Samayapuram Mariamman Temple

Samayapuram Mariamman Temple, near Tiruchirappalli, is one of the best known Amman temples in India and the second-highest earner among Tamil Nadu's temples. Worshippers come from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore as well as India. Coconut groves surround the complex, and its rajagopuram is covered in gold plates. The goddess, whose image is likened to Chamundeshwari of Mysore, is known as Samayapurathu Amman, the goddess who helps at the right moment; when the temple was founded is not known.

Offerings reflect what devotees pray for: gold mangalsutras for troubled marriages, silver body parts for cures, and red cloth or small cradles tied to the neem tree by couples hoping for children. Women light lamps in halved limes during ragu kalam on Tuesdays and Fridays, and mavilaku is offered for prosperity. Legends identify Mariamman with Renukadevi, wife of the sage Jamadagni, who was revived after being beheaded on his order, or saved from a funeral pyre by Shiva's rain; neem, turmeric and sandal, used to heal her burns, became her emblems, and she is invoked against smallpox, measles and chickenpox.