Thirunanthikarai

Thirunanthikarai is a village situated in Thirparappu panchayath, in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India. This village comes under the post office of Kulasekharam, 3 km away, and is located along the Kulasekharam–Pechiparai road.

Major temples
9th-century rock-cut cave temple to the north of Nandeeswara temple, Tirunandikkare, Kanyakumari district

The village is notable for the Sree Nandeeswarar Temple compound with the Thirunanthikarai Cave Temple. (Kudaivarai Kovil) and Peedavilai Aamman Temple are the important places of worship in this area.

  • Thirunanthikkara Siva Temple (Sree Nandeeswarar Temple) is situated on the river bank of Nandhi-aru (37 km from Thiruvananthapuram en route to Kanyakumari). The temple is built in the traditional Kerala style of temple architecture. Though the temple is dedicated to god Shiva, a shrine of god Vishnu is also present (facing god Shiva). Centuries old mural paintings can be found in this temple. They are protected by Archaeological Survey of India.
Nandeeswarar temple, Thirunanthikarai, Kanyakumari district

Four inscriptions are found in this temple. One on each side of the entrance and others on each side of the pillars.

  • Two on the entrance walls (including the Chola inscription)
  • Free-Pillar 1 (14 lines)
  • Free-Pillar 2 (40 lines) - pillar on the left

A Chera inscription can be found at the base of the path leading to the kitchen in the Siva temple of the same village

  • Peedavilai Amman Temple is a devi (goddess) temple. Its annual festival (the utsavam) is conducted with participation from people of all religions and communities.

Other infrastructure
  • Thirunanthikarai Government School is the only school in Thirunanthikarai .
  • Thirunanthikara Agricultural Co-operative Bank and Neethaji Memorial Library (running with aid from the Government of Tamil Nadu) are located in the village. Neetaji Memorial Library was founded around 50 years ago.
  • Thirunanthikara Pond is the major water source in Thirunanthikarai. It maintains ground water level in the area throughout the year with water from Pechiparai Reservoir.
  • Former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G. Madhavan Nair was brought up in Thirunanthikarai.[2]

References
  1. Archaological Survey of India, Thrissur Circle (2017). "Rock Cut Cave Temple - THIRUNANDIKKARE".
  2. Destination Moon, India’s Quest for the Moon, Mars and Beyond, G. Madhavan Nair, Pallava Bagla and Subhadra Menon.

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