Roughly 7 km from my rental apartment in Coimbatore’s fun neighbourhood of RS Puram, lies the lovely temple of Perur. I would have passed it by as any other south Indian temple except that people around me keep mentioning this powerful temple.

Way back in 2006, when India or the world barely knew about Sadhguru or his Isha Foundation, I was on my way to the Isha ashram in a local state bus. The bus takes about 1 hr from Gandhipuram bus stand, the main bus stand of the city to the Isha ashram. As the urban city neighbourhood passes by, at about 20 minutes we come to the Perur temple. As the bus halted here, one local man got into the bus. He was going to Isha also. At that time, since the footfall to Isha was so less, it was conspicuous that we both were heading there. “This Perur temple is very ancient and powerful. I love it. So I always include it in my trip to Isha. First I visit this Perur temple and then Dhyanalinga. It is a blissful visit!” said this person.

And after that, I always noticed the Perur temple whenever I passed by.

Just last week, I had cycled to Maruthumalai temple, another iconic temple of Coimbatore. And while chit chatting with a Punjabi friend who recently settled close to Maruthumalai, he tells me, “Perur was the ancient center of Coimbatore city. And that way, Maruthumalai is not like an outskirt of the city, it is part of the radial circle around Perur. Except that it is much greener and comparatively free of developments. And the Perur temple is built on land which itself is very powerful spiritual spot, and same way the Maruthamalai hill itself is very powerful“. Thus, Perur temple is eulogized in one more conversation. I don’t know how factually true what this friend said is, especially about Perur being center of the city. But the point is that again, the Perur temple is being attributed a certain power and grandeur.

It was only in 2018 that I first visited this temple. By that time I was already a full-fledged solo traveller and an avid temple visitor. And I loved this temple. It’s actually not that big. Considering that I have been to much bigger south Indian temples like Arunachaleshwarar of Tiruvannamalai and Varadaraja Perumal of Kanchipuram. And yet, it felt bigger than it was. It was a strange feeling because I felt like I was in a much bigger temple, but if I just think about it logically then it is just not that big. Now that I have visited it twice and researched a bit about it, I think it might be the Nataraja presence in this temple. Certain stories consider this temple, the ending of Nataraja’s tandava dance. And Chidambaram – Nataraja temple is the Space element temple. I have yet to visit that temple, but maybe there will be a similar feel of this space or spaciousness there.

This temple has a few different shrines and mandapams. Since everything is in south Indian iconography and Tamil language, I often can’t even understand which deities shrine it is. But I will share the little I know about the shrines and deities in another blog post. For now, let’s move to another story…

I have a whatsapp group where I share my Perur temple photos with near and dear ones.

One old couple from Mumbai, originally of Malayali Nair background, saw my Perur temple image and mentioned, “the Perur temple is really old and amazing. I remember going there after my father died. We spread his ashes in the Perur river.” Whoa, I thought, what is the connection here? I usually thought that lineages have their own special temple near their native town or something. So, why Perur temple is significant for these friends?

The lady explained, “Perur was considered a Kashi of Tamil Nadu in olden years. My mother, even though a Malayali, had settled in Chennai. And such places are venerated across states and languages, isn’t it. The Perur river is also considered very pure.”

Wow, Kashi of Tamil Nadu – that’s a powerful moniker. Especially, considering that now, Perur is an outskirt of Coimbatore. And this temple, located right by the side of the main road, kind of, blurs into the hustle and bustle of the area. However, what does catch our eye would be the kund of water in front of the temple, the large chariots standing outside the temple and a small glimpse of old-style hut buildings behind the temple. Is there a village behind the temple? But it seems almost surreal because on the other side of the main road is any other cramped, unplanned, modern growing suburb of Coimbatore.

I did take a quick look at the old-ish huts behind the temple. And it is intriguing. There is more to explore there for me.

Sadhguru SriBrahma Knew About Perur Temple

One more strong connection with the Perur temple is our very own Sadhguru SriBrahma. When Sadhguru SriBrahma spent time in Coimbatore – one place he frequented was the Sevashram in RS Puram which is now a orphanage. And he frequented the Velliangiri hills to meet his Guru. Perur could have been one of the stops on his way.

The documentary mentions that he was in touch with the head pujari of Perur in those days. And Sadhguru SriBrahma was active in reformist activities, taking lower caste folk into the temples to break the caste rules and all that. So, sure he would be aware of Perur temple and may have spent time there or at least influenced the temple administration through his connect with the pujaris. You can watch my conversation with Prem anna (who made a Sadhguru ShriBrahma documentary) about this,

Thus, the Perur temple has appeared in many conversations with my fellow spiritual devotees across the years. And earlier this week, I visited this temple again. I sat in the garbha griha and meditated. I explored few more shrines. And I feel more intrigued about this place. Let’s see when I can explore some more 🙂

To know more about the traditional stories associated with the temple, you can refer to this blog where someone has written about the local legends and beliefs.