An upcoming Spiritual Park in the temple town of Thirunallar is set to give a much-needed impetus to the tourism sector in Karaikal.
The park, spread over 6,62,822 square metres, will house an amphitheatre, meditation dome, replicas of the nine Navagraha temples with inscriptions of their importance, a garden ‘darbha’ (grass used to perform puja), trees for 27 ‘nakshatras’ and 12 ‘rashis’ and a fountain.
The project, undertaken by the Tourism Department under the Centre’s Swadeshi Darshan at a cost of around ₹5 crore, will be completed in a few months, a senior official told The Hindu.
The amphitheatre, on an area of 550 square metres, will screen devotional programmes during evening hours.
“The park will become a major attraction for hundreds of pilgrims visiting the landmark Thirunallar Saneeswaran temple. It is designed in such a way as to give a spiritual atmosphere for pilgrims,” said an officer associated with the project in the Karaikal administration.
As part of the Swadeshi Darshan project, the administration has developed the pond in Sri Jadapureswarar Temple at T.R Pattinam and also a queue complex and waiting hall at Sri Badra Kali Amman temple. The queue complex and waiting hall would be of immense assistance to hundreds of pilgrims visiting the temple every Tuesday. Around 2,000 devotees, mostly women, spend the night at the temple every Tuesday as a ritual, said the official
Apart from the Centrally-sponsored programmes, the territorial administration has taken up various works such as renovation of 14 ponds, the bus terminal and improvement of roads as part of the Thirunallar Temple town development programme, officials said.
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