Nagercoil Nagaraja temple is an ancient snake temple located at Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. The story of Nagercoil Nagaraja temple is associated with Pambummekkattu Mana – a famous center of snake worship in Kerala. The historical dates and other history of the temple have been lost.
The elder family member of Pambummekkattu Mana had the divine vision of Snake Vasuki. After the divine vision, he consecrated a murti of Nagaraja in Pambummekkattu Mana and became the chief priest. People suffering from various skin disorders found relief after offering prayers before Nagaraja. There is a widespread belief that skin disorders are the result of Sarpa dosham or curse by snakes.
The eldest member of the family once was invited by a Pandya king to cure his skin related problem. The king was suffering from leprosy and it was cured by the chief priest.
On his way back to Kerala from Pandya kingdom, in the place where the present Nagaraja temple stands, he saw a peasant woman crying. One enquiry it was found that that the woman had accidently hit a Nagaraja murti with her sickle and blood was oozing out from the murti.
The chief priest immediately realized the presence of powerful Nagaraja murti and with the help of local people cleared the bushes and retrieved a five-headed Nagaraja murti. He consecrated the murti on the same spot and the temple is now famous as Nagercoil Nagaraja temple.
The temple also has murtis of Shiva and Vishnu in the sanctum sanctorum.