Location:

The Temple is located at the Northern side of Kalakad village. Kalakad, is at the foot of the western ghats, surrounded by paddy fields. It is in the Thirunelveli dist of Tamilnadu and 11km west from Nanguneri, the taluk head quarters.

History:

Kalakad is also known as Chozha kula vallipuram, choda karanyam, Vairava nagar etc etc, The temple was constructed in many stages, by various Maharajas, during different periods and the current shape was probably given by the Travancore Maharaja Veeramarthanda Varma, in the 16/17th century.

The deity:

The main deity is Sri Sathyavageeswarar, also called as “Punnaivana nathar”. The temple houses separate sannathis for Sri Gomathy ambal, Sri SubramaniaR, Sri Nataraja, Sri Krishna.

The construction:

The temple, which is also called as “Periyakovil” spreads over an area of 651 feet X 259 feet, fully enclosed with stone compound wall of 20 feet high. The Rajagopuram , having a base size of 90’x50’, is 135 ft tall, consisting of 9 tiers, which is the tallest in the Thirunelveli dist. It has mooligai (herbal) paintings of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Nayanmar Charitram, Siva Leeas, and some local events all the inner on east walls in all the nine tiers.

The present condition:

The majestic Rajagopuram really looks majestic now after centuries, thanks to the Kumbabishekam performed on 14th July 2011. Bakthar peravai at Kalakad supported by all Kalakadars from all over the world, successfully completed the renovation work toiling for 3 years.

The earlier Kumbabishekam after a lapse of 65 years was performed, with great difficulty in raising the funds, on 20th April 2000, after renovating the temple and the vimanams. At that time the work of renovation of the Rajagopuram could not be taken up due to paucity of funds.

However what still remains incomplete is the restoration of the 16th century MURAL PAINTINGS as stated above. R.E.A.C.H FOUNDATION Chennai, headed by Dr. T.Satyamurthy can only try, and are putting in their efforts, to take up that mammoth job, at the request and participation of Bakthar peravai

So what are you waiting for?

Come and join Kalakad yahoo group and participate in further development works at Kalakad.