Thiruchendur Subramaniya Swamy Temple

The other Arupadai Veedu stand on hills, but Thiruchendur alone lies on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. Even so, the temple's own history says it once stood on a hillock called Santhana Malai. The town's old names include Thiruchiralaivai and Jayanthipuram.

The sthala varalaru is bound up with the Kanda Puranam. Surapadman, armed with a boon from Shiva, tormented the devas. When they appealed, the puranam says, Shiva sent forth six sparks from his third eye, and from them Murugan was born. Setting out to destroy Surapadman, Murugan camped here with his army. Here he learned the history of the asuras from Guru (Brihaspati), the preceptor of the devas, who was doing penance at this spot. Murugan sent Veerabahu as his envoy, but Surapadman would not listen. At last, when Surapadman stood as a mango tree, Murugan split it with his vel. One half became a peacock and the other a rooster; the peacock became his mount and the rooster his banner. At Guru's request Murugan stayed on here, and Viswakarma built the temple, it is believed. As the giver of victory he was called Jayanthinathar, a name that became Senthilnathar, they say. For this reason the temple is also honoured as a Guru sthalam.

Tradition says that after the battle Murugan worshipped Shiva in gratitude. So the presiding deity stands in an ascetic form with four arms, holding a lotus in his right hand. A Shiva lingam stands behind him, and the lamp is shown to that lingam first. The temple has four processional deities, Shanmugar, Jayanthinathar, Kumara Vidangar and Alaivai Perumal, each in a separate shrine. Valli and Deivanai have their own shrines in the second prakaram.

South of the temple on the beach is the Nazhi Kinaru, a freshwater well. It is believed to be the spring Murugan opened with his vel during the battle. Devotees customarily bathe in the sea and at the Nazhi Kinaru before worship. Ilai vibhuti, sacred ash wrapped in a leaf, is given here as prasadam.

At most Murugan temples Kanda Sashti lasts six or seven days; at Thiruchendur it is a twelve-day festival. The Soorasamharam is enacted on the shore on the sixth day, and the wedding of Murugan and Deivanai follows on the seventh. Twelve-day festivals in Aavani and Maasi, as well as Vaikasi Visakam, Thaipusam and Panguni Uthiram, are also celebrated grandly.

The Sangam work Thirumurugatruppadai by Nakkeerar sings of Thiruchiralaivai as Murugan's second abode, and Arunagirinathar praised it in the Thiruppugazh. Tradition holds that Kumaragurubarar composed the Kandar Kalivenba by the grace of Murugan here, and that Adi Shankara composed the Subramanya Bhujangam here. In the mid-17th century the Dutch East India Company held the temple for a time. Local tradition says the images they carried off fell into the sea and that Vadamalaiyappa Pillai recovered them after seeing the spot in a dream; an inscription of 1653 records the image being installed again in the presence of Thirumalai Nayak. When the old sandstone structure began to crumble in the sea air, Mouna Swamigal, Kasi Swamigal, Arumuga Swamigal and Desikamoorthy Swamigal carried on the renovation over about 72 years, rebuilding the temple in granite, and the consecration was held in 1941. The rajagopuram, to the west of the sanctum, rises in nine tiers to about 157 feet. The temple is administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of Tamil Nadu.