Kumari Amman Temple, Kanyakumari
குமரி அம்மன் கோயில், கன்னியாகுமரி
Why this temple matters
At the very tip of the Indian peninsula, where the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean meet, the goddess Kanya Kumari stands as the eternal virgin — a Shakti Peetha whose diamond nose-ring is said to catch the light out across the sea.
History
The Kumari Amman temple stands at Kanyakumari, the southernmost point of mainland India, on the shore where three seas meet. It is one of the ancient Shakti Peethas, the sacred sites of the goddess, and worship here reaches back into antiquity; the temple was cared for over the centuries by the Pandyas, the Cholas, the Nayaks and the kings of Travancore. Set against the roar of the confluence and looking out to the Vivekananda rock offshore, the shrine of the virgin goddess has drawn pilgrims to the land's end for as long as the tradition remembers.
Architecture
The temple is built in the Dravidian manner close to the sea, its enclosures and halls gathered around the sanctum of the standing goddess, who faces the ocean. The image is famed for its diamond nose-ring, whose brilliance is said by tradition to have been visible far out to sea. The eastern sea-gate of the temple is opened only on certain special days, when the goddess looks directly out over the meeting of the waters. Weathered by salt wind and spray, the stone of the shrine carries the particular atmosphere of a temple at the edge of the land.
Legends
Tradition tells that the goddess, as the young Kumari, undertook great penance to win Shiva as her husband, and that a wedding was fixed at midnight. The gods, needing her to remain the virgin goddess so that she might destroy the demon Banasura, contrived that the auspicious hour should pass — by one account the sage Narada crowed like a rooster, so that Shiva, thinking dawn had broken, turned back. The wedding feast already prepared is said to have turned to stone and coloured sand, still pointed out along the shore. Remaining unwed, the goddess kept her power and slew Banasura, and here she abides as Kanya Kumari, the virgin who guards the southern tip.
Festivals
The temple's calendar turns on the Navaratri festival of the goddess in autumn, celebrated with special grandeur, and on the Vaisakha and Chitra observances. Full-moon days, when the sun sets and the moon rises together over the three seas, and the special openings of the eastern sea-gate, draw the largest gatherings. The car festival carries the goddess in procession through the shore town.
The Experience
Kanyakumari is a place of pilgrimage and of the elements together: the temple of the virgin goddess, the confluence of three seas, the sunrise and sunset over the water, and the Vivekananda rock memorial and the great Thiruvalluvar statue offshore. A visit joins the darshan of the goddess with the sheer geography of standing at the end of the land. The town is the terminus of the deep south, reached by road and rail, and pairs naturally with Suchindram and the temple-city of the far Tamil country.