Tirunelveli Courtallam details

The falls carry a good amount of water only when there is a rain on the hills, so it is advisable to see the weather forecast, when one plans to come to Courtallam . Season begins from June of every year till September. The South West Monsoon brings in the cold breeze with mild temperature. From October to December North East Monsoon sets over in Tamil Nadu and the climate is cold and the rains are very heavy sometimes. Sometimes the falls get flooded and people are not allowed to take bath during floods.Courtallam or Kutralam, Spa of South India, is a panchayat town situated at a mean elevation of 160 m  on the Western Ghats in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu, India. Many seasonal and few perennial rivers such as the Chittar River, the Manimuthar River, the Pachaiyar River and the Tambaraparani River originate in this region. The numerous waterfalls and cascades along with the ubiquitous health resorts in the area have earned it the title the Spa of South India. Courtallam is not just waterfalls; its temples too attract visitors. The most important among these is the Chitra Sabha, one of the five sabhas with Nataraja, Shiva in the dancing posture as the main deity. The paintings at the Chitra Sabha were renovated about 100 years ago. The others are the Rathna Sabha at Thiruvalangadu, the Kanaka Sabha at Chidambaram, and the Velli Sabha at Madurai and the Thamira Sabha at Tirunelveli. The temple at the foot of the hill is conch-shaped which has special significance in Hindu tradition

Trichy - sri rangam details

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple

Hindu temple dedicated to Ranganatha, a reclining form of Hindu deity, Vishnu located in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India .  the early medieval Tamil literature canon of the Alvar saints from the centuries AD and is counted as the first and foremost among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu. Vaishnava temples in South India rich in legend and history. Its location, on an island in Cauvery river, has rendered it vulnerable to natural disasters as well as the rampaging of invading armies – Muslim and European – which repeatedly commandeered the site for military encampment.The temple is enclosed by 7 concentric walls termed prakarams outer courtyard or mathil suvar with a total length of 32,592 feet or over six miles. These temple has 21 gopurams towers, 39 pavilions, fifty shrines, Ayiram kaal mandapam a hall of 1000 pillars and several small water bodies inside. The space within the outer two prakarams outer courtyard is occupied by several shops, restaurants and flower stalls. Non-Hindus are allowed up to the second prakaram outer courtyard but not inside the gold topped sanctum sanctorum.

Kovil is generally used in Tamil to signify any temple, for many Vaishnavas the term Kovil exclusively refers to this temple, indicating its extreme importance for them for saivas and all other Tamil people the term kovil refers to Thillai Natarajar Golden Shrine Chidambaram Temple. The presiding deity Ranganathar is praised in many names by his devotees, including Nam Perumal our god in Tamil, Azhagiya Manavaalan beautiful groom in Tamil.

The complex houses shrines of dozens of forms of Vishnu including Chakkarathazhwar, Narasimha, Rama, Hayagreeva and Gopala Krishna. There are separate shrines for Ranganayaki and the major saints in the Vaishnava tradition, including Ramanuja. The Venugopala shrine in the south-west corner of the fourth enclosure of the temple is the work of Chokkanatha Nayak. An inscription of 1674 specifies this Nayak king as the patron. The exterior of the vimana and attached mandap hall have finely worked pilasters with fluted shafts, double capitals and pendant lotus brackets. Sculptures are placed in the niches of three sides of the sanctuary walls; maidens enhance the walls in between. The elevation is punctuated with secondary set of pilasters that support shallow eaves at different levels to cap larger and smaller recesses. The sanctuary is crowned in the traditional fashion with a hemisphrical roof. The double-curved eaves of the entrance porch on the east side are concealed in a later columned hall. Dhanvantari, a great physician of ancient India is considered to be an incarnation of Vishnu – there is a separate shrine of Dhanvantari within the temple