The trips of a Bulleteer!: 2016

Hi there!

Most of us must've heard about the 6 abodes or 6 prominent temples of Sri Subramanya Swamy / Lord Muruga in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil it's called as Aru Padaiveedu of Muruga. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Abodes_of_Murugan)

Thanks to my friend who planted the interest and devotion to visit these 6 places in the recommended order. So, yeah, here I am writing this to the fellow devotees of Him to help plan your trip. Remember... the trip starts and ends in Madurai district on Tamil Nadu.

Order to visit:
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1. Thirupparamkunram Murugan Temple, Thiruparankunram, Madurai district

2. Thiruchendur Murugan Temple, Thiruchendur, Toothukudi district

3. Palani Murugan Temple, Pazhani, Dindigul district

4. Swamimalai Murugan Temple, Swamimalai, Kumbakonam taluk, Tanjavur district

5. Thiruthani Murugan Temple, Thiruthani, Thiruvallur district

6. Pazhamudircholai Murugan Temple, Pazhamudircholai, Madurai district

My friends and me from Bengaluru were able to do this trip by car in 3 days. One night journey included. It's subjective as to in how many days one would want to do this trip/pilgrimage based on the time and money one has. Try to check out all the places in and out.

I've mention the itinerary we followed to do this trip in 3 days due to time constraint. Well, we did this trip 2 times in 2 months in less than 30 days buffer time. Also refer to the Google route map attached.

Day 1:

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1. Start at 4:00 am from where ever you're in Bengaluru to take Hosuru road (NH 7). Buy one way toll tickets.

2. Have breakfast at Krishnagiri and drive to Thirupparakundram (~ 480 KM) by noon.

3. Visit the temple

4. Have lunch and drive to Thiruchendor (~ 200 KM). Buy two way toll tickets.

5. Visit the beach first and then the temple. Not the other way.

6. Drive to Palani (~ 315 KM) and have dinner on the way. Buy one way toll tickets.

7. Stay at the reserved accommodation. One might reach by midnight.

**Distance travelled: ~ 1030 KM

Day 2:

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1. Visit Palani temple

2. Check out from the hotel at Palani and have breakfast

3. Drive to Swamimalai (252 KM) and have lunch on the way. Buy one way toll tickets.

4. Visit Swamimalai temple

5. Drive to Thiruttani (295 KM) and have dinner on the way. Buy two way toll tickets.

6. Stay at the reserved accommodation. One might reach by midnight.

**Distance travelled: ~ 550 KM

Day 3:

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1. Check out from the hotel and visit the temple

2. Have breakfast and drive to Palamudhircholai (447 KM). Buy one way toll tickets.

3. Have lunch on the way.

4. Visit Palamudhircholai temple and also the small temple little further.

5. Visit Vishnu temple (Alagar Kovil) at the foothills

6. Visit Madurai Meenakshi temple

7. Overnight journey to Bengaluru (~ 430 KM). Have dinner on the way. Buy one way toll tickets.

**Distance travelled: ~ 880 KM

Over distance would be around 2600 KM.

Important:

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1. It is advised for the men and women to stay in separate accommodation during this pilgrimage unless for couple, blood related brothers and sisters. Hope you undertand what I mean here.

2. Try booking the hotel rooms in advance for peace of mind and great discounts through goibibo app

3. If planning to stay at Tiruchendur, I'd personally recommend Chakravarthi Inn though I never stayed there eve after reserving couple of rooms

4. If driving to Palani on the same day, I'd personally recommend Sasti Lodge for it's price, service, location & cleanliness

5. Use the traditional method of asking people for directions if lost (provided you understand Tamil) else, use Google map. I myself had a bitter experience with Apple Maps in few locations.

6. Take the stairs instead of the electric winch as the time taken by both the ways to reach the hill top are almost same.

7. Swamimalai to Thiruttani, I'd recommended this route: Swamimalai > Virudhachalam > Ulundurpet > Villupuram > Tindivanam > Vandavasi > Kanchipuram > Arrakonam > Thiruttani (~ 300 KM)

8. Thiruttani to Palamudhircholai, I'd recommend this route: Thiruttani > Arrakonam > Kanchipuram > Vandavasi > Tindivanam > Villupuram > Ulundurpet > Trichy > Melur > Palamudhircholai (~ 460 KM)

9. While most of the roads are highway, take utmost care while driving in the state highways not to lose the route.

10. If planning to stay in the temple accommodation, which is available in Swamimalai and Thiruttani, please call up the temple authorities before hand. I didn't enquire if the other 4 temples have accommodation within the temple premises.

11. Thiruttani has more of lodges and less of 2 or 3 star hotels. If possible, visit the temple on the same day before 8:00 pm and do a night journey to Madurai district to find a descent a hotel to freshen up before visiting the temples.

12. In our first round of this, we did not visit the small temple and the Vishnu temple at Pazhamudhircholai. However, we did visit in our second round.

Reference links:

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http://ritsin.com/seven-unknown-facts-lord-kartikeya.html/

http://skanda.net/temples/parankundram.htm

Google route maps:

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