Temples passed by near Kumbakonam.

I had a great honor to visit some beautiful temples near Kumbakonam this time. There are some I could not go but passed by and heard stories of those sthalams. One temple that we passed by but could not go is called "Paadai Katti Amman" in a place called Valangi Man. You will cross this place when you go from Kumbakonam by road to Mannarkudi.
The followers of this Amman believes in a custom that is unique to this place. If someone is sick, they will pray to carry that person in Coffin (Paadai) and go around the temple, once they get cured. As much as it sounds different, even today on a specific day in a year, one can see lots of devotees following this tradition !
Also, we passed by a place called EnKaN, where there is a famous Murugan Temple. What we learnt is that there are three temples nearby - Sikkal, Ettukudi and EnKaN where the sculptor did three deities of Lord Murugan from the same stone. The story goes like, when he did the beautiful deity in Sikkal, he removed his thumb so that he cannot reproduce anywhere the same deity. Then in his dream, Lord came and asked for another temple and that is when he did Ettukudi and at that point he removed his eyes so that he will not reproduce. But when he was asked to do again, he did the temple in EnKaN and Lord gave him his eye sight. That is why the name EnKaN. More about these temples can be read in the following link.

http://www.indiantemples.com/Tamilnadu/m031.html