Kanniyakumari
Navaratri procession from Padmanabhapuram and Kumarakovil
Navaratri procession from Padmanabhapuram and Kumarakovil · Photo: Athulvis · CC BY-SA 4.0
Palace Country · Temple

Kumarakovil Murugan Temple

குமாரகோவில்

A Murugan shrine among paddy, banana and coconut

Move across the photo, or drag it on a phone, to look around.

You arrive

You leave the highway near Thuckalay and within three kilometres the land has turned green and quiet. Paddy fields lie flat on either side, banana gardens crowd the edges, and coconut palms stand in loose lines, with mountains showing blue in the distance. The village of Kumarakovil exists because of its temple to Murugan. You step out into that open country light and start walking toward the shrine, the fields still in view behind you.

Navaratri procession from Padmanabhapuram and Kumarakovil
Navaratri procession from Padmanabhapuram and Kumarakovil · Photo: Athulvis · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Through the village

You walk the short way through the village. Kumarakovil is small, and the temple is its reason for being, so everything leans toward it. Take your time on this stretch. The farmland comes right up to the houses, and looking back you can follow the plain to the hills that form the last of the Western Ghats.

Navaratri procession from Padmanabhapuram and Kumarakovil
Navaratri procession from Padmanabhapuram and Kumarakovil · Photo: Athulvis · CC BY-SA 4.0
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At the shrine

You reach the temple of Murugan and slow down with everyone else. Leave your footwear where others have left theirs, and follow the direction of the devotees around you. If a ritual is under way, stand to one side and watch. When you come out again, the view of paddy and palms is the same one the village has looked at for generations.

Being here

You see

Green paddy, banana leaves and palms, with hills far off.

You hear

Temple bells against the quiet of farmland.

You smell

Damp fields, and flowers and incense near the shrine.

You feel

Warm ground underfoot once your sandals are off.

Look around

The story

Kumarakovil is a small village in Kanyakumari district and the site of an important temple to Murugan. It lies 3 km from Thuckalay, 15 km from Nagercoil and 45 km from Thiruvananthapuram, on the old route that also leads to Padmanabhapuram. The sources available to this guide say little about the temple's dated history, so none is claimed here. What they do record is its setting, a landscape of paddy fields, banana gardens and coconut trees with mountains in the distance, which remains the main impression of a visit.

Sources: Wikipedia: Kumarakovil

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