places of importance/Thirumayam fort -my personal experience

Actually, as i am a publisher of virtual maps of various parts of Tamilnadu, i have planned to give a virtual map to Karaikudi.For that.prior to design,we had a survey at Karaikudi (also known as Chettinadu) to various business people,for ,how to make it as friendly as to the people of Karaikudi and the outsiders.

Then we got a report that it would be very useful by adding the various tourist spots connecting with karaikudi.So as a result we added Thirumayam fort as one of our inclusions in the Karaikudi map.

For our Karaikudi project, myself and my designer Rathina Basker prepared to go to karaikudi,by my motorcycle 'Kawasaki-Bajaj caliber 115' on one fine morning.On that day,the sun showed mercy on us,by hiding himself behind the clouds.Our journey had been started from my residence at Alagar nagar,near K.Pudur at the temple city Madurai,which is in southern Tamilnadu of India.Sharply i left my home at 7 o'clock,and picked up my designer,rathina Basker with his Nikon D40 camera,with us.

our destination Karaikudi is about 85 K.m from Madurai. Traveling on the four lane way,first we reached "Thirupathur",a in between place of Karaikudi,within one and half an hour, which is about 60 K.m from Madurai.There we had our breakfast and took rest for a while.

Before entering to Karaikudi,we had to do a lot, that is,we had to take a lot of photographs,for our Karaikudi project.First we diverted to "Thirukostiyoor", the Lord Vishnu's famous temple is there.There we halted a while and entered into the temple and prayed the god,that our project would have been successful.

After worshiping at Thirukostiyoor, we left for Pattamangalam, in which a very famous temple of Lord Guru baghawaan (the god of wisdom) is there.Normally,Thursday is the day for the god to worship.A lot of gathering was there,seen moving around the very old banyan tree,counting 108 times,to move around. There also,we clicked some shots,which would have been added in our Karaikudi virtual map.After prayed the Guru Baghawaan,we left for Karaikudi.

In Karaikudi,we had taken the photographs of clients to be added in the map.It's the virual map,comprising of different variety of clients say hotels,hospitals,jewellers,Educational institutions and business organisations,placed at their original area,and highlighted with their phone numbers,at the top of their building in the map.If you view the map for a while ,you can easily understand the concept of the map.

we had finished all our work at Karaikudi and left for Thirumayam, Where our hub-story began, Thirumayam was about 20 K.m away from Karaikudi.We reached there by riding my Kawasaki Bajaj-Caliber-115

It's normally,a custom followed by the people of that residing area,that,when passing via the route all the vehicles should have stopped and prayed the God for their safe driving.The fort is on the way,in between the National High ways NH-210,which connects the two main tourist spots,namely Trichy and Rameshwaram.It's well connected with all the major cities of Tamilnadu.Often buses are plying to Trichy,Karaikudi,Pudukottai,thanjavoor and Madurai.The nearest railway station is Pudukottai.

The fort is very famous for the reason,for what,in this,the vigorous freedom fighters of paanchalam kuruchi veera pandia kattapomman and his brother Oomaithurai were hiding during the 17 th centuary,when they fought against the British people. For this reason ,the fort is also called as "oomaiyan kottai" (Dumb-man fort),since,the brother of Kattabomman, oomai thurai was "dumb" by birth. The main attractions here,are the fort,Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu temples within the fort ilself.

The fort was constructed on AD 1687 by Vijaya Ragunatha Sethupathi of Ramanathapuram. Sethupathy is the family name of ruling king of Ramanathapuram. He is also called as 'Kizhavan Sethupathy".The fort was constructed,formerly in 40acres.But now,we have seen only less than the one-fourth of the fort.The ruined main entrance of the fort is now seen at the south,1 K.m from the old fort. Some times it had been governed by the Pudukottai's rulers.

There are two rock-cut temples for the gods Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu.The former is called Aathi Gereeswarar and the later is called Udaya Gereeswarar.The Lord Shiva temple is situated at a ruined fort,inside the main one.It is in the direction of west to the Lord Vishnu's temple which is situated at the base of a hillock on the south side of the town.

After taking enough photographs at the Thirumayam fort,We had been to Kaanaadu Kaathan,the symbol of branded Chettinadu.It's a small town known for it's culture and the Raja sir Muthiah chettiyar,the prince of Chettinadu. His palace stood with majestic look amidst the town.In front of this palace,a very huge tank is there.Now,here a lot of "indian cinema movies" are taken focusing the palace as their prime subject.

From Kaanadu kathaan,we left for Karaikudi.On the way,we covered some important places to be added in our "Karaikudi Best Map". That places are Konapet - Lord Shiva temple,Kaatu bawaa pallivaasal( a famous thurga - Mosque),Aathankudi Palace,Kuberan Temple,Kundrakudi - Lord Muruga's temple, Pillayaar patti - Lord Ganesha, Vairavan patti -Lord Kaala Bairavar temple and Raangium - Lord Karuppar temple.

After having done all our platform work for our project,we left for Madurai on the same day.Once again I thank you all for the patience you are having when i am sharing my experience with you.Meet you again in the same way,sharing my experience with you.Bye....