Thiruveezhimizhalai...Mysteriously Divine......

Recently I had to visit Karaikal(Pondy State) for my friends Nikkah(islamic wedding)....I had planned my trip in such a way that I could visit Thiruvizhimizhalai...a very ancient Shivan temple in the Nagapatnam district if I am right...
I had no clue about the existence of such a temple till my friend singer Vijay(kris) had told me about it and about the specialities of it..He has a real flair for temple visits especially an affinity for Lord Shiva(the destroyer among the trinity of Hindu Gods)....
Anyway lemme not get into those details now....
I had taken the East Coast Road route via Pondy(tamil fanatics pls forgive...I am used to calling it pondicherry and can't get easily accustomed to Puducherry) Cuddalore,Chidambaram upto Mayiladuthurai...From Myladuthurai I had to ask for Thiruvarur route and had tocross Peralam town and go upto Poonthoattam village where there is a temple exclusively for Goddess Saraswati(goddess of education and arts).From there we had to take a narrow road upto Thiruvizhimizhalai ...the road is actually used by the local ppl to reach kumbakonam town....
Even the locals were not aware of the existence of this temple and we had to ask few spiritually or rather religously inclined people who directed us where to turn...There is a small unsurfaced mud road which leads to the temple....

The moment we saw the grandeur and the mammoth structure which was concealed till then, we were speechless....Oh my God!!! what a temple...The total area of the temple could easily be around 6 acres or something....We initially had trouble in finding out the entry point of the temple....
The huge walls encircling the temple is not less than 30 feet tall and at least 4 feet in width...one of the strongest structures I have ever witnessed for sure....The moment we stepped into the temple we could really feel something very different which is totally inexplicable by words...Sound of silence which I call it wrapped us instantly....We crossed the pathway and went into the main Prakaram and I realised the structure is in the form of concentric squares or rectangle(if only I could figure out the whole place within the short span of time)

My friend had told me already that the temple is not very popular even among the locals except for some rituals and functions conducted on auspicious days...There was no one in the temple and we had to go in and to our surprise could not even find any priest...We simply had to pray ourselves,prostrated before the Deity ( a huge Shiva lingam inside a very scantily lit main prakaaram)...We could find works of Thirugnanasambandhar,Arunagiri Nathar and few other saints ,carved on granite stones plastered on teh walls of the temple....
I later found the priest who was very reluctant (probably bcos of the monotony or whatever).He didnt even show Deepa Aradhanai to the deity...just gave us some sacred Ash(Vibhuti) and vanished ( to my surprise he locked the temple when we were praying)...
Then we started our Pradakshanams(going round the main deity) and there were many deities and different types of lingams murugan,ganapathi small temples,Chandikeshwarar,Kala Bhairava and so many others...
Adjacent to the Shivan temple is the temple of Devi(his consort) ..there was no one their as well....Nevertheless the atmosphere and the climate was just too perfect for a great darshan...
I was told that Thirugnana Sambandhar was given padi kasu(not sure what it is) i guess it is some gift money by the Lord himself....
The place has been mentioned in many ancient tamil works of various great saints....
AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA