Thirunedungalam

This is one of the 275 paadal Petra sivasthalam. Eighth sthalam on the southern banks of river Kaveri in the chola mandala. This is located near Thuvakudi, in Trichy district. Saint poet Thirugnanasambandar has composed a pathigam, 10 slokas and a phalasthuthi on The Lord here. That is called by the name, "idar kalaiyum nedungala thiruppathigam". Please see here for the text. 

Also, arunagirinathar has sung a tiruppugazh on the subrahmanya shrine here. Few verses on this temple are also found in arunagirinathar's Kandhar alankaram.

 

Lord shiva is called as nithya sundareswara or nedungalanathar and goddess Parvati is called by name, mangalambika or oppillanayaki. A mid sized water tank is at the entrance of the temple. 

Temple tank

Lord Ganesha and lord muruga are on the two sides of the entrance. Then comes the rajagopuram, which has several sculptures depicting purana stories, like ravana rendering sama gana with one of his head and hand as veena and some more. Then comes the dwajasthambam, Bali peetam. Nandi is in front of the peetam.

Main Entrance

Nandhi, bali peetam

To the right side is the sannidhi of ambal, mangalambika. There is a mandapam where the utsavar idols are kept during festival days after procession. 

Ambal Sannidhi

Mandapam where utsava idols are kept

Further as we move in,there is another gopuram with lot more sculptures. We see the nataraja sivakami sannidhi to our right. We cross another gate to see lord shiva. Here this nedungalanathar is a swayambu murthy. I.e. It appeared on its own, without the involvement of anyone. The linga is small in size and it is moved a little, to accommodate ambal to it's left. Ambal performed tapas here and attained lord shiva, in this kshetra.

Outside the sanctum sanctorum, Ganesha and muruga are seated on either side. We go around the prakaram and there are lot of small idols of saptha kannikai(brahmmi, vaarahi, maaheswari, koumari, chaamundi, indrani, vaishnavi), shiva lingas, Sri Devi, bhumi Devi sametha narayanan, subrahmanya with his consorts valli and devasena. On the back side of shiva sannidhi,there is ardhanaareeswara. 

Two gopurams above the garbha griham - similar to Kashi

Saptha Kannikas

Varadaraja perumal with Bhoomi devi and Sri devi

Subrahmanya

Ardhanaareeswarar

Theertham in this temple is agastya theertham and there is ample water in the well, so close to our hands!

 

Navagraha in this temple is a unique one. All eight grahas face lord surya who is west faced here. Normally surya is east facing. So there is a difference in the arrangement of the nine planets. 

Normal arrangement of 9 grahas

Angaragan - sukran - Chandran

Guru           - suryan - Budhan 

Ragu          - sani      -  kethu

Each graha face different directions.

Sivagama prathishta

Budhan     - Chandran - ragu

Angaragan - suryan     - Sukran

Sani           - guru        - kethu

All face surya and surya faces west.

Then there sandikeswara, bhairava, somaskanda sannidhis. There is also a vahana mandapam, having horse, bull, peacock, nandhi. This kshetra is equivalent to kashi or Varanasi kshetra. There will be two gopurams above the garbage graham as it is in kashi.

Vahana Mandapam

Let us pray to the lord, to slay all our sorrows. Idar agattruvaai Nedungalanatha! Aum Nama Sivaaya.