page_title: Ninra Narayana Perumal temple
section_title: Festivals and religious practices
hierarchical_section_title: Ninra Narayana Perumal temple / Festivals and religious practices
caption_attribution_description: English: Thiruthankal
context_page_description: Ninra Narayana Perumal Temple or Thiruthankaal in Thiruthangal, a town in the outskirts of Sivakasi in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Azhwar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. It is one of the 108 Divyadesam dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Ninra Narayana and his consort Lakshmi as Arunakamala Mahadevi.
  The temple in its present form was believed to have been built by Devendra Vallabha, a Pandya king. The temple has three inscriptions in its two rock-cut caves, two dating from the period of 8th century.
  The temple is built on a granite hill 100 ft tall and a granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines and bodies of water. Unlike other temples, this temple does not have a rajagopuram, the temple's gateway tower. The later Pandya kings, Vijayanagar and Nayak kings in the region made significant additions to the temple. The temple is located on the other side of Karunellinathar temple, a famous Shiva temple and can be reached from that temple on the hillock.
context_section_description: The temple follows Vaigaanasa Agama. The temple priests perform the pooja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. As at other Vishnu temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the Vaishnavaite community, a Brahmin sub-caste. The temple rituals are performed four times a day: Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 12:00 p.m., Sayarakshai at 6:00 p.m.,  and Ardha Jamam at 8:00 p.m. Each ritual has three steps: alangaram (decoration), neivethanam (food offering) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Ninra Narayana Perumal, Ranganathar and Arunakamala Mahadevi. During the last step of worship, nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument) are played, religious instructions in the Vedas (sacred text) are recited by priests, and worshippers prostrate themselves in front of the temple mast. There are weekly, monthly and fortnightly rituals performed in the temple.
  The Vaikasi Vasanthothsavam, Pillai Lokacharyar festival and Kurathazhwar festival, each celebrated for ten days are the most prominent festivals of the temple, and for the surrounding villages. Vaikasi Vasanthothsavam is celebrated during the Tamil month of Vaikasi (May–June) when devotees pull the chariot round the streets of Thiruthangal. Verses from Nalayira Divya Prabandham are recited by a group of temple priests amidst music with nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument). The other major festivals celebrated are Srijayanthi Uriyadi, Pavitrostavam, Garudotsavam, Navarathri, Karthigai, Thirumangai Azhwar day, Vaikunta Ekadasi and Kalyana Utsavam. During Chitra Pournami, the festival image has a holy dip in Arujan river, decorated and mounted on a horse mount and taken around ten villages around Thiruthangal. On the fifth day of Adi Pooram, the festival image of the image is brought in Garuda mount and taken to Srivilliputhur Divya Desam along with four other temples.
caption: The entrance of the temple from the Subramaniyar temple
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