About and History
Tiruchendur temple diety is one of the 6 Abodes of Lord Murugan and is situated near the sea of the Bay of Bengal.
Veera Mahendrapuri was ruled by Surapadma, an asura, son of Rishi Kashyap. However, Surapadma was a sincere devotee of Lord Shiva and he spent most of his time meditating on his favorite deity. As a result of his determined adoration, Lord Shiva gave him a boon, according to which Surapadman could neither be killed nor be defeated by anybody in this world, except the offspring of Lord Shiva born without Shiva’s unification with any woman.
The boundless boon of Lord Shiva made Surabadman very arrogant that he conquered all the 3 mythical worlds – The Heaven, The Earth, and The Hell. All the Devas were taken as prisoners and were tortured. The heavenly immortals were assigned to perform menial tasks.
Eventually, they surrendered to Lord Shiva take action to relieve them. At their request, Lord Shiva exhaled 6 different sparkles by opening his third eye. These sparkles reached the Saravana Poigai, the divine lake, where the divine sparkles transubstantiated into 6 babies.
To take care of these babies, Lord sent 6 Karthika hours. Later, the divine couple went to Saravana Poigai, where Goddess Shakthi fondly merged the babies to become Lord Karthikeya or Subramaniyan or Murugan, who protects his devotees with 6 faces and 12 arms.
As per the word of Lord Shiva, he marched to Tiruchendur with his army to release the Devas from the cruel bondage. Veerabahu, his lieutenant, was sent to meet Surapadma as an emissary before the war, to free the Devas.
As it failed, Lord Murugan set out for war. Despite losing his brothers, Surapadma refused to surrender and the war continued for 5 days. Finally, Lord Karthikeya’s Vel killed Surapadma.
At the request of Surapadma, Lord Murugan turned him to be a peacock, which became the vehicle of the Lord. Overwhelmed by the spirit of Lord Karthikeya, the Devas celebrated the grand success in Thiruchendur, the Southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. Even now, lakhs and lakhs of devotees reach Tiruchendur to join the divine celebrations.
Temple Darshan Timings
Morning Hours: 6:15 AM to 12:00 PM Evening Hours: 4:00 PM to 9:00 PMViswaroopa Darshan: 5:30 AM to 6:15 AMPooja Timings
| Pooja | Timings |
| Subrapadam – Thirupalli Eluchi | 5:10 AM |
| Viswaroopam Darshan | 5:30 AM |
| Dwajasthamb Namaskaram | 5:45 AM |
| Udaya Marthanda Abishegam | 6:15 AM |
| Udaya Marthanda Deeparadhanai | 7:00 AM |
| Kalasandhi Pooja | 8:00 AM |
| Kalasha Pooja | 10:00 AM |
| Uchikala Abishegam | 10:30 AM |
| Uchikala Deeparadhanai | Noon |
| Sayaratchai Pooja | 5:00 PM |
| Arthasama Abishegam | 7:15 PM |
| Arthasama Pooja | 8:15 PM |
| Ekanda Seva | 8:30 PM |
| Ragasiya Deeparadhanai, Palliarai Pooja | 8:45 PM |
| Nadai Thirukappiduthal | 9:00 PM |