Prasanna Venkatachalapathy Perumal temple at Perumal malai
The temple is at the top of Perumalmalai hills, 5 kms from Thuraiyur. This place is known as ‘Then Thirupathi’ of Trichy due to the many similarities to Thirupathi. There are seven hillocks to cross; Alarmelmangai Thayar is having a separate shrine; Govindharaja perumal in lying posture is having a temple at the foot hill; and there is a village known as Nagalapuram 5 kms away. Perumal malai is 960 feet high with 1532 steps to climb. There is also a motorable road to the top. It will take about 15 minutes in vehicle and about an hour in walking through steps. The temple was constructed by one of the grand sons of Karikala chola. The king, as per the advice of his Guru, meditated here to attain moksha and got the dharshan of Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal in marriage posture. The King was also blessed to be with the Perumal and Thayar as the kshetra balan (the man of the place). He is now known as Karuppanna Swamy or Veerappa Swamy and is having a separate shrine between the shrines of Perumal and Alarmelmangai Thayar. The prime deity here is Alarmelmangai Thayar and there are separate shrines for Alarmelmangai Thayar and Padmavathi Thayar. Thulasi is being given as prasadam in the Perumal shrine, Viboothi (holy ash) is being as prasadam in the Karuppannar shrine. In the Shobana mandapam, there are wonder musical pillars and beautiful sculptures of the ten avatars of Mahavishnu and others on the pillars. The foot print of the Perumal is installed at the base of the hill in a mandapam along with Garudan in a standing posture. It is said that having a dharshan of this Perumal’s footprint is equivalent to having a dharshan of the Perumal at the hill top. Also, Govindaraja Perumal temple is situated at the base of the hill. Hundreds of devotees take part in the Girivalam around this hillock on full-moon days. In Purattaasi month devotees climb the shrine every saturday shouting "Govinda, Govinda" in chorus.
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