Thiruketheeswaram

The first edition of this book was published in 1980. It soon ran out of print and was followed by a second revised edition in 1990. The author of the book, Sanmugam Arumugam, passed away in 2000 at the age of 94 years. Much water has flowed in the Palavi Aru since the second edition was published thirty years ago. The Thiruketheeswaram Temple site was closed to the general public in 1990. It re-opened in June 2003 and since then much work including extensions and improvements have been done to the Temple by the Thiruketheeswaram Temple Restoration Society. This work was financed by substantial financial assistance from the Government of India and also by donations from well-wishers of the Temple. It is planned to have a Maha Kumbabishekam of the extended Temple in 2021.The family of Sanmugam Arumugam felt that it is an appropriate time to publish a third edition of this book, to include all work that has been done since the second edition was published. Also included in this new edition is Appendix 1 which reproduces in full the Thevaram Hymns about Thiruketheeswaram Temple and City of Matoddam which were written by Thirujnana Sampanthar who lived in the seventh century and Suntharamurthy Nayanar who lived in the eight century. Also new is Appendix 2 which is a Tamil poem titled "Thiruketheeswara Nathan Oonjal" written by Pulavar Kumaraswamipillai, reproduced by kind permission of Jayalukshimy Kandiah. All Tamil poems are followed by English Transliterations and interpretations in English. The work of preparing this revised edition was enthusiastically undertaken by the children of the late Sanmugam Arumugam including Sushila Arichandran, Thiru Arumugam, Vimala Gunasingham, Praemala Ganesan Raju, Ahila Raja Rayan and they were ably assisted by son-in-law Raji Raja Rayan, daughter-in-law Malini Arumugam and grand-daughter Dharini Ganesan Raju. The cover design and free-hand sketch of the new stone sculptured Sri Thiruketheeswaranathar and Gowri Ambal Vimanams was done by Sanmugam Arumugam's grandson Darshan Raja Rayan. SelvaRetnam Raghavan, President of the Thiruketheeswaram Temple Restoration Society Committee gave valuable assistance by providing recent photographs of the Temple and arranging for a Foreword from the Society. Thanks are also due to the Journal "Hinduism Today" of Hawaii for permission to reproduce photographs.Finally, last but not least, thanks to Seggy T Segaran of Ohm Books, UK for his enthusiasm spending many hours formatting the text and overseeing the printing of the book. If not for him, this book would not have seen the light of day.