TIRUNELVELI - KANTIMATI TEMPLE

The twin temples of Kantimati and Nelliappar have fascinating beginning though they are now tound under one root .They were two separate, independent temples in the past. The name Tirunelveli came into use under extraordinary circumstances. Listen now! Once a pious devout priest by name Vedasarma received unusual quantity of paddy from devotees as they had bumper crop that year and that was the traditional way of paying for his services to the temple by theists. He heaped that quantity in the compound of his house lying near a modest sized temple, where he was officiating as priest. All on a sudden there was heavy down pour and the river Tamraparni too overflowed its banks. And his paddy that subsists him for the entire year was in danger of being washed away by the flood. He then prayed to Lord Siva piteously to save him from peridition Soon a stockade-veil came up in a flash around the paddy and protected it. The overjoyed people called this place Nel-veli, which in course of time became a big city around the same Siva temple and is now called Tirunelveli, due to the auspicious Tiru is fixed to Nel-Veli. 

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