Sri Kalamega Perumal Temple

Temple tradition holds that Vishnu appeared here in his Mohini form, the female incarnation he assumed during the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan) to distract the asuras and ensure the celestial nectar, amrita, reached the devas rather than their rivals. Thirumohur is one of a small number of Divya Desams associated with this specific episode of the Puranas, giving it a distinct devotional identity within the wider Pandya Nadu cluster of temples around Madurai.

The temple's two names, Mohanapuram and Mohanakshetram, both derive from "mohana" (enchanting, captivating), a direct reference to the Mohini episode rather than a generic honorific, which is unusually specific among Divya Desam place-names.

The temple is traditionally held to be more than 2,000 years old, and its name is recorded in classical Tamil literature (including the Sangam-era anthology Akananuru, the Pathitrupathu, Maduraikanchi, and Silappatikaram, one of the five great epics of Tamil literature) giving Thirumohur an unusually deep literary footprint for a temple of its size. A temple inscription identifies one Sri Kaala Maegam alias Kaangaeyan as a builder or major benefactor during the reign of the Pandya king Sadaiya Varman Sundara Pandiyan, dated to around 1259 CE, with further additions credited to the Madurai Nayaks in the centuries that followed.

A second Mohini legend is also associated with the site alongside the Samudra Manthanam story: temple tradition holds that Shiva, having granted the asura Bhasmasura a boon that anything he touched on someone's head would reduce them to ash, found the boon turned against himself when Bhasmasura tried to test it on Shiva. Vishnu, appearing again as Mohini, is said to have lured Bhasmasura into a dance and tricked him into placing his own hand on his head, destroying him and rescuing Shiva, a second, distinct reason this temple carries the Mohini name alongside the ocean-churning episode.

The temple stands on about 2.5 acres, enclosed by granite compound walls and laid out across four prakarams (concentric precincts) in the Dravidian style, with a five-tiered rajagopuram at its entrance regarded as one of its most striking features. The sanctum itself is capped by a Kethaki Vimanam, and the main deity is traditionally described as being positioned within six concentric circles bearing 154 inscribed letters alongside representations of some 48 deities, an unusually dense piece of iconographic and epigraphic detail for a temple of this scale, and one that reflects the intricate carving typical of the Pandya and Nayak-period workshops that shaped it.

The temple observes six daily rituals and three annual festivals, of which the ten-day Vaikasi Brahmotsavam, held in the Tamil month of Vaikasi (May–June), is by far the most prominent, drawing devotees from across the Madurai region for its full cycle of processional and ritual observances.

Daily worship at Thirumohur follows the customary six-ritual schedule (aradhanai) observed across Pandya Nadu Divya Desams, with the routine expanding considerably during the Vaikasi Brahmotsavam to accommodate the additional processional rites.