Saturday, January 23, 2016

Trichy Trip: 12. Ucchi Pillayar Temple, Rockfort

Date: 2nd Jan 2016

Visitors: Arun and Shilpi.

After visiting Jambukeshwara temple, Thiruvanaikaval we went back to the room. Everyone was tired because of getting very early to visit Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple. My parents decided to stay back as they cannot climb 400+ steps to the top. Harsh was interested but he slept and we did not wake him up. Shilpi and I went to the temple. The road to the temple was a narrow one with shops on both sides. There is a small parking near the police station but it was small and unorganized. Luckily we found one spot and parked the car. I would recommend to hire auto to visit this temple instead of driving. There are two temples on the hill one Ucchi pillayar kovil and another Thayumanavar kovil. There are 400+ steps to climb to reach the top Vinayakar temple. The huge Shiv linga in the thayumanavar sanidhi is decorated beautifully. Since its hill top and need to climb up this temple was less crowded. Its a  nice place to sit and enjoy the panoramic view of the city.

Story of the temple.

Lord Rama after defeating Ravana brings back Sita devi. Lord Rama gave idol of Ranganatha to Vibhishana, Ravana's who helped him in the war. Vibhishana takes the idol and starts to Lanka. The other gods did not want vibhishana to take the god with him as he was basically an asura. They seek the help of Lord Vinayaka and they set out a plan. Vibhishana while reaching Trichy decided to rest for a while and take bath in cauvery river. He looks for some one to hold the idol as he cannot keep it down. If kept down the idol cannot be moved and it will stay in that place. He finds Lord vinayaka disguised as a boy and ask him to hold the idol. When vibhishana dips in the river the lord keeps the idol on land and runs. Vibhishana chases the boy who climbs over the rock. Vibhishana catches him and hits him on the head and then Lord Vinayaka reveals his identity. Vibhishana apologizes for hitting and lord vinayaka forgives and sends him to Lanka. The place where the idol was kept on ground is the current Srirangam Ranganatha swamy temple.

Few pics from the visit.

View of the rock fort temple from the road.

Main entrance to the temple with shops on both sides.

Steps to climb up the hill.

Bats hanging on the sealing of the path. The section was dark and they were flying here and there.


Ucchi pillayar temple.

A tower on the hill.

View of the city from the top.

View of Srirangam temple from the hill.

A bridge connecting the Trichy town and the Srirangam Island.

Another view of the town.

Few pics outside the Thayumanavar temple.




The place looked more of a picnic spot. There are couple of shops on top selling bottles juice, water and snacks. It was also good to see lot of non Hindus on the hill top. We sat there for a while enjoying the cool breeze.

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