located in Tirupugalur and is dedicated to God Ramanathaswami. The main Deities in this temple are Ramanathaswami and Somaskanda with Nandi, the bull vehicle. The Goddess here is Sarivarkuzhali. The holy trees are Mahizham and Shenbagam with the Holy water is the Ramatheertham. The Agamam/Pooja is Kameekam. The temple is over 1, 000 years old and was known in ancient times as Ramanadeswaram. The story goes that Sage Agasthya brought the Bhairava idol from Kasi (Varanasi) and installed it here. The Sage can been seen near the Kalabhairava shrine in a worshipping the Deity. One of the 108 Divya Desas of the Sri Vaishnava shrines, the Sowrirajaperumal is very near here. When God Rama set out to rescue Sita, waged a battle with Ravana and killed him, and many of his men. To absolve himself of the sins of killing, Rama did a Shiva Pooja in Rameswaram and many other places on his way back to Ayodhya. When he started his pooja here, he was prevented by Nandhi (the bull), the vehicle of God Shiva. Parvathi dragged Nandhi away to let Rama worship. Because the Shivalinga here was worshipped by Rama, the Deity bears the name Ramanadeswarar.