My Uncle, Shri Chandramohan, has been a disciple of Sri Paranjothi Swamigal, Sri Satchidananda Ashram, Koduvilarpatti, Theni since 1986.

During one such visit to the Ashram for the Arudhra Dharshan in 2014, after the Pooja, we visited Sri Paranjothi Eswarar Temple at Thanjakoor the next day.

Thanjakoor is a small hamlet which is about 5 Km off the Madurai – Rameshwaram Highway from Thirupachethi.

It would have been around 5PM when we visited the temple.

After having dharshan and aarthi, the sivachaariyaar spoke to Chandramohan Swami about the temple being dilapidated and without any maintenance. He also made a request to construct a Five – Tier Rajagopuram.

He also said this is the wish of Sri Paranjothi Eswarar and a command.

While getting back from the temple the Trustee of the Temple Shri Paranjothi Ayya, explained the Sthala Varalaaru of the temple.

We were a group of people who had gone for the visit. They had requested my uncle to check the other details about the temple. Also how we could help come up with a plan to construct the Rajagopuram.

After collecting information about the temple and being in touch with the trustee of the temple we had enough knowledge on the requirements.

Based on this we had held discussions among the closely connected disciples on our radar on how we could raise donations for the Rajagopuram.

In a short while sometime in January 2015, we visited the temple again.

When we visited Sri Paranjothi Eswarar Temple, Thanjakoor, the sivachariyar didn’t get to recognize my uncle with whom he had spent close to 30-45 minutes hardly a month back about the construction of the Rajagopuram.

After the dharshan, we spoke to the Sivachaariyaar about our visit a month back and he was not able to recollect. His wife who was along with him in the temple she reminded him and she was able to recollect, he said he wasn’t in conscious and wasn’t able to recollect that he had said all this.

At that time we took it as Sri Paranjothi Eswarar’s Utharavu for us and not the Sivachariyar’s but he made it thru him.

From that day Chandramohan Swami took it up on him as top most priority and started working on the same day-in and day-out.

We spoke to the Trustee started co-ordinating with him for taking it to the next step. The Trustee informed us that there was a Sthabathy by name Shri. P. Nagarajan who has done a lot of work and government temples under HR&CE

The trustee and the Sthabathi came to Coimbatore to our place for having a discussion about the road map, and the estimate.

They had given us an estimate of INR 30 Lakhs for construction of the Rajagopuram.

The discussion happened sometime in May 2015, and shared the drawings, detailed estimates.

The work started with Vaasthu Pooja on the 4th of June 2015 at 10.00 AM.

During his stay at Thanjakoor as the work for the Rajagopuram was being carried out, Chandramohan Swami felt the need to renovate the Mandapam and also the temple completely.

He discussed with the Sthabathy and asked him to come with a plan and and estimate to make this temple a Paripoorana Shivalayam.

After a fortnights the Sthabathy came up with the plan which had a Vinayagar Sannidhi, Subramanyar Sannidhi, Vishnu Sannidhi, Mahalakshmi Sannidhi, Sorna Agarshana Byravar Sannidhi, Navagraha Sannidhi, Suriya Chandra Sannidhi.

It was also decided that Utchavar Natarajar, Gnyanambigai, Dhakshinamurthy Sannadhi’s will be renovated. Sri Paranjothi Eswarar sannadhi will be done on Kal Gopuram (Granite).

The Estimate that came in was INR 1.30 Cr (Rupees One Crore and Thirty Lakhs)

We have completed close to 80% of the work through donations received from all known sources, family, friends and nearby villages.

In Addition to the estimate, we also intend to get a Madapalli and a strong room which would cost us another 15 Lakhs.

About the Temple:

Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma along with other gods prayed to Lord Shiva for Paranjothi Dharshan.

During that time the present location of the temple was an area covered by Vilwa Trees and also referred to as Vilwa Vanam in literature.

These gods worshipped Lord Shiva staying in the Vilwa Forest and got the Paranjothi Dharshan of Lord Shiva.