Puttu Thiruvizha 2008

Puttu Thiruvizha (Festival) is the one among the 64 Thiruvilayadals of Lord Sundareswarar. It is celebrated at Puttu Thoppu in Madurai city every year in the Tamil month of "Avani". In this year, this festival will be going to celebrate on September 04, 2008. The Meenakshi Amman Temple will remain closed on this occasion, since the deities will be taken out for the festival.

Story behind the Puttu Thiruvizha

Puttu Thoppu is situated on the south bank of River Vaigai. It is believed that this is the place where Lord Shiva performed one of his Thiruvilayadals. The Lord gave salvation to Manickavasagar and Vanthiammai, an old lady here on the river banks. The Pandya King ordered every citizen of Madurai to build a massive bund at the banks of River Vaigai in order to protect his kingdom from the natural disasters like floods in Vaigai. The old lady Vanthiammai was ordered by the guards to carry baskets of soil for the work. But she was unable to carry out the command. So she planned to offer Puttu for those who help her. Nobody come up to help her. Suddenly, Lord Shiva appeared as a youngster and offered to work for her. Upon eating a fistful of the delicious puttu, he then slept off by the river bed while worked on. The king monitoring the progress of the work. At that time, the king watched the youngster (Lord Shiva) who slept off at the river bank. The King got angry and struck him with a cane. And a miracle is believed to have occurred. The blow on the lad landed on everyone's back including the ruler's. It is believed that Lord Shiva performed the Thiruvilayadal to give 'Mukthi (Moksha)' to the old woman.

Golden Lotus Tank in Meenakshi Amman Temple

Potramarai Kulam (Golden Lotus Tank), the sacred pond inside the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple is a very holy site for the devotees and people go around the lake before entering the main shrine. The etymology for the word means, the Pond with the Golden Lily and as the Lily that grows in it has a golden color. According to the legend, Lord Shiva promised to a stork that no fish or other marine life would grow here and thus no marine animals are found in the lake. In the Tamil legends, the lake is supposed to be a judge for judging a worth of a new literature. Thus, authors place their works here and the poorly written works are supposed to sink and the scholastic ones are supposed to float.