Places of Interest in Viluppuram District

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Viluppuram serves as the district headquarters and was established on September 30, 1993, after splitting from the South Arcot District. It is the second-largest district in Tamil Nadu and strategically located along the Tiruchirapalli to Chennai National Highway No. 45, making it a major transportation hub. The district boasts numerous historical tourist attractions over 100 years old, including ancient temples, mosques, and churches.

Key Attractions:

1. Gingee Fort: Once a capital city, it features impressive fortifications and temples. The fort is surrounded by three hills and showcases ruins from various dynasties, including the Nayakas and Marathas.
2. Kalyana Mahal: A beautiful ruin built in the Indo-Islamic style, featuring a central tower and courtyards.
3. Venugopala Swamy Temple: Notable for its remarkable sculptures of Lord Krishna and intricate architecture.
4. Ranganatha Temple: A stunning Indo-Islamic structure with graceful arches and notable artifacts, including an ancient cannon.
5. Sad-at-Ullah Khan Mosque: Built to commemorate a historical victory, it features Persian inscriptions and an intriguing history.
6. 24 Theerthangarargal: A hillock with ancient Jaina caves showcasing sculptures of the 24 Tirthankaras.
7. Mailam Temple: A popular pilgrimage site dedicated to Subramaniya Swami, hosting the lively Panguni Uthiram festival.
8. Auroville: An international township promoting human unity and sustainable living, located just across the Puducherry border.
9. Thiruvakkarai: A geological park famous for fossilized tree trunks, alongside a temple built by a renowned Chola queen.
10. Marakanam Beach: A beautiful beach known for its salt fields, located just 22 km from Puducherry.

We invite you to explore the rich history and diverse culture of Viluppuram District!

Mangala Buddha Vihar

The Mangala Buddha Vihar is located in Pulichapallam, Vanur Taluk of Villupuram District which is very near to Auroville. If you incline spirituality, yoga, and meditation, this Mangala Buddha Vihar is one of the best places to visit. Mangala Buddha Vihar is a Buddhist complex; complete with a Buddha temple, meditation hall, and library. The temple has a big meditation hall with a beautiful Buddha statue in the center, where one could just sit and focus on one’s inner self. You will find flowers adorning the holy seating and you can also light a puja candle before you meditate. The architecture is simple, but spectacular for it has the 30 feet high standing Buddha at the entrance. As you walk into the garden, you can find a statue of the Buddha seated under a Bodhi tree and you can find a statue of the Buddha seated on a lotus depicting the scene of attaining Nirvana in front of the Vihar.  The Mangala Buddha Vihar is inaugurated by Ven Phrakhru Samothankhetkrnarak, Chief of Chumphae, Thailand in 2018. It is a place to gain knowledge about Buddhism. Therefore, it also has a library where you can find books written by some of the most renowned Buddhist Scholars and monks from all over the world. The temple is not crowded unless there is a festival in celebration, during which it is grandly decorated with flags and people come here to chant and Puja too.  So go here for much-needed peace and a healthy break from our otherwise hectic lives.  Since the year 2018 many people are visiting our place, now day by day the number of tourist people who are visiting our place for mediation and spiritual search is increased.

Melmalaiyanur

Angala Parameswari Temple is located at Melmalayanur which is 32 km from Gingee in Viluppuram District. The deity of the temple is the Sembadavars. There is an ancient snake pit in the inner sanctum.

Goddess Mother Parvathi the wife of Lord Shiva took birth on her as hive. The purpose of the birth is to clear Lord Shiva from certain sin and give blessings to all people in kaliyugam. The birth took place her before the start of kaliyugam. The birth place is melmalaiyanoor, where the temple is situated. The specialty in this temple is Mother in Angala Amman faces north while blessing devotees.

A festival celebrated here during February-March is famous for Simimasana Kollai. During the festival many pilgrims cook large quantities of various kinds of grain and set it out in the burning ground. This offering to the goddess is believed to grant wishes. Lots of devotees throng to the temple during Ammavasai (New Moon day).

Lakhs of devotees visit here every new moon and full moon days since it is supposed to be auspicious during these days.

Auroville

Auroville is a universal township in the making for a population of up to 50,000 people from around the world. The concept of Auroville – an ideal township devoted to an experiment in human unity – came to the Mother as early as the 1930s.In the mid 1960s the concept was developed and put before the Govt. of India, who gave their backing and took it to the General Assembly of UNESCO. In 1966 UNESCO passed a unanimous resolution commending it as a project of importance to the future of humanity, thereby giving their full encouragement.

The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity – in diversity. Today Auroville is recognised as the first and only internationally endorsed ongoing experiment in human unity and transformation of consciousness, also concerned with – and practically researching into – sustainable living and the future cultural, environmental, social and spiritual needs of mankind.

On 28th February 1968 some 5,000 people assembled near the banyan tree at the centre of the future township for an inauguration ceremony attended by representatives of 124 nations, including all the States of India. The representatives brought with them some soil from their homeland, to be mixed in a white marble- clad, lotus-shaped urn, now sited at the focal point of the Amphitheatre. At the same time the Mother gave Auroville its 4-point Charter.

They come from some 49 nations, from all age groups (from infancy to over eighty, averaging around 30), from all social classes, backgrounds and cultures, representing humanity as a whole. The population of the township is constantly growing, but currently stands at around 2,500 people, of whom approx one-third are Indian.

Events and Festivals

Koovagam Festival

Transgenders, popularly known as ‘aravanis’, are in the midst of celebrating the 18-day-long Koovagam festival, an annual event that attracts their kind from abroad, including Singapore and Malaysia, and from across the country, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Their focal point during the fete is Koovagam temple, where the presiding deity is Aravan, to whom the ‘aravanis’ will get figuratively wedded on Tuesday night. During the Mahabharata war, Arjuna, a past master in archery, killed Aravan with the prowess of his bow and arrow. Therefore, it literally meant that those ‘aravanis’ wedded to Aravan were rendered widows overnight.