Tirunallar
| Tirunallar திருநள்ளாறு |
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| State : |
 India
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| Union Territory : | Pondicherry | ||
| District : | Karaikal | ||
| Location : | 10 ° 56 ' N , 79 ° 48' E | ||
| Residents : | 6,866 (2011) | ||
Tirunallar ( Tamil : திருநள்ளாறு Tirunaḷḷāṟu [ ˈt̪iɾɯn̪aɭːaːrɯ ]; also Thirunallar , French Tirnoular ) is a village in the Karaikal district of the Union territory of Puducherry (Pondicherry). The population is around 6,900 (2011 census).
Tirunallar is about five kilometers west of the port city of Karaikal in the Kaveri Delta in the hinterland of the Coromandel coast . The place belongs to the district Karaikal, one of four spatially separated exclaves that form the union territory of Puducherry. Before 1954, Tirunallar was part of French India .
There is an important Hindu sanctuary in Tirunallar, the Saniswaran- or Darbaranyeswar temple. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva in his form as Darbaranyeswar, but it is best known for a shrine for Shani , the personified planet Saturn . This makes Tirunallar one of the Navagraha temples , a group of nine temples in the Kaveri Delta, which are dedicated to the nine heavenly bodies ( Navagrahas ) of Hindu astrology. In Hindu astrology, Saturn is considered potentially ominous. A visit to the temple of Tirunallar should protect against the negative influence, which makes it an important pilgrimage destination. When special astrological constellations occur, hundreds of thousands of believers gather in Tirunallar.
According to the myth, King Nala is said to have been under the unfavorable influence of Saturn and was only redeemed from it when he worshiped Shiva in Tirunallar. Hence the place name Tirunallar is derived from the name Nala and the word aru for "to heal" (with the respectful prefix Tiru ).
