Sikkal Nagapattinam
Sikkal is located on the Tanjore and Nagapattinam branch Railway line. Sikkal lies in the Tanjore district of Madras state. This place is near about 6 miles away towards southwest from Nagapattinam. Nagapattinam is one of the modern districts, which is being carved out of earlier composites. This city stretches along the coastline of Bay of Bengal, which is near about 200 kms long. However, this city is prominent for fishing. Nagapattinam is the headquarters of the Nagapattinam District too.
The other well-known names of the Nagapattinam city are Cholakula Vallippatinam and Naganadu. However, this city includes some of the famous temples, which includes Shri Kayahorana Swami, Neelayathachi Amman, Nellukkadai Mariamman and many more. The name of the city is derived from the extinct people Nagurs who used to in habitat here. The city has even contributed towards the glory of the Chola Kingdom. Nagapattinam is one of the important tourist destinations of the Tamil Nadu state, India. Numerous visitors visit this city from through out the world. The most significant and attractive spot which tourist like to visit while on a trip to Nagapattinam includes Temples, Museums, Sikkal, Kodiakkarani, Velankanni, and many more.
Sikkal is famous for its Murugan temple or Lord Subramyam Temple. The holy spot is known as Sikkal, which means catch in Tamil language. Sura Samhaaram is one of the most popular festivals being celebrated here. Here, Lord Murugan as Singaravelar allured his devotes with his bewitching smile. In Tamil, Singaravelar means beautiful. Once, Sikkal was also known as Mallikaranyam as this area was full of Jasmine flowers. A curse fall on Kamadhenu (Celestial cow) and had to descend to earth. Kamadhenu chose the jungle near the Nagapattinam to stay which is currently known as Sikkal. On reaching the earth, Kamadhenu drained all her milk, which was formed into a tank. Moreover, she took a form of a tiger. Now, she is believed to live and roam aimlessly in this sweet and fragrant forest.
One day Rishi (Sage) Vasista was passing through this forest. However, it was the time for his religious rite. Rishi searched for a pond or water near by area so that he could bath and perform the rituals. Nevertheless, the sweet fragrance of flowers pervaded the atmosphere. Sage felt like a presence of God at this place. Therefore, he entered into the holy pond of milk and did his ablutions. During that time, Kamadhenu in the form of Tiger met the Rishi Vasista. Rishi Vasista redeemed her from curse. Kamdehnu regained her original form.
Here, Sage wanted to worship Lord Shiva, so he made a model of Lord Shiva Lingam. Lord Shiva was pleased with his immense devotion. Therefore, he appeared in an invisible form and a voice was being heard that 'I have been caught'. Later on, the invisible voice transformed into a visible figure which was the Lord himself. Since idol emerged form cream, it was also called as Navaneeteswarar. Vel Nedunganni Ambal is the consort of Navaneeteswarar. Later, devotees constructed the temple at the same place.
One must visit this holy temple of Lord Subramyam at Sikkal, Nagapattinam. However, taking a dip in the pond situated at Sikkal washes away all the sins.