Nagercoil Travel Guide
Nagercoil is 19 kms from Kanyakumari on the way to Padmanabhapuram. Nagercoil is the capital of Kanyakumari. Until 1956, it was a part of Kerala, but now it is in Tamil Nadu. Nagercoil is famous for Nagaraja Temple and the name derived from this Temple. It is situated at the Southern part of Tamil Nadu. The Nagaraja temple situated here is unique in many respects. Though Nagaraja (Serpent God) is the presiding deity, the images of Lord Siva and Anathakrishna (Vishnu) are also enshrined. The Nagaraja is installed on the ground where it was originally found.

The prasadam distribution to the devotees is wet sand scooped out from the ground where the image of the Nagaraja deity is enshrined. The images of the Jain Theerthakaras, Mahavira and Parswanathar are found in the pillars of the temple. The entrance to the temple is reminiscent of the Chinese architecture of Budha Vihara. The Nagalinga flower found here is also symbolic of Nagaraja.

This temple is situated at a distance of 12 miles from Cape Comorin, in the midst of paddy fields. The following is the traditional story of its origin.

In the fields where the temple now stands, one day, a worker, while harvesting the crops, came across a granite stone and, as soon as the sickle came in contact with it, blood came out of the stone. This being an unusual happening, the news spread like wild fire and it became the talk of the town as this incident could not be attributed to any known phenomenon.

At this time Pambummekkattu Nambudiri from Cochin was passing through this place on his way to Suchindram. On hearing about the incident, he visited the spot and recognised the stone as Vasuki (Ananta) the Serpent King. He immediately conducted archanas and other offerings and informed Kalakkat Rajah, who was then ruling over the area, about this. In the meanwhile, a thatched shed was erected over the idol.

The Rajah then arranged to construct the present temple and wanted to shift the idol to it. But the Serpent King appeared in a dream both to the Rajah and to the Nambudiri and conveyed his desire to remain where he was.

Accordingly he was left where he was originally found by the worker, and Anantakrishna was installed in the new temple. Gradually it was realised that as the serpent in the form of Kaliya was inimical to Krishna, it was not desirable to allow the Serpent King and Lord Krishna to be installed close to each other. So Siva was installed in the middle to avoid any possible conflict. Thus the three Gods came to be where they are now.

Another version is that the temple belonged to the Jains, even though no previous history is known in this connection. This belief is supported by the fact that the carvings of Mahavira and Parswanatha are seen on the pillars of the temple. The beautiful main gateway reminds one of Chinese architecture. It is believed that this temple came under the Hindus only from the sixteenth century.

People throng here every Sunday and on Anuradha days with offerings of milk. It is said that many serpents live all round the temple. But there has been no fatal case of snakebite within a radius of one mile from the place. The earthen prasadam taken from the place where Lord Nagaraja is installed (on bare earth where it was originally found) has never diminished in quantity even after its use for many many years. It is also remarkable that this prasadam will be white in colour for six months in the year and turn light black for the remaining six months.