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5 Surprising Facts about Shri Vetrimalai Murugan Temple in Port Blair in Andaman

The tourists coming to the islands will be expecting obviously the beaches and its crystal clear seawaters, however, but catching a glimpse of any churches, temples or mosques could be least expected. There are indeed some of those significant religious centres spread across the islands. But the one at Shadipur area of Port Blair, which can be seen just behind the residence of Governor known as Raj Niwas could be labelled as the most significant among them. It could be due to various reasons that they are considering the temple over the other. Here we give a quick peek on some of the surprising facts about Shri Vetrimalai Murugan Temple in Port Blair in Andaman.

The temple was actually situated in Ross Island before relocating to Port Blair

Even before the independence, the popular temple did exist in the archipelago, where the colonial masters have prominence. Rather than the capital of the Andaman Islands Port Blair, they were always more impressed of the adjacent Ross Island. As many of their workers included people from the mainland, they would obviously wish to build their religious centres in the place they live in. Later in the year of 1926, the Shri Vetrimalai Murugan temple was built. However, after independence, the entire situations changed and many of them had to migrate to the capital. Henceforth, their most reliable temple too was shifted to the place they are presently positioned in 1947.

British was in total support to built them

Even if such a move from the governing British was unexpected, they had indeed played a great role in the establishment of such an important religious centre. It was these strict colonisers who had taken the initiative to build a temple at the place where they were settled in large concentrations. Also, many of them comprise of the people migrated from Tamil Nadu. Therefore, both the physical appearance and the rituals followed in the temple were predominantly of Tamil Culture. Moreover, the events that later followed gives an inkling of the hidden motive by the British, as the construction of the religious centre was purely intentional.

It constitutes of the same design as that of a temple in Chennai

As mentioned earlier, the famous Hindu temple at Port Blair was built, owned and maintained by the believers mostly of Tamil origin, it is obvious that the major designs of the structure are influenced by Tamil- Dravidian architecture. Moreover, after the construction of Shri Vetrimalai Murugan temple, it somehow resembled the popular Kandha Kottam temple of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The real ethnic aesthetic beauty of both its interiors and exteriors attracts the attention of the visitors as they could witness the very intricate detailing of its beautiful carvings.

A rally is initiated from the temple premises on every Christmas Eve

When the mainland or any other parts of the world would be busy fighting with each other on the terms of different religious groups or community, here at the distant islands of Andaman and Nicobar, one could the true religious harmony. It would be surprising to note that on the Christmas Eve every year, the temples authorities take special initiatives in conducting a candlelight rally that will be participated by the devotees of all religious groups. Also, during other festivals of the temple such as Kanda Shasthi, Panguni Uthram and Thai, travellers who are on tour to the islands will gather other than the local dwellers.

Before Lord Murugan, it was Lord Vinayaka

As it was the British who had first thought of setting up an influential religious centre, there was little confusion over which Hind deity will be worshipped at the Shri Vetrimalai Murugan temple. The very option they chose was of building a Vinayaka temple. Nevertheless, the island had more Tamil administrators working in the colonial government and they requested to alter the major idol to be worshipped in the temple to Murugan, as this particular Hindu god had more devotees in Tamil Nadu. Later both the idols were worshipped in the temple just like the Mahaganapathy Temple in Kochi.

Just like this significant pilgrimage centre in the capital of Port Blair, you could drop into various other temples, churches, mosque, Gurudwara and Sai baba temples while you are vacationing in the distant islands of Andaman and Nicobar. A typical traveller would be astonished to find such religious harmony in the islands where many people believing in different faiths live together. So when you are planning to spend your very next vacation here in this exotic islands, do not ever skip to contact Andaman Tour Travel, who is a reputed travel firm based in Port Blair. They had created various tour packages covering all the prominent tourists such as Cellular Jail Museum, Havelock Island, Baratang Limestone caves, Neil Island, Viper Island, Mud Volcanoes and many more. Furthermore, they are arranging these travel deals from all the major cities of the country such as Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi and Coimbatore. You could avail their services by getting with them online or ringing them up at most affordable rates.