Anbil Vishnu temple

Anbil is the fourth temple out of 108 divyadesams. Sri Tirumazhisai azhwar has sung in praise of this kshetram.

Perumal is known as Sundararaja perumal and thaayaar is Sundaravalli thaayaar. Lord Brahmma and Sage Suthaba worshipped the perumal here. Sage suthaba was cursed by Sage Durvasa to become a frog. So in the form of frog, sage Suthaba worshipped the perumal here and got his curse relieved. This temple is very near to Kollidam river and the river itself is the pushkarani, called as Mandooka Pushkarani. Mandookam means frog.

The lord  appeared infront of Brahmma as a handsome boy and conquered Brahmma's pride that he was responsibile for creating beautiful creatures. So, perumal is known as sundara rajan or vadivazhagiya nambi.

Sundararaja perumal is seen reclining on Aadhi seshan (serpent bed), facing east. Here, Sree devi and Bhoomi devi are seen touching his feet. So one cannot see the lord's feet here. The two consort's darshan is equivalent to Perumal's paada darisanam. Brahmma is seen on a lotus from Perumal's navel region.

Sundara valli thaayar sannidhi is to the right side of Perumal's sannidhi. As we move around the prakaram, we can see the paramapadha vaasal, viswaksena sannidhi too. Very calm and beautiful temple. Moolavar's beauty is beyond explanation. Glittering and mesmerising indeed.

Few photos:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dKHchy26ehw4LGQG_ixf2FeGfh9Q8jdU

Anbil Mariyamman Temple

Next temple to be seen is Mariyamman Temple in Anbil. This temple is located on the main road itself, contrary to Shiva temple, which is some half km interior to the main road.

Right now kumbabhishekam works are going on. Previously there was no compound wall. Now, they have constructed a long compound wall. One can see sannidhis for Ayyanaar, Madhurai veeran and other grama devathaas outside the main temple.

Main temple has a big mandapam, hosting the dwajasthambam, bali peetam. Several devotees come and stay in the temple to get cured of ailments. The ambal in this temple is considered to be the younger sister of Samayapuram Mariyamman.

Ambal is seen as a huge deity, sitting with one leg folded and the other leg let down on the head of an asura. She has eight hands. Trident, Sword, Rope, axe, kunguma container, bow in six hands and other two hands show varada - abhaya mudras.

A swayambu lingam is also seen in the garba griham, in front of ambal.Ganesha and Renuka devi idols are also present before the garbagriham. Very powerful deity, as told by many in and around the place. We could see several devotees on padha yatthirai to Samayapuram offer their prayers to Anbil Mariyamman.

Hope after kumbabhishekam, we can see the temple in a better shape.

Few photos:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=19-AkyP7OuXSOq1_dIVfK8Yg4av2fyy_q

Anbil Sivan Temple

Anbil is a small village near Lalgudi approximately 8 km east from Lalgudi. It is on the banks of River Kollidam, a branch of River Kaveri. The Lord in this temple is called by the names - Sathyavaageesar, Brahmmapureeswarar, Alandhuraiyaar.

This is one of the thevaara paadal petra sthalam. 57th sthalam in kaveri northern bank temples. This temple is called Thiruanbilaalandhurai. Appar and Gnanasambandhar has sung one pathigam each on the lord of this temple.

Ambal is known by the name Soundaranayaki. Sthala vruksham is Banyan tree and Vilva tree. The temple has a raja gopuram, painted in one colour on the east side. Lord Shiva and Parvati face the  east direction.

Banyan tree is found outside the main temple in a Vinayaka temple. The temple has three prakaarams.

There are lot of coconut trees, kondrai trees on the outer prakaram.

Several vilva trees and neem trees on the middle (second) prakaaram.

The inner prakaram has sannidhis of Devathas. While entering the inner prakaram, one could see Gnanasambandhar and Appar worshipping Shiva-Parvathi as sculpture, on the mandapam near dwajasthambam.

As we enter the mandapam to see Lord Shiva, we can see Soorya and Chandra on either side facing the Lord. We can see Appar, Sambandhar, Sundarar and Manickavasagar and Sekkizhaar in a separate sannidhi. As we circumambulate through the inner prakaaram, we see Dakshinamoorthi, Maha Vishnu, Brahmma as koshta moorthams. Lingodhbhavar, Bikshadanaar, Saptha kannikai, Kasi Viswanathar, Visalakshi are also seen as separate devathas in this prakaram.

On the south western corner there is a sannidhi for Vinayakar. There is another vinayakar in this place. The posture is somewhat unique to this temple. One leg down and another leg bent, and head tilted towards His right side, this vinayaka is called as sevi saaittha vinaayagar (lending ears to listen). Tirugnanasambandhar while heading towards this sthalam was made to stand on the opposite bank of Kollidam river due to flood. So he sang the pathigam from that spot, that is on the southern bank of kollidam. So this vinayaka titlted his head/ear in that direction to listen to Sambandhar, singing that pathigam. Hence this name.

On the north western corner, there is a sannidhi for Murugan. Chandikeswara sannidhi is also there in the north side of the main sannidhi.

Then comes the sannidhi for Soundaranayaki. Ambal looks very beautiful, cladded in nine yards saree. She has 4 hands - pasham and angusham on upper hands and varadha - abhaya mudras are seen in the lower 2 hands.

Sculptures on the pillars, walls of the temple are mesmerizing. We can see Brahmma, Vishnu, Sooryan worshipping lord Shiva here on the outer walls of main sannidhi. We can also see, ambal, Banyan tree and shiva linga sculpture there.

Some space is dug along the sides of the main sannidhi, enabling us to see more carvings on the outer walls of the main sannidhi.

Navagraha sannidhi also need a special attention here. All the eight planets face sooryan here. This kind of arrangement is also seen in Thayumanavaswami temple, Trichy.

Sani bhagawan and Bhairavar sannidhi is also seen separately near navagraha sannidhi.

One can feel the calm and serene atmosphere inside the temple. Not many visit this temple. But the Perumal temple (4th one out of 108 divyadesam) and Mariyamman temple seem to be a popular one. I request every one who go to Anbil or Lalgudi to visit this Shiva temple.

Sambandhar Pathigam: 1.033
http://thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=1&Song_idField=1033&padhi=136+&button=%E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95

Appar Pathigam: 5.080
http://thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=5&Song_idField=5080&padhi=100+&button=%E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95

Photos can be viewed here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BV73K4mb98F_oQv0TwONrjIagMlGDYnp