Alangudi (also called Kasi Arranyam, Thiru Irumpoolai) is a small village in Thiruvarur Dt. of
Tamil Nadu which is 7 Kms South of Needamangalam Railway station and 17 Kms South of
Kumbakonam, on the road that leads to Manargudi. The Divine poet, Thirugnanasambandar has
blessed this Sthalam as beautiful place filled with flowers.
While devas were churning the ‘paar kadal’ the resultant venom threatened to destroy the
living beings and this deadly venom was called ‘Alangala visham’ ( deadly venom). In order to
protect the devas and the living beings of the world, Lord Shiva consumed this venom. To
denote that, this place is known as ‘Alan gudi’ which means one who drank the Alangala venom.
The temple has a large five tier rajagopuram and ‘Kalangamal katha Vinayagar’ will be seen near
the entrance and as one go past that sannithi (sanctum), they will reach the first praharam
where can see sukravara amman sannithi and next to that is the sanctum of Lord Shiva’s
consort Parvathy, here called as Umayammai (Elavar Kuzhaliammai).
The mother faces south and the sannithi has its own praharam. We can see kasi
Viswanathar,Visalakshi , sage Agasthiyar sannithis, and in the north we can see Lord
Subramanya with Valli, Deivayanai, Mahalakshmi, Navagraha, sage poets Sammandar, Appar,
Manivasakar sannithis and in the east, there are sannithis for Bhairavar, Chandran, and in the
sanctum santorum, we can see Lord Shiva in the form lingam called here as Abathusagayar. In
the south is the sanctum of Guru in the form of Dakshinamoorthy.