Sripuram Golden Temple (Thanga Kovil)

Lakshmi Narayani Temple called as Thanga kovil or Golden Temple at Sripuram and the delicious prasadams offered.
The summer holidays have started and my daughter has been planning her holidays since a long time. The first in our list was Tirupati.Due to the holiday rush we couldn’t find tickets in train. So we decided to drive to Tirupati. As we have to drive nearly 8 hours, we started by 7 in the morning. The road was excellent we were much ahead of schedule. For the past 6 months I have been hearing about a Thanga Kovil near Vellore. Our route was through Vellore.So we decided to visit this temple.
We reached the temple place Thirumalaikkodi or Sripuram 8 km from Vellore around 12.We parked the car in the parking ground. There were nearly 100 cars parked there. I could see a little crowd in and around the parking place. The man in the parking place told that it will take nearly 3 hours for the darshan and that we have to walk nearly one Kilometer. We entered the temple complex a divine park in 100 acres of land. There was an entrance for free darshan and an entrance for Rs 100.The people there told that if we are in a hurry we can take 100 Rs ticket and have the darshan in nearly 1 hour. We decided for that and entered the queue. There was not much rush. After 100 yards we landed in a place from where we could see the full view of the temple. I have no words to explain the beauty of the temple. I have heard people telling ‘Parkka Kangal Kodi vendum’,But till that day no sight has made me feel anything like that The sight of the temple really made me feel those words. I have seen Golden temple in Amritsar and used to tell that it is the best place I have seen so far. Being a hindu, temple structures always created a divine feeling inside me and the beauty of the temple fully in gold sent shivers inside me. What a beauty, I am short of words to explain that beauty. One has to really see it to feel its beauty.

The temple is in a divine park of 100 acres area. The deity is Goddess Lakshmi.Area of the temple is 55,000 square feet. The temple is built using 1.5 tones of gold. The budget is around 300 crores.It took 6 years for construction. 400 goldsmiths and coppersmiths were engaged in construction.It is the vision of a 31 year old spiritual called Sri Shakthi Amma. To know the exact details of the temple visit the official web site of the temple
http://www.sripuram.org/
I am sure as days go by this place is going to be as crowded as Tirupati or the golden temple in Amritsar .The path way to the temple is star shaped .A beautiful garden is developed along the sides of the beautifully built marble floored path way with marble benches on both sides .We have to walk nearly 30 minutes. On either side of the path way there were boards describing all the values of life written in a language a common man can understand. I enjoyed walking, reading all the boards and looking at the temple in between. A wonderful experience. We climbed the steps to the temple and it was another surprise. The temple was inside water, a round shaped pond. It was a wonderful sight. The path way takes one round around the temple before we have the darshan of ‘The deity Lakshmi Narayani or Mahalakshmi.The beauty of the deity also cannot be expressed in words by a common person like me.
We came back around 1.15 after the darshan .On the way we saw people going inside a place, we also followed them. In that place, in a small Thonnai a cup of rice was given to all. It was very hot. I couldn’t resist the smell and managed to take a little rice by hand and tasted it. It was delicious sambar rice. I could see only tomatoes and small jeera inside that. So I think that they have used tomatoes instead of tamarind for the sour taste .No vegetable was used. The flavor of small jeera also gave a wonderful taste to the rice. Our stomach was full with that cup of rice.
It is a place which nobody should miss seeing. It is 150 kilometers from Chennai
I heard that tamilnadu tourism has arranged an one day tour from Chennai to this Golden Temple covering two or three other temples in and around vellore.
For more details see www.tamilnadutourism.org