Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar Perumal Temple
Thenthiruperai
Photo: Ssriram mt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
One of the Nava Tirupati, associated with Shukra (Venus).
Sthala Purāṇam
Thenthiruperai is home to the Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar Perumal Temple, one of the Nava Tirupati Divya Desams strung along the southern bank of the Thamiraparani river on the Tiruchendur-Tirunelveli route in Thoothukudi district. The presiding deity is Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar, a form of Vishnu, and the Thaayar is Thiruperai Nachiyar. The temple's name is itself the sthala puranam in miniature: it commemorates the Lord's wearing of long, fish-shaped (makara) ear ornaments. According to the legend, when Vishnu spent his time in the company of Bhudevi, the earth-goddess, the sage Durvasa cursed her over a perceived slight. Seeking redemption, Bhudevi descended to the banks of the Thamiraparani and performed penance, worshipping Vishnu. On an auspicious new-moon day at the river she found a pair of fish-shaped earrings (makara kundala); when she offered these to the Lord, he appeared before her, accepted the gift, and restored her to her original beauty. Because of this offering the deity came to be praised as Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar, the wearer of the long makara earrings. Nammalvar sang of this shrine in his Tiruvaymoli, his Mangalasasanam binding it into the sacred geography of the Nava Tirupati and the Divya Prabandham canon. Within the Navagraha framework that overlays these nine temples, Thenthiruperai is the Sukra (Venus) sthalam, where the planet is said to have worshipped the Lord. The temple is also extolled in the puranic Nava Tirupati Mahatmyam and the Thamiraparani Sthala Purana.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar with Kuzhaikkadu Valli Nachiyar of Thenthiruperai is glorified by:
Then Thiruperai (the Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar Perumal Temple in Thoothukudi district, one of the nine Nava Tirupati Divya Desams on the Thamiraparani's southern bank) received the mangalasasanam of a single Alvar — Nammalvar — within his Tiruvaymoli, part of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham. The shrine is sung in one complete decad: Tiruvaymoli 7.3, opening "veḷḷaich churiśaṅgodu," comprising eleven pasurams. This is one of Nammalvar's celebrated "bridal mysticism" decads: the Alvar assumes the voice of parankusa nayaki, the heroine consumed by viraha (the anguish of separation) from the Lord, and across the eleven verses she describes her sleepless longing and resolve to go out seeking Him, abandoning all worldly reserve. The Lord of this abode is repeatedly invoked as Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar — "the wearer of the long, fish-shaped (makara) ear-ornaments" — a name that itself encodes the sthala legend of Bhudevi recovering her beauty by offering the Lord fish-shaped earrings (makara kundala) on the banks of the Thamiraparani. The decad's mood of the soul pining for, and ultimately seeking refuge in, the Lord of Then Thiruperai is its devotional and theological heart. Sources cross-confirm the deity name and the 7.3 decad attribution: divyaprabandham.koyil.org (7th-centum index lists 7.3 as "veLLaichchurisangu"), PBA Swami's commentary on Tiruvaymoli 7.3, scholarly treatments of Nammalvar's bridal mysticism (which name "the seventh decad VII.3, dedicated to the lord of Tirupperai... Makara-Nedun-Kulai-Kadan"), and Tamil temple sources giving NDP verse no. 3368.
veḷḷaich churiśaṅgodu āzhi ēndhi … (opening words of the decad; full verbatim Tamil not confirmed from a text-critical authority)
Opening verse of the Then Thiruperai decad. Nammalvar speaks in the voice of the love-lorn heroine (parankusa nayaki): the Lord, bearing the white spiralled conch and the discus, with lotus eyes, has entered and pervaded her heart, and she pines in separation (viraha) for Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar, the Lord enshrined at Then Thiruperai. The whole decad of eleven verses unfolds this bridal-mysticism mood of longing for the Lord of this abode.
நகரமும் நாடும் பிறவும் தேர்வேன் நாணெனக் கில்லை என் தோழிமீர்காள் சிகரமணி நெடுமாட நீடு தென் திருப்பேரையில் வீற்றிருந்த மகர நெடுங்குழைக் காதன் மாயன்
nagaramum nāḍum piṟavum thērvēn, nāṇ enakku illai en thōzhimīrgāḷ; sigaramaṇi neḍumāḍa nīḍu then thiruppēraiyil vīṟṟirundha magara neḍuṅguzhaik kādhan māyan…
The heroine (parankusa nayaki) tells her companions: 'I will go searching through town and country and everywhere — I have no shame left, O my friends.' She has lost all reserve in her longing for the wondrous Lord (Mayan), Makara Nedunkuzhaikathar — He who wears the long fish-shaped (makara) earrings — who graciously abides in Then Thiruperai with its tall jewelled, gem-crowned mansions. The verse is part of Nammalvar's mangalasasanam of this Nava Tirupati shrine, expressing the soul's all-consuming yearning for union with the Lord of this kshetra.
Tamil text & meaning sourced from divyaprabandham.koyil.org and other Śrī Vaiṣṇava authorities — please cross-check the linked source for the canonical reading.
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