Down memory lane - Thailkulam Ayyanar Temple

Going down memory lane often brings on nostalgia, of the old days.For many the thoughts could be happy, or sad. I thought it would be cool to scour the net and organize links to material that brings on the nostalgia.

In this first post, I am reminded of Thailakulam Ayyanar Temple which is our family deity. The temple is a small temple with a few buildings around the campus located opposite the village Thailkulam on the state highway number 42 connecting Srivilliputtur to Sivakasi.

All of the families of our clan descended from our common ancestors conduct ceremonies in this temple and the members contribute in small ways to maintain the upkeep of the temple.

Even though it has not been identified as a place in Google maps, it has been identified as a placemark in Wikimapia.





The link for wikimapia.org is given below for accessing it.

http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=9.4985033&lon=77.6573646&z=18&l=0&m=b&show=/10836950/Thailakula-Ayyanar-Kovil&search=Srivilliputtur

According to the entry in Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiyanar , Ayyanar (spelt in various ways) temples are found in many parts of Tamilnadu. Ayyanar is generallly seen as a Kaaval Theivam translated as Guardian Deity, who takes care of the clan families whose ancestors have adopted it as their clan deity.

Our elders in the family say that the most effective offering to Ayyanar is liqour and meat even though the traidtional offering is fruits, flowers etc.

Many families of our clan come to this temple to offer the hair of the kids and get their ears pierced as a way of offering obeisance to the family deity.