NAGAPATTINAM, TAMIL NADU, INDIA, May 20, 2011: The famed Navaneetheshwara Swamy Temple housing the celebrated Sikkal Singaravelavar shrine in Sikkal is getting more infrastructural facilities, thus providing stimulus to religious tourism in the district. The facilities will house 3,000 pilgrims.
Work to the tune of US$220,000 has been taken up at Sikkal as part of a project funded by the State Department of Tourism, with the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments as the executing agency.
The centuries-old temple, celebrated by the Thevaram saints, attracts an annual pilgrim population of 200,000, which includes a pilgrim influx during the week-long ‘kanda sashti’ festival in October and the float festival during ‘thaipoosam’ in January. “Over 50,000 pilgrims visit the temple in a single day for ‘Vel’ ceremony at the Singaravelavar temple.