Villupuram based sivasthalangal

This Tuesday happened to be May one and it was a national holiday.After reading a lot about Thiruamathur and Thiruvennainallur I decided to visit these temples as part of my drive to cover 275 siva temples.
I did a little bit of home work and found that 6 temples can be covered in half a day. I decided to see 6 temples but ended up seeing 5.
Temples I planned to cover were,Thiruvandarkoil,Thirumundeswaram,Thiruvennainallur,Thiru edaiyar,Thiruamathur,Thiru panayapuram.
While travellling I crossed Thiruvandar koil and reserved the temple for my next visit.
These temples are near Villupuram and can be easily accessed from Pondicherry as well as from Villupuram.

Thirumundeeswaram:

I started at 6.45 am from pondicherry and travelled to villupuram and from there one has to catch the thiruchi high way and come to a place called Arasur.Take a right turn at arasur and after 2 kms one will see boards depicting Thirumundeeswaram ooratchi and the place is called Grammam.
On the left side one can see the temple.
The temple carries the name Sivaloganathar temple. I reached the place by 8 am.A quiet but big temple.Nicely maintained no iyer or devotees were there when i entered the temple.Two people working in the temple told me iyer will come after some time.The sanctum sanotorium was open and I was able to sit in front of god and pray for full 5 minutes.
Mundi and Thindi are people who guard the almighty.Both of them worshipped sivan from here and hence this place goes with the name Mundeeswaram.
Another story behind this place is a king by name chokkalingam visited this place and found a strange and beautiful lotus in the tank.When he wanted to pluck it the lotus started moving in the pond.The king got irritated and shot the flower with an arrow.Blood started oozing from the lotus and the tank became red in colour.The king lost his consiousness and when he regained the consiousness he found a beautiful lingam in the lotus.He immediately ordered to build a temple and installed the lingam in the temple.
The vinyagar here is famous and he goes with the name Varasithi vinayagar.
After seeing thirumundeeswaram my next stop was thiruvennai nallur. Hardly ten minutes duration from this place.
Kannan gurukkal:04146206700,9894625154

Thiruvennainallur:

Thiruvennainallur is a temple with great history and symbol for shaivites.The god here is called as Krupapureeswarar.The legend behind this name is Rishis wanted the death of shiva and did great yagam for achieving the same.Shiva just swallowed all of them.When rishis understood their mistake and seeked pardon the god gave them krubai meaning pardon.Hence the name Krupapureeswarar.
Apart from this tale the other interesting tale is Sundarar's tiff with Sivan.
Sundarar was born at thirunavalur and was brought up by the local king.
When sundarar was about to get married siva came to the mandapam attiring himself as a old man.
He showed details and facts mentioning sundarar to be his slave.As a slave sundrarar had to work for the old man and repay the debts left by his ancestors.A peeved sundarar followed the old man.The old man came to Thiruvennainallur and entered the sanctum sanotorium and disappeared.He left his chappal outside the temple and the chappal is still supposed to be there.Sundarar then became a devout saivite and started singing verses praising the god  with the word pithan(Lunatic).Sundarar while arguing with the god called him pithan and hence god ordered him to sing starting with the word Pithan.
There is another pola pillaiyar here.
This place is also the birth place of Sadayappa mudaliar friend of Kamban.
There is also a mandapam here where the famous arguement between sundarar and siva took place.
Quite a big temple and has few insrciptions dating back 12-13 th century AD.

The mandapam where the arguement took plae between Siva and Sundarar.

Thiruedayar:

After spending an hour's time at thiruvennainallur my next stop was at Thiru edayar a small village which also has a big church.
At this place one can hear the sound of parrot most of the time.Suga brahmam son of Vyasar is supposed to live her.His idol is present with a  parrot's face.I triet to read  a  little bit of suga brahmam and details given about him is spellbounding.I have taken an excerpt from an article and pasting it here.

He was such a perfect Yogi and Advaitin, that he appeared to some like a dullard.

One day Suka took off to renounce the world even though his Yajnopavitam ceremony had not been performed. Vyasa called after him. But since Suka was one with the universe., it was nature herself who answered Vyasa on behalf of Suka.When Suka passed past some bathing damsels, he took no notice of them nor they of him, though he was young and unmarried. When Vyasa followed behind Suka trying to catch up with him, the ladies hurriedly covered themselves up, though he was old and a rishi. Vyasa asked them why they took notice of an old man, when they took no notice of his young son. Then they explained that Suka was a Samadrik, a person who saw no difference between man and woman, but that Vyasa had not yet reached that stage.There are lot of articles about sugabrahmam and nice details about him is present in ancientindians@wordpress.com.

Siva has appeared before sugabrahmam at this place.

Sivan here is called as Idaiyatunathar and this place is meant for people who are born on Swathi natchathiram.

The aiyar here is a very nice person and he stays within the temple and he is an excellent host.
His contact number:9442423919.
04146216045.

Sugabrahmam

Thiruamathur:

This temple is in the Villupuram bye pass road in the Thiruchi - Chennai High way.
You will see a direction to this temple on the left when you proceed from thiruchi and a two km drive will bring you to this lovely and huge temple.
There are lots of legends about this temple.Some of them are really interesting.
Cows have supposed to have got their  horns after worshipping Lord nandhikeswarar for protecting themselves.
Ramar before embarking on his trip to Srilanka had worshipped shiva with great love (Abhimanam) and hence shiva here is called as Abhirameshwarar.
Another legend is regarding Burungi munivar who has a belief of worshipping lord Shiva only.Parvathi to circumvent this sat on the left of shiva, but the munivar transformed himself into a bee and circumambulated Shiva.Parvathi got wild and made him lose all his power.The munivar fell on the ground and even during that time also worshipped shiva for a stick to stand.Shiva gave him a stick to stand and parvathi got enraged with both of them and made the munivar as Vanni maram and she left him and stood outside the temple.
Parvathi has a separate shrine here.
Another legend is that there is a rock to which one cannot tell lie.Another interesting story is a brother after cheating his younger one of his share of property converted the share into gold and kept it in the walking stick.Before promising infront of the rock he gave the stick to his brother promised and then took the stick back which was technical cheating.When he returned back he was bit by a snake.
The rock is still there.

Badala Nandhi

Panayapuram:

After seeing this magnificient temple my next stop was Panayapuram a small village which is around ten kms from thiruamathur.One has to go to Mundiampakkam and the take a route towards Pondicherry via thirukanur.One has to take this diversion and after driving for few minutes the tenple is present on the left side.A nice temple and the legend says Sibi chakravarthy got his vision back after worshipping here.
The thalaviructacham of this temple is Pannaimaram and there are five temples which has Pannai maram as sthala virutcham.They areThirupannaiur,Thirupanangadu,Thiruvothur,Thirupanandal and Panayapuram.
Contact number - Ganesa gurukkal-94448 97861
Thiruvennainallur and thiruamathur are open at regular timings and hence I have not posted their contact numbers.

 Lingam surrounded by panai maram.

Katumannar Koil Siva Sthalangal

I have just started blogging and I'm doing this to assist people who would like to visit various historical temples present in Tamilnadu and other states.
I'm planning to travel to 108 Divya Desams and 275 Shiva sthalangal. For a true devotee, Lord Shiva and Vishnu are the same. Belief in God is important and His various manifestations are Shiva,Vishnu,Brahma,Ganesha,Jesus etc…
Divya desams and Devara sthalangal are the places of importance because Azhwars and Nayanmanrs have come to these places and sung songs praising the Almighty.
In my first virgin blog I will cover 4 important Shiva sthalams near Kattumannar koil.
Kindly tolerate my mistakes.


THIRUNAARAIYUR:


There are 4 Shiva sthlangals around Kattumannar koil. Im a Pondicherian and hence to cover these 4 places I started my travel at 5.30 Am itself. Today on Tamil new year day riding my ever reliable spark I reached Chidambaram by 7AM itself. One has to enter the town of Chidambaram, take a right turn at the bus stand and then reach a three way road. The left cut will take you to Seerkazhi ; the right cut to Cuddalore and a straight road to Kattumanarkoil. It is a state highway and the road is reasonable .The important thing to remember is don’t take the bye pass when you come from pondicherry, you have to go inside the town. After 15 kms you will cross a small hamlet by name Kumaratchi and after you travel another 2-3 Kms you will find a left cut where there is also a board indicating the direction to Thiunaaraiyur as well as Polla pillaiyar koil. Both are one and the same.
Two Kms of bumpy road will take you to this small village called Thiunaaraiyur and a right turn will take you to the temple. Temple is reasonably maintained and is of big size.
This place is very sacred because this is the place where Nambiandar nambi was born and brought up.　The legend of this temple is interesting and sentimental.
When Nambi’s father had to go out for some work he entrusted his child to do pooja for Lord Vinayaga. The child offered food to God and was waiting for God to eat. When God did not eat the child felt that his love is not pristine and banged his head over the feet of the idol. The God came and then ate the food and also taught the child the lessons he had missed in the school. The king Rajaraja Cholan heard about this and visited the temple. During that time also Lord Ganesha came and ate food at the child's request. The king then asked the blessed child to get information from Lord Ganesha where the devara hymns are present. Lord Ganesha directed the child to go to Thillai and get the palm leaves from behind the statue where it laid buried. Only ten percent of palm leaves were readable and this was compiled by Nambi the blessed child.
Lord Ganesha found in this temple is called polla pillaiyar and in fact polla means self manifesting and not mischievous.　Lord Shiva here goes by the name of Soundareswarar. There is another Thiruanaraiyur in karaikal to kumbakonam road, also called as nachiar koil. This is a Divya desam.


KAANATAMPULIYUR:


My next stop was Kaanatampuliyur which is 5-6 kms from Kattumanarkoil. One has to take a left and reach a place called Muttam village and from there after a two km stretch one can reach Kaanatam puliur. This temple is being renovated. The God here is called Pathanchali nathar.　Nobody knows exactly about the details of Pathanjali, all that can be said is he was a sidhar who did a lot on yogic tantras and had a body out of which half was human and another half was seprent. Lord Shiva had given grace to Pathanjali sithar here and he also showed himself to Sambandhar when he was stuck at Kolllidam and was not able to come to the shrine because of thorns and lingams in the ground. Kannatammullur has gradually changed to kannatampuliur. In case Shivachariar is not available an administrator by name Jayachandran is available nearby the temple to open and show the temple.
His contact number is 9790333377.


OMAMPULIYUR:


You have to drive back to the main road and then turn left to reach Omampuliur another great temple. After you travel a straight road for 3 kms , a small right cut will take you to the temple entrance. The temple has been renovated and appears well maintained. The main deity here is called Pranavaviyagarabureeswarar.
The importance of this temple is:
One can take pariharam for Lord Guru and people born with Revathi　Natchatram.
It is one of the five puliyur temples.　There are totally 5 namely Chidambaram,　Perumpuliyur,　Omamapuliyur,　Thirupathipuliur　and Thiruerukampuliur.
Puliyur means Vyagapradar has worshipped in these 5 places.　He is a saint with feet and hands made of tiger's claws.　The mythology of this temple is Shiva Dakshinamurthy is said to have revealed the Pranva Upadesam to Parvati, and hence the name Pranavavyagrapuram. The name Omaampuliyur is said to have been derived from this legend -Om Aam Puliyur.
In Omampuliyur temple, we find shrines for the three Goddesses, Goddess Parvathi, Lakshmi and Saraswathi a rarity. Also here archana is offered to dakshinamurthy.　The sight of dhashinamurthy will leave one, spell bound.


MELKADAMBUR:


After you travel for another 5 kms from Omamapuliyur one will reach Kadambur. There are 2 Kadambur's mel and kizh.The Shiva temple is at Mel kadambur. The diety here is called Amirthakadeswahrar.
This temple is unique in many ways. Shivachariar here is young and a nice man. He was at his home when I reached the place at 11 AM. I went to his home and he immediately came with me to open the temple. He was very ethical and refused to open the main deity’s entrance though I was able to see the God from few feet distance.　He also became the guide and explained about the temple under the hot sun.
This temple is a Karrakovil meaning that the moolvar is present in a chariot like structure.　Another saying is Karam means kadambu and kadambu is the tree and stala virutcham of the temple.
The chariot was built in 1113 AD by Kulothungo Cholan.Every aeon (ugam) some people with greatness come and worship this temple.　At kaliyugam Pathanjali munivar has come and worshipped here.　The chariot like feature is a visual treat and in the chariot 63 nayanmar’s history has been sculpted. Dakshinamurthy is seen in three forms.　With veena,　with book and yoga stance.　Perumal is at the back side and one can see Lord Surya worshiping Lord Shiva also. Apart from this Ramayana story is also sculpted here.


BREAKING LINGAMS AND AMIRTHAKADESWARAR:


The mythology of this temple takes two interesting stories. Indran's mother was doing penance to Lord Shiva at her old age.  Lord Indran came down to earth to take his mother in the chariot with the Shivalingam which she worshipped. As he did not worship Lord Ganesha before starting, Lord Ganesha did not allow the chariot to fly to Indran's place. Lord Indra pleaded sorry and Lord Ganesha asked him to make one crore lingams. As he was doing these lingams it was breaking. A voice told him to go to Kadambur and make these lingams. He does the same and now the lingams did not break.
Another story is Devas take amirtham as their food. When they were about to take the amirtham one day without worshippping Lord Ganesha , he became angry and took the amirtham and started walking .A drop of amirtham fell down on the earth and this drop manifested as Suyambu lingam and hence the name Amirthakadeshwarar. During the 3rd, 4th, 5th day of the Tamil month of Panguni, twelfth month of Tamil Calendar, early during sunrise at 6.15 am, the Sun's rays will fall on Lord Amirthakateshwara Lingam for about fifteen minutes. This is another uniqueness of this temple.
Another special feature of this temple is the Pala dynasty idol Dasha Buja Rishaba Thandavamurthy idol here which was taken by the Rajendra chola after his victory over the Burma king. In this idol one can see Lord Shiva dancing over the bull with ten hands and weapons. Devas worship him as He is dancing. One can see this idol only on important days, otherwise its locked up somewhere.
Kalki's book Ponniyun selvan and Vikraman's book Nandipuranayagi talks about this place and temple.
After seeing these 4 temples I developed great interest and respect towards cholas who had ruled us from 850 to 1350 AD .They had built these temples or renovated them. Temples make people God fearing and also inculcates honesty, integrity and sincerity.


THIRUNAARYAIUR TEMPLE:

Omampuliur temple:

 Kannatam puliyur temple:

 Amirthakadeswarar
Temple:

Chariot -Kaarakoil: