Thiruthankal

Thiruthankal  - Sri Karunellinathar Temple

Karunellinathar temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, located in Thiruthangal, a town in the outskirts of Sivakasi, a in Tamil Nadu, India.

Shiva is worshiped as Karunellinathar, and is represented by the lingam and his consort Parvati is depicted as Chokki Amman.It is built on a hillock 100 ft (30 m) and houses a small gateway tower known as gopurams. The temple is a rock cut temple and has many shrines, with those of Karunellinathar and Chokki Amman being the most prominent.

The temple is located on the other side of Ninra Narayana Perumal temple, a famous Vishnu temple and can be reached from that temple on the hillock. The temple is believed to have been built by Gurukalathirayan during the Pandyan regime in 1233 CE.

The place where the temple was located was believed to be housing two Amla trees (called nelli in Tamil) and hence got the name as Irunellinathar, which later went on to become Karunellinathar. There are separate shrines for Vinayaka, Surya, Chandra and Dakshinamurthi. There is a huge life size stone image of Nataraja and Sivakami and housed in the dancing hall of the temple.

Thiruthangal - Sri Karu Nellinathar Temple திருத்தங்கல் - ஸ்ரீ கருநெல்லி நாதர் திருக்கோவில்
Main Deity	Lord Shiva
Name	Sri Karunellinathar
Goddess Name	Sri Chokki Amman
Location	ThiruThankal - திருத்தண்கால்
Temple Tank	-
Significance	-
Ancient	800 Years old
Travel Base	Virudhunagar or Sivakasi

How to reach : The temple is about 5 kms distance from Sivakasi, 20Kms from Virudhunagar, and 20Kms from Srivilliputthur. Frequent buses available between Virudanagar  Sivakasi and Srivilliputhur.

Don't Miss It : In the Same hillock another two temples are there for Lord Vishnu and Lord Murugan - Sri Nindra Narayana Perumal Temple and Sri Palani Andavar Temple.

Very close to this hilllock, small Vana Durgai Amman Temple is there.