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

Rajeswarar Temple - Tiruvanaikka

Rajeswari sametha Rajeswarar temple is a small but very pious temple located in the North Ul veethi aka North Car street, off Sankara Mutt, in Tiruvanaikka.

This temple has a small tower at its entrance.

Lord shiva is East facing. There is a bali peetam and a Nandhi once you cross the main entrance. Ambal Rajeswari is south facing. There is another nandhi with its tail and one ear cut off. This was the one before Shiva before muslim invasion. This nandhi was damaged during that invasion and a new nandhi was placed before the Lord. Usually while placing a new one, the old one is buried under the earth. But this was not done here. They have covered the old nandhi with sandal paste.

On entering the artha mandapam, one can have darshan of Rajeswarar and Rajeswari.

There is also a window with 9 holes on the wall opposite to ambal as we go a round outside the sannidhi. We can see Ambal through that hole also.

In the koshtam surrounding the garba griham, there is a sannidhi for Dakshinamurthy on the south side.

To the back side of the garba griha, on the wall there is Lingodhbhavar.

At the south west corner, there is a sannidhi for Ganesha.

As we move further towards right, exactly to the back of garba griha, on the west, there is a sannidhi for Subrahmanya.

Next, in the north west corner is the sannidhi for Gajalakshmi.

As we move further, in the north, there is a sannidhi for ChandikEswarar.

We cross the vimaanam of Ambal and see another mandapam hosting Bhairavar, naga devathaas and few others.

This mandapam has the pancha mukha lingeswarar and Tripurasundari Ambal facing each other. Ambal faces to the west, i.e one of the face (east face) of the pancha mukha lingam.

Pancha mukha lingeswarar has one face facing each direction - east, west, north and south and one face facing upwards. Grand decorations are done to this Shiva linga on Pradosham days, Shivaratri and Karthika month Mondays. Few photos attached.

Outside this temple, there is a temple for Vinayaka called as Vetri MookkaRundha vinayakar. This Vinayaka was inside the main temple (Jambukeswarar), Which after the Muslims invasion, had the trunk cut and thus was shifted to a place outside Aanaikka temple. So the name came as Mookkarundha Vinayakar.

Many thanks to the temple Sivacharyar who was very kind enough to provide me with details of the temple and also shared the photos of the alankarams done to Shiva and Ambal on Kartikai Somavaaram in 2017.

Next time you visit, Tiruvanaikka, dont miss this place.

Thirumullaivaayil (Vada Thirumullaivaayil)

This year sankaranthi, was a special one to me. For I had the opportunity to have a darshan of Maasilaamaneeswarar and Kodiyidaiamman, on January 16, 2016 (Maattu pongal day).

Thirumullaivaayil is located some 30 km from chennai, on chennai thiruvallur high way. Reach ambattur and from there on the way to avadi, you will find this place. There is another thirumullaivaayil, called as then thirumullaivaayil or thirumullaivaasal, in choza naadu, on the northern banks of river Cauvery.

This is one of the paadal petra shiva sthalams. Of the 276 temples, sanctified by saiva saint poets, 32 are in Thondai nadu (covering chennai, tiruvallur, tiruvannamalai, kanchi). This temple is 22nd of the 32 thondai naatu sthalam. Sundarar has sung a pathigam in praise of this temple. Sthala vruksham is mullai.

Thirumullaivaayil, was once a forest full of mullai (Jasmine) creepers. The history goes like this.

There were some 3 small kings, who were an ardent devotee of Bhairava. They were so powerful and they tortured the people in the areas ruled by them. King Thondaimaan who is a shiva bhaktha, waged a war against them. With the help of their favourite god, Bhairava, the 3 kurumbars defeated Thondaiman. On his way back, through the dense mullai forest, King Thondaimaan's elephant got stuck in the bushes. The king, cut those bushes with his sword. Alas! Blood started oozing out of the bushes. The king was terrified. He came down and was frightened to see a shiva linga, behind the bushes that he cut. Thondaimaan, prayed to the lord for a solution. 

He heard a voice which asked him to take the linga out, by cleaning the bushes and the king did so. After placing the linga in a separate place, he again heard the voice that said, "although I am with blood stains, I am still pure." Hence the name, Maasilaamaneeswarar. 

Maasu + illaa + mani + easwarar.

Maasu - dirt. 

Illaa- without.

Mani - Gem

Easwarar - shiva.

Shiva is a gem without dirt. This is the direct meaning of the name.

Lord shiva, encouraged the king to go back to the kurumbars and wage a war. The lord also sent his vahana, nandi as a support to the king thondaimaan. King Thondaimaan won his foes and brought 2 erukkam tree, which one can see at the entrance of the garba graham of maasilaamaneesar.

Since the lord has sent, Nandi to assist the king, one can see the unusual position of nandi. In other temples, nandi will be facing siva. But here it is facing the opposite direction.

Also, since the lord maasilaamaneesar and his consort kodiyidaiamman blessed the king thondaimaan, they both face east (same direction). In most of the temples, siva sannidhi will be facing east and ambal sannidhi will be facing south or north.

Kodi idai amman - the one with a lean hip. This temple ambal is kriya sakthi. Iccha sakthi being thiruvudai amman at melur, near minjur, chennai. Gnanasakthi is vadivudaiamman in thiruvotriyur, chennai.

The vimaanam, above shiva's garba graham is called as Gaja brushta vimaanam. Gaja - Elephant, Brushta - Back side. Yes. It looks like back side of the elephant. The front side is flat and the back side has rounded corners. The elevation is like a half-cylinder.

As one enters the temple one can find lord vinayaka, Prasanna Ganapathi. Then we circum ambulate the prakaram. We find Lord subrahmanya with his consorts valli-devasena, We then reach the sannidhi of two lingas - chozhapureeswarar and Kucha-Lava-Pureeswarar. Some chozha king, Lava, kucha (sons of Rama) must have worshipped the respective lingas.

There is also a big size lizard, carved on the compound wall of the temple.

There are shrines for Lord Surya and Lord Bhairava. They too worshipped the Shiva linga here.

Then we enter a common mandapam, housing the separate sannidhis of ambal first and Shiva next. 

Surrounding the Ambal's shrine, there is a Durgai sannidhi.

Surrounding the shiva's shrine, we can find Dakshinamurthi, Vishnu and Brahmma. Since shiva's head was cut by, Thondaimaan's sword, there is a scar on the top of linga. Sandal paste will be applied on all days. Only during Sathayam star falling on Chithirai month every year, this paste is removed and Shiva blesses devotees in his true form.

There is a tank associated with this temple. Thanks to the rains, for it has ample water in it.

There is a mandapam outside the temple, for resting the God on the vahanas during procession. Each pillar has some carvings like Rama, idiyappa chithar etc. There is a small temple for Vishnu, Sri devi Bhoomi devi sametha Swarna Venkatesa perumal, near this mandapam.

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.

Tiruveezhimizhalai

This temple is located on the banks of Arasal aaru (A distributary of Kavery river, Hari sol aaru, meaning the movement of the river will produce a sound hari hari). Being praised by saivaite saints Appar, Sudarar, Sambandar and Manikkavachagar, this is one of the paadal petra sthalam in Chola nadu, on the southern bank of Kavery river. Reference to Arasal aaru, read this earlier post.

Lord Shiva is known by the name Veezhinaathar and his better half is known by the name Sundara kujambigai in this temple. A huge tank (full of water) welcomes  the devotees. This is indeed a treat to our eyes. In these days, where temple tanks are giving a parched sight, this is infact a boon to us. Opposite to the tank is the main gopuram (small in size) which leads to another large gopuram with full of sculptures depicting Shiva ganas, nataraja's dance etc. Before entering this gopuram, to the right one could see a majestic hall, but completely dark. This is known by the name vowaal mandapam (hall of bats), mainly due to non usage of the hall. The roof architecture of this hall resembles chidambaram temple. Once upon a time the celestial marriage celebrations were performed in this hall. But now a days since the population has grown and due to some difficulties in providing lighting arrangements, this celebrations are shifted inside the temple premises in a open hall. Marriage is performed to the utsava moorthis, kalyanasundara moorthi - kathyayani ambal in the month of chithirai on magam nakshatram day. This is performed in the evening time.

Mahavishnu's chakra lost its power and it was by worshipping lord shiva here, he got back his chakra in full power. He performed pooja with 1008 lotus flowers. While completing he was short of one flower and for that he offered his one eye as a lotus. Shiva was happy with that and asked Vishnu to take back his chakra from the temple tank. Hence the name veezhinathar (nethrarpaneswarar).

By worshipping lord shiva, one could get the illness related to eyes cured. Also by worshipping kalyanasundaramoorthi and kathyayani, unmarried ones could get married to good individuals.

We enter the large gopuram and find ourself amidtst broad open prakara that hosts the dwijasthambam and bali peetam. In front of this is a peetam where the lord offered coins to saint Tirugnanasambandar. Further we find a mandapam and this has a lingam Tirumoolanathar.

We come around this outer prakaram and there are three other peetams on the other three sides. Peetam where Saint Sundarar is offered jewels, then on the back side there is the peetam where Saint Tirunavukkarasar was offered coins. Here we find the sannidhi of padikkasu vinayakar who offered coins to the saints on behalf of Lord Siva, during famine times, for building the temple. We also see another gopuram after this sannidhi. We come to the prakaram and move further to find the peetam where manikkavachagar was shown the paadam by the lord. There is also a separate small sannidhi for mahalinga swamy and mayuranatha swamy.

We come to inner prakaram, where there are two temples. One for Veezhinathar and the other for Sundarakujambigai. Before entering the sannidhi, there is a nandhi which is located at a lower level. This is known as Patala nandhi.

There are few steps known as maasa padi, to climb the main sannidhi. On the other side, for exit, there are another set of steps known as Graha padi. We enter the sanctum sanctorum of Veezhinatha peruman. There behind the linga, there are idols of Siva - Parvati in kalyana kolam. Very few temples have these kind of arrangements in the garba graham. To the right, there is the sannidhi of Kalyanasundaramoorthi and Kathyayani in kalyana kolam. There is also a nandhi to the left of Siva. The arrangement is in such a way that siva keeps his hand on nandhi in a resting posture.

Inside the mandapam hosting garba graham, there are places for other utsava idols like Balambal, Bikshandar, Mahavishnu(getting his chakra back by bathing in the temple tank) and few more.

We come around this inner prakara and we see Dakshinamoorthi. Here there is no muyalagan below his feet. Instead, his feet rests on a lotus. There is a hole on the back side of siva sannidhi through which parrots use to worship lord shiva daily. Usually, lingothbhavar will be in this place in all other temples. This is a rare one. There are many other linga structures like Ekambreswarar. The sthala vruksha is Jack tree (palaa maram). Even now a days in villages in and around this place, in all houses there will be jack trees and jack fruit is one of the favourite fruit for the people here. The vahanas are also present in the mandapams in this prakaram. Other sannidhis for Nataraja - Sivakami, Vaidyanathar, Suryan, Chandran, Bhairavar, Murga, Irattai Vinayakar are seen in the front entrance of ths prakaram.

We then enter the temple of sundarakujambikai (azhagiya mamulai amman). This too has a gopuram, to enter from the outer prakaram, but it is rarely opened. Normally we enter from shiva temple. This gopuram has sculptures, predominantly female deities. This has a sannidhi where sundarakujambigai blesses her devotees in a standing posture. With four hands, top two holding sangu and chakra and bottom two with varada abhaya mudras, this deity is said to have beautiful breasts full of grace and hence the name azhagiya mamulai amman. There is a sannidhi for Vinayaka on one side and Muruga on the other side in this prakara.

This temple is maintained by Tiruvavaduthurai aadheenam. Nice temple to have darshan.

Uttamar Kovil

This temple has something special and unique when compared to all other temples. Yes.. This has the shrines of Brahmma, Vishnu and Shiva with their consorts. Vishnu is known by the name Purushottama perumal and hence the name of the place - Uttamar Kovil. Goddess Lakshmi is known as Pooranavalli thayar, who grants the boon to give a complete satisfaction to the devotees. Shiva is known by the name Bikshandar and this place has another name - Bikshandar kovil too. Soundarya Parvathi is the name of Lord shiva's consort in this temple. As the name says, the ambal is so beautiful. For lord Brahmma who does not have a form in this bhoolokha, this temple is an exception. There is a separate sannidhi for Brahmma. Goddess Saraswathi with veena, akshamala also sits in a separate sannidhi, bestowing boons to the people is found in this temple. This is one of 108 divya desams (praised by Tirumangai alwar) and is known by the name Thirukkarambanoor and the sthala vruksham is Banana tree. Banana are found to be grown on the banks of river cauvery. One more temple tiruppaigneele near Trichy is also said to have banana as sthala vruksham.

This is a small temple in terms of area. If we enter from No.1 tollgate bus stop, past Kollidam (coleroon) river in Trichy, we are welcomed by a dwajasthambam. Before that stands the garudazhwar (Periya thiruvadi) sannidhi. Opposite to this is the shrine of Purushottama perumal. Perumal lays on his serpent aadhi sesha - similar to Sri Ranganatha swamy of Srirangam. To the left of this sannidhi is Sri Mahalakshmi thayar, who is adorned with beautiful ornaments. To the right of perumal sannidhi is the sanctum sanctoram of Hanuman(Chiriya thiruvadi). All these are built with in a mandapam. To the left of this mandapam is another mandapam, that hosts the sannidhi of Poorana valli thaayar.

We come around the temple to find the small sannidhis of Twin Vinayaka (Irattai pillayar), Bala lingam (a tiny lingam). Then we come to the Dakshina moorthi sannidhi. Here they call dakshinamoorthi as Siva guru. Then we enter a hall which has the shrines of Bikshandar and Soundarya parvathi (sakthi guru). Nandi deva stands in front of Bikshandar. There are also some idols of utsava moorthis, Lord Subrahmanya, vinayaka in this hall.

Again in the path where we circum ambulate, we find the sannidhis of Lord Rama with Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman and a separate sannidhi for Lakshmi Narayana.

We cross the nandi and reach a small mandapam that has the sannidhi of Lord Venugopala. we move further to see the navagraha sannidhis and Durgai amman. There is another small sannidhi of Lingam that was worshipped by King Dasaratha and the name of that lingam itself is Dasaratha lingam.

We complete the round and come near the dwajasthambam in front of perumal. There on our side we find another mandapam hosting sannidhis of Varadharaja perumal (called as vishnu guru), aazhwars. Brahmma and saraswathi are seated in separate sannidhis.

This sthala is also known by the name saptha guru sthalam. They are Deva guru (brahaspathi), Asura guru (Sukracharya), Siva guru (Dakshina moorthi), Sakthi guru (Soundarya parvathi), Vishnu guru (Varadharaja perumal), Brahmma guru (Brahmma), Gnana guru (Subrahmanya).

Tirunelveli

No sooner did I utter this name, immediate thought of the famous halwa (a sweet made out of wheat and sugar) comes to our mind. Also known by another name Nellai, this is an important, siva sthala, situated on the banks of river Tamiraparani (shuddha tamraparni thadasthitham as pointed out by Muthuswami dikshitar in his kriti Sri Kantimatim in hemavathy). Out of pancha maha sabhai (5 sacred halls), this is thamira sabhai (copper hall). Lord Nataraja's dance was seen by saints in these 5 halls.

1. Kanaka sabhai (Hall of gold) - Tillai (chidambaram)
2. Velli ambalam (Hall of silver) - Aalavai (Madurai)
3. Rathna Sabhai (Hall of gems) - Tiruvalangadu
4. Chitra Sabhai (Hall of paintings) - Tirukuttralam
5. Thamira Sabhai (Hall of copper) - Tirunelveli (Nellai)

In all the 4 places except Madurai, Nataraja's right leg is on the ground and left leg lifted. In Madurai alone, it is reversed (right leg lifted and left leg on the ground).

As soon as we enter the Nellaiappar temple, we could see the kerala type architecture on the ceilings interior to the main entrance. A big nandhi (constructed during recent times) welcomes you. Then we can see the dwajasthambam and a small nandhi (ancient one). Further if you go inside, there is the sannidhi of Nellaiappar. But it is customary to first see Kanthimathi amman sannidhi first. So we circumambulate the prakaram. We enter a sannidhi where Vinayaka, Shiva (in linga form) and Parvati were seated under a roof, with Nandi deva infront of them. Then we further go inside to see a hall full of sculptured pillars with yali. In two of those pillars we could see Hanuman and Sugreeva. Near Hanuman carved pillar, we find the sannidhi of Mahishasura Mardhini. To the left we see the temple tank. On the banks of the tank we see lot of lingas named, Kashi viswanatha. The tank is considered to be as pure as the Ganges.

We further cross the hall, to enter the prakaram of Kanthimathi amman. We see the thousand pillared hall and the oonjal mandapam, where ambal sits on the swing during the month of Aadi (in this month, valaikappu function is celebrated for amman) and Chitirai (during kalyana utsavam). We enter Kanthimathi amman's sannidhi. Oh... one could feel like hugging her.. for she is full of grace. On the day when I saw her, she was wearing a yellow coloured cotton saree, so simple... but I got a feeling that a child will get after seeing her mother after a long time. coming out of Kanthimathi amman temple, we could see Mahalingaswamy sannidhi and few more shiva lingams.

On the other side we were welcomed by the temple elephant (Kanthimathi). She blessed us. For her the authorites have put 3 ceiling fans to enable her to sleep without any disturbance during night. Its a move to be welcomed. We came across the ancient temple of Mahalinga swamy which is located below the ground level. Due to passage of time, it went down, as I could hear from the temple authorities. To its right there is the Nellaiappar sannidhi. The entrance is adorned by pillars holding sculptures of Karnan, Arjunan, Veerabhadran and one more siva gana with garland made of human skulls. All were very realistic. Both Kanthimathi amman temple and nellaiappar temple are famous for the musical pillars. There are few pillars in the amman temple and more in siva temple. One could hear Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa in a set of pillars. One could hear the sound of jalatharangam, tabla in others.

Nellaiappar is swayambu (self created). So the shape of linga is not that perfect. There is a cut that passes from top right to centre. Interesting thing here in the sanctum sanctorum is, there is a sannidhi for Vishnu. Named as Nellai Govindar, vishnu lays on the serpent bed, performing pooja to another siva lingam (just like ananthapadmanabhaswamy). There is also a utsava moorthi for Vishnnu, with a kamandalam in his hands, standing after performing marriage of his sister Kanthimathi  with Nellaiappar.

There is also a Shanmukar sannidhi. Unique thing here is, the six faces of muruga were placed symmetrically that from the front we could see three faces and the other three faces could be seen from the back side only. Here Indra himself stands as peacock. Normally asura will be peacock. In that case peacock's beak will be on Muruga's right side. If deva is a peacock, it's beak will be on Muruga's left side. Realistic Sculptures of Manmadhan (with a romantic smile) and Rathi adornes the entrance to Muruga's sannidhi. There is an image of Sri chakram painted before the entrance of murugan's sannidhi.

Another stunning shrine is Sandana nataraja (Nataraja will always be bathed in sandal paste). There is a hall before this sannidhi which is decorated by wood carvings.

This temple is larger than madurai temple. Also well maintained and very clean and tidy.

Rama Namam

With prayers to Lord Rama on the day after Sri Rama Navami of Vijaya Samvatsaram (2014 April 08), I am writing this blog.

Rama is a two letter mantra derived out of the ashtakshara (Aum Na mo Na ra ya na ya) and Panchakshara (Na ma Shi va ya) as we all know. Many saints have spoken about the power of this RaMa nama.

Goddess Parvathi asked Lord Shiva which is told in Sri Vishnu Sahasranama of the Mahabharata epic. "Keno Payena lakuna vishnoor naama sahasrakam - Patyathe pandithair nithyam srothumicchyaamyaham Prabho". She asked, "how a lay man can achieve the fruits of reciting vishnu sahasranama that can be read by learned person?". Lord Shiva answered, "Just tell rama rama rama. Rama nama has the essence of Vishnu sahasranama or 1000 names of Lord Vishnu". This is told in the sloka "sri raAa rAma rAmEthi ramE rAmE manOramE sahasranAma thathulyam rAma nAma varAnane".

In my childhood days I have heard a bhajan "Rama namame kalkandu" i.e. Rama nama is sugar crystals. This is the taste of nama. Bhadrachala Ramadasa, an ardent devotee of Rama sings, "Entha ruchira rama yemi ruchira - sri rama ni namam yemi ruchira - O rama ni namam entha ruchi". How sweet is rama namam... aaah.. so sweet... he says.

A composer Tanjore Shankara Iyer, sings in his composition -
Maduram maduram sri ramanamam
Manadhirkku inbam alithidum namam
Yedhu vandhu nammai yedhirtha podhum
Innarul purindhu rakshikum namam
Yenniya karumangal inidhe mudiyum
Rama nama mahimai adhuve aagum
Vinnavarum Pottrum tharaka manthram
Veeramum alithidum avan thiru namam

Rama namam is so sweet as a nectar. It gives happiness to the mind. Whatever comes in our way as an obstacle, Rama namam will protect us. What we desire to have, we get it. That is the prowess of the nama. The celestials too sing the pride of this taraka mantra and it installs bravery in one's heart.

After performing several crores of Ramanama, even in 19th century, one great soul got the vision of Sri Rama with his Bow. He is Saint Tyagaraja. He has composed numerous songs on Lord Rama. Who is equal to you Rama?, he asks in his kriti Rama Ni samanam evaru. Also he says Rama nama will give such a comfort to one who says it in another kriti Sukhi evvaro rama nama. In another kriti "rama katha sudha", he says Listening to Ramayana is so soothing and one will get dharma, artha, dhairya and ananda and more good deeds. Above all, rama bhakti (devotion to rama) will fetch you kingdom (Rama bhakti Samrajya).

The power of Rama nama is depicted by Hanuman (Ever living - chiranjeevi). He crossed the ocean by chanting the Rama nama. Rama built a bridge across the ocean to reach Lanka, but hanuman just like that crossed the Ocean by just chanting Rama nama. So this means, Rama nama is mightier than Lord Rama himself.

A small song (composer unknown) depicts the characteristics of rama nama.

Ramanin namame tharaka namam
Vendum varangalai thandhidum namam
Anjanai maindhan aanjaneyanukku
alaikadal thandida udhaviya namam
Jai jai ram ram jai seetha ram
Jai jai ram ram jai seetha ram

Narayana enum ashtaksharathil
Ra venum aksharam olithidume - adhu
Namasivaya enum panchaksharathil
Ma enum jeevanil inaindhidume
thondriyadhe rama namame
thudhithiduvome rama namame
Jai jai ram ram jai seetha ram
Jai jai ram ram jai seetha ram

Hariyum Sivanum ondre endru
anaivarum unarndhu thudhippome
Igaparam irandilum inbam alithidum
Inai yilla namam thudhippome
Adiyavar idargalai pokkidum namam
Arumarundhagiya annalin namam
Amudhamanaya sri ramanin namatthai
anudinam paadi avanarul peruvom
Jai jai ram ram jai seetha ram
Jai jai ram ram jai seetha ram

Ramanamam is the tharaka namam, that gives all you want. It helped Hanuman to cross the ocean. It was born out of the ashtakshara and panchakshara mantras. Let us all chant it. Hari and siva are one and Rama nama gives happiness both in this birth and in the next birth. It erases the difficulties of the deveotees, cures the illness. Let us all chant the nectar like Rama nama daily and get His blessings.

Nanmaiyum Selvamum naalum nalgume
Thinmayum Papamum sidhaindhu theyume
Janmamum maranamum indri theerume
Immaiye Ra Ma yendra irandu yezhuthinal

As quouted by Kambar in his Kamba Ramayanam, if one says RaMa in this birth, it will give him goodness, money for ever. His sorrow, sins will all be evacuated. He will be free from births and deaths. Let us all chant Rama Nama whenever possible (atleast 12 times a day) and get His blessings.

One more note: Samartha Ramadas (who was guru of Chatrapati Sivaji) was an ardent devotee of Rama. He has asked Rama to go in front of a person who has chanted RamaNama 13 crore times in his life. Also he asked Rama to keep the count himself as human may make mistakes while counting. So Rama's Bow (Kodhandam) which has a bell will hit once if a devotee completes 1 crore name. With this the devotees work is easy. He need not have to keep count. He need not bother about that. His only work is to chant Rama nama. Let us start from today.

Rama Rama Rama Rama..........

AnandatAndavapuram Sri AyyanAr

Sri sokkAyi udanurai tiruvarasamoorthy ayyanaar - Well the term says about a graama devatha ayyanaar. But this ayyanaar is none other than the dharma sAsthA (Ayyappan). Famous musician Sri G.N.Balasubramanian has sung a song in praise of this lord at anandatandavapuram (small village near mayiladuthurai - place where the composer Sri Gopalakrishna Bharati lived). Yes. That song is mamakulEswaram shAsthAram in the rAga tOdi, set to Eka tAlam.

The song goes like this.

Pallavi
mama kulEshvaram shAstAram santatam cintayEham
Ananda tANDava puravihAram

Anu pallavi
shamita nata jana duritam nIlAmbara shObhitam
amita sukha shrIpradam atulita divya guNAnvitam

Charanam
kamala rucira karadhrta kAshAyudha vibhUSitam
amara munIshvara bhUta vaTuka nAyaka sEvitam
kamanIya nava yauvana sundarAmbA sahitam
sumashara guhAgrajam shrI rAjam harihara sutam

madhyama kAlam
rAkA shashinibha vadanam ravi sOmAnasa nayanam
rayagati turanga gamanam rakSita samasta bhuvanam

In this kriti, GNB declares that sri ayyanar of anandataandavapuram is his family deity.

mamakuleshwaram - mama (my) kula (family) eeswaram (deity)

I always think about my family deity, sAsthA, who resides at anandatandavapuram. The lord, drives away the sins of the bhaktas who pray to him and he looks great in blue coloured garment that he wears. He grants joy to them and he is an embodiment of sevaral virtues.

He holds a weapon made out of grass (kAshAyudha) in his lotus like hands. He is worshipped by the best of devas, rishis and vedic brahmins. He is accompanied by sundarAmbA who attracts all by her beauty and youthfulness. He is the elder brother of manmadha, muruga. He is the mighty king, son of vishnu and shiva. He has a face like full moon. His two eyes are the sun and the moon. He moves swiftly like that of a water current and protects the whole world.

Many thanks to rasikas.org which guided me with the exact lyrics and meaning of this great song.

In tamil, the goddess is called sokkAyi, which means, a lady who attracts every one by means of her beauty. The same word gets translated to sundarAmbA in sanskrit. Normally Ayyanaar is accompanied by poornA and pushkalA. In this place, he is with sundarAmbA, which is very unique.

SivakatAksham

Gopalakrishna Bharati, a well known composer of songs on Chidambara NatarAja is the supporting force for me to write this article. We will get the siva kataksham (or the blessings of Lord Shiva) by reading through his lines.

A man (refers to the reader) asks a saint (Gopalakrishna Bharati), "Pranaams to you, respectable Saint. I want to attain mOksham (salvation). I have neither done any poojas nor have observed fastings. I completely surrender to you to show me the path towards the ultimate reality."

Saint answers, "My dear disciple, I am so happy on hearing these words from you. Dont worry. Just listen. I will show you the way to attain your goal."

Saint:

siva lOkha nathanai kandu sEvithiduvOm vAreer

bhava bayangalai pOkki avar parama padhatthai koduppar - andha
siva lOkha nathanai kandu sEvithiduvOm vAreer

arpa sugathai ninaindhOm aran thiruvadi marandhOm

karpidhamAna prapancham idhai kAnal neer pOlE yennin yenni

mAnuda jenmam kodutthAr thannai vaNanga karangaL aLithAr

thEnum pAlum pOlE sendru thEradiyil nindru kondu

siva lOkha nathanai kandu sEvithiduvOm vAreer

"Lets go and pray to the lord of the shiva lOkham. He will grant salvation and will destroy the fear and sorrows. All these days we were thinking of the cheap worldly pleasures and we forget his (shiva's) lotus feet. We were keeping on thinking about the temporal universe which is like a mirage. The lord gave us this human birth, hands to worship Him. Lets all go to the thEr adi (holy car in the chidambaram temple) like freely flowing milk and honey and pray to the Lord".

Saying so the saint sees the face of the disciple.

Disciple asks "I understood that surrendering totally to the Lord will grant us salvation. Could you please elaborate about the chidambaram sthalam that you mentioned in the previous song?"

Saint says, "Here it is."

thillai sthalam endru solla thodanginal

illai piravi piniyum paapamum

solla thagum ithuvE siva lOkham

yeLLathanai aram seyyil amOgam

aagama vEda purAnangaL saathiram

arul thavam purivArkku aruliya paathiram

aalayam aayirathettinil nEthiram

Ananda thAndavam aadiya kshethiram

parama ragasiyam ondru pArkalAm

bala krishnan kavi pAda kEtkalAm

karma vinaigaL anaithayum pOkkalAm

kasadatthu mukthiyum undAgalAm

"If you start to say thillai (chidambaram) then there is no more re birth, disease and sin. One can say that this ksetra is the siva lokham (or abode of shiva). If you do a little amount (like a grain called yeL) of good then it is awesome. Shiva is the one who grants blessings to those who do a sincere meditation on him as mentioned in the ancient works (vEdAs, purAnAs, sAstrAs, AgamAs). This sthalam where shiva has performed aananda thandavam (blissful dance) is vital among thousands of other temples as an eye in our body. You can see a big secret (chidambara rahasyam!), hear songs sung by balakrishnan (the composer), drive away all the deeds (karma) and its consequences (vinaigaL) and at last you can get the salvation."

Disciple's happieness knew no bounds. He asked, "Thats nice to hear about Chidambaram. Could you please tell about the presiding deity over there?".

The saint became so happy on seeing the curiosity of his disciple. He said,

sabhApatikku vERu deivam samAnamAgumA thillai

sabhApatikku vERu deivam samAnamAgumA ?

kripAnidhi ivarai pOla kidaikkumO indha dhArani thannil

oru dharam siva chidambaram yendru sonnal pOdhume

paragathi pera vEru punyam panna vEnuma?

ariya pulaiyar moovar padham adaindhAr yendrE purAnam

arindhu solla kEttOm Gopalakrishnan pAdum thillai

sabhApatikku vERu deivam samAnamAgumA ?

"Will any other deity become equal to sabhapathi (lord of the kanaga sabai - Chidambaram)? One cannot find a more graceful god like him in this world. You need not do any other good deeds to attain salvation. Just if you chant "siva chidambaram" once, thats enough. Three great poets (appar, sundarar, sambandhar) have attained salvation by chanting the name of Shiva as told in the puranam. He is in the thillai sthalam about which Gopalakrishnan (saint) is singing."

Disciple was moved to tears. He then asked, "What is Aanandam?"

There was a quick reply from the saint that if we see the lotus feet of Lord Nataraja in the dancing posture, it is the real bliss (Anandam). It was with the lines "aadiya paadha dharisanam kandal aanandam"

The next question from the disciple was "Who is mightier?"

Saint said, "Mightiest among all is the person who gets the grace of Ponnambalan (Nataraja). By having houses, cows, goats, money in this world can one become the mightiest?" Saying so he sung the following lines.

pArukkul veedugal maadugal aadugal panam irundhal avan periyavanAvanO?

yArukku ponnambalan kripai irukkudho avanE periyavanAm

Disciple said, "Thank you my beloved guru. You have enlightened me on the ultimate reality. I would like you to say when there will be an end to all the sufferings of this kali yuga"

The saint sings,

kanaka sabApathi dharisanam oru nAl kandAl kali theerum

sanaka mahA muni kaithozhudhetthiya dinakara kOti thEjOmayam aagiya

kanaka sabApathi dharisanam oru nAl kandAl kali theerum

parpala yojanai seiyvathum thollai

paragathi adayavum paadhyamum illai

arputhamaagavE aangoru sollai

aniyum gopalakrishnan paniyum thillai

kanaka sabApathi dharisanam oru nAl kandAl kali theerum

"One day if we see the darshan of kanaka sabapathi, all the sufferings would be put to an end. Great sages like sanaka have worshipped the lord, who is as bright as 1000 suns. If we keep on thinking a lot about things other than the lord, it will create a lot of problems. It wont help us to get the path towards salvation. There is one great word "thillai" which will help us in attaining salvation."

"Oh guru! I can understand the greatness of Thillai sthalam and of Nataraja. It would be great if you tell how Nataraja will dance."

The guru sings,

thA thai yendrAduvAr avar thath thith thai yendrAduvAr

thA thai yendrAduvAr avar thath thith thai yendrAduvAr

thakita thakita thai yendrAduvAr avar jam thakita thai yendrAduvar

dheem tharikita thai yendrAduvAr avar jam tharikita thai yendrAduvar

Adhi parAparam aagiya chith aanandam kondoru kAlai yeduthu

anda charAcharam yengum nadunga

aadhi sEdanAr mudigaL nerunga

pAr pugazhum thillai chidambara nathan

balakrishnan panindhEthiya paagan

"He will dance with the jathis. He will dance with one leg raised and with pure bliss. When he dances, the entire univers will feel the vibration. Lord Vishnu's serpant, Aadhi sEshan's head will also dance. He is the one who is praised by Gopalakrishnan and the whole universe."

Now the disciple could experience the aananda thandavam of Lord Shiva. He wanted to confirm with the guru whether his experiences were right. o he asks his guru to tell about the ananda thandava experience.

Guru says, "I am feeling so happy on seeing the dance of Lord shiva. The sages like Sanaka, Sanandana, SanAthana, SanathkumAra were all singing. Lord Brahmma is putting the taalaas. About 3000 (thillai vAzh moovAyirathOr) people are celebrating the occasion daily. Nandi, Bringi and other Siva gaNangaL came together to witness the occasion. Sage Narada and sage Tumburu were singing. Not only there was a feast for the ears but also for the stomach. All the dEvas are enjoying themselves by having the divine food. Maha vishnu was playing the Maddalam (drum) and Shiva was dancing with all these celebrations happily."

These were captured in the following lines.

kanaka sabhai thirunadanam kandu kaLithu Anandam adaindhEn

sanakasanandana munivarum pAda

chatur muka dEvanum taalangaL pOda

dhinamum moovAyiram pErum kondAda

dhith thOm thOm thaka thOm thOm dhimi thOm thOm thakita thadhimithOm yendru

kanaka sabhai thirunadanam kandu kaLithu Anandam adaindhEn

nandi bringi siva gaNangaLum kooda

nArada thumburu sangeetham pAda

pandhi pandhi yaai amarar koNdAda

gopalakrishnan matthalam pOda aadiya

kanaka sabhai thirunadanam kandu kaLithu Anandam adaindhEn

The disciple saluted the guru and started to meditate upon Nataraja and there by attained salvation.

Hope I was able to provide a picture of the Aananda thandavam and let us all pray to the Kanaga sabapathi to attain the state of Divine Bliss and DivineBlessings (Siva katAksham).

Need for tapas

Our ultimate goal in life should be to reach god. But there are 3 obstacles that will prevent us from attaining our goal. They are called as 3 malams. They are ego (ahankaram) , illusion (maya) and deeds (karma). One need to get rid of these three inorder to reach god.

The first step for achieving this is to start paraying to god. For that we are going to temple. Many may ask, why should we go to temple for praying to god, when he is present everywhere (omnipresent). Going to temple is like doing tapas or meditation. In this world there are lot of things that will kill our concentration. So we need a place where our attention is not diverted away from god. Temple serve for this purpose. We are not great saints to hold our concentration for a long time without getting deviated. Even the saints in ancient time will go to punya sthalas and theerthas for meditation.

The sages at naimisharanya who were devoid of the three malams mentioned above were unhappy as they were not able to understand the inner meaning of vedas. A new sage comes to naimisharanya and understanding their worries asks them not to feel bad. He also says that they need to do tapas and it should be done at a place where they can interact with god one on one. The sages asks the new saint himself to suggest a place and he suggests them all to go to Madurai and sit infront of the dakshinamurthy who is none other than lord shiva manifested as guru.

The sages then go to madurai and understand that Lord shiva is the essence of vedas. Detailed explanation is given in my other post. Click here to read it.

The Essence of Vedas

At the place called as Naimisharanya, the sages were learning the vedas. They wanted to know the essence of vedas. So they started to Madurai. There is a Dakshinamoorthi at the temple. He is called as guru or the one who teaches and guides. He will be seated facing the south. He has 4 arms.

His upper right hand holds the rudraksha mala. Rudraksha bead got created from the tears that fell from Shiva's (Rudra's) eyes. His left eye is the moon (soma), right eye is the sun (surya) and the third eye is the fire (Agni). From his left eye 12 drops flowed, from his right eye 10 drops flowed and from his third eye 8 more drops flowed. So together there was 30 drops which formed the 30 beads of the rudraksha japa mala that is held in the upper right hand of guru. Rudra + aksham (from rudra's eye).

His lower right hand shows the chin mudra. In this mudra the index finger will be touching the thumb and the other three will be separated from the index finger. The thumb is paramatma, index finger is jivatma. The other three are Jealousy, Pride and Karma. This symbolises if jivatma leaves behind the three impurities jealousy, pride and karma, it reaches the paramatma.

His upper left hand holds the amrutha kalasa that stores the nectar which grants immortality. This symbolises that the guru will grant immortality to all those who completely surrender to him.

His lower left hand holds the knowledgeable books. Those books contain the essence of vedas. The sivagnana bodham. The ultimate reality is the brahmman alone.

Just by seeing the young guru, the sages were satisfied that Shiva (Paramatma) is the essence of vedas.

Lord Shiva and the number 5

The number 5 is very much associated with Lord Shiva.

Five Faces:
Shiva is 5 faced. His faces are Satyojatham, thathpurusham, eesaanam, vaamadevam and aghoram. It was from this five faces the five variable swaras ri, ga, ma, dha and ni of carnatic music evolved. Lord Muruga, the son of Lord Shiva has 6 faces. 5 of his faces are created from shiva's five faces.

Five Syllable Mantra:
Na ma shi vaa ya - popularly called as panchAkshara mantram. This is shiva's mantra. This has five syllables as shown above.

Five bhutas:
Shiva is said to be the embodiment of the five elements or pancha bhuta. Sky(Akash), Wind(Vayu), Fire(Agni), Water(Jhalam), Land(Prithvi) are five in numbers. They are the five indriyas of Shiva. Sky is his ears, Wind is his body or skin, Fire is his eyes, Water is his tongue, Land is his nose. If we closely analyse these elements are associated with the 5 senses.

Akash - Sabda(Hear), Wind - Sparsha(Feel), Fire - Roopa(See), Water - Rasa(Taste) and Land - Gandha(Smell).
The sky is space where only sound is present.
Wind can be felt.
Fire can be seen.
Water can be tasted.
Land can be smelt.

To co-memorate this we have the pancha bhuta sthala.

1. Akash - Chidambaram
2. Wind - Kaalahasti
3. Fire - Tiruvannamalai
4. Water - Tiruvaanaikka
5. Land - Kanchipuram

Five Sabhas:
Sabha is a place where the ruler or the judge is seated and hears to the prayers or petitions. Lord Shiva sits on 5 different sabhas at 5 different places.

1. Kanaka sabhai - golden throne - Chidambaram
2. Velli sabhai - silver throne - Madurai
3. Ratna sabhai - gem throne - Tiruvalangadu
4. Taamira sabhai - copper throne - Tirunelveli
5. Chitra sabhai - Artistic throne - Tirukkuttralam

Patteeswaram

The moment I tell this place, one would be remembered about goddess Durga. Patteeswaram is a small town near kumbakonam. There is a famous temple for Lord Shiva. GnAnAmbikai samEdha dhEnupureeswarar temple. It has been told that the celestial cow kAmadhEnu performed pooja for the Shiva at this temple. Hence the name dhEnupureeswara for Lord Shiva here.

In this temple, one could see that the nandi is not exactly opposite to Shiva, but moved away from the straight line. Very special case. There is a story behind this. Thirugnanasambandar, a talented poet, who got the grace of PArvati Devi early in his childhood and started writing beautiful poems came to patteeswaram. That was during the peak summer. He was offered a tent made out of pearl by the temple authorities upon the order of the Lord. To see sambandar walking through the pearl tent, lord asked Nandi to move away a little. So nandi will be slightly deviated from the straight path in this temple.

We enter into the temple. Kodimaratthu vinayakar welcomes all of us by sitting in a sannidhi near the dvijasthambam. We move further and to our left there lies the temple's holy tank. Near the tank, there is a sannidhi of Agya Ganapathi. Praying to the ganapati we proceed further towards the main mandapam or mahA mandapam. There we worship at the sannidhis of Madha vArana ganapati and Subrahmanya and enter into the sanctum sanctorum of Dhenupureeswarar. There also similar to the stone nandi outside, we could observe the metallic nandi, moved away a little from the straight line path. There were sannidhis of Nataraja, Bhairava, Navagriham in the mahA mandapam and we proceed towards the sanctum sanctorum of Vishnu Durga. We move along the covered artha mandapam and find the divine mother, standing on the head of mahishAsuran, with conch and chakra in the upper hands and two lower hands offering boons and protection to the devotees. In this temple alone, goddess Durga will be wearing a 9 yard saree, as opposed to other temples where she will be wearing an ordinary saree or skirt(pAvAdai) like a small girl.

Having the darshan of durga, we move to the sannidhi of GnAnAmbikai. It is built as a separate temple. Mother gnAnAmbikA is in a standing posture with varada abhaya hastham, with her eyes filled with grace. One could lose their ignorance and gain knowledge if her vision falls on us.

After having their darshan we offer namaskArams at the dvijasthambam and move out of the temple with a sense of achieving something.

Konerirajapuram - Tirunallam

For those who have read kalki's novel ponniyin selvan this name will sound familiar. This is a small village near kumbakonam.

This village is famous for the Nataraja in the Shiva's temple. Lord Shiva is called as Umamaheswara and his consort devi parvati is called by the name Anga vaLa nAyaki or dehasundari amman. The temple is such a massive structure. Very very attractive with the large mandapams or halls. There is a big tank infront of the temple. Right now there is very little water in the tank.

This temple has been built by kandaradhittha chola and his wife sembian maa devi. Kandaradhithan is the grand father of the famous Raja Raja Chola. He is well known for his service to Lord Shiva, by building huge temples in his empire.

We enter into the temple. Usually to one's right side, in any shiva temple there would be Lord Vinayaka. But here, we could see Shanmuka Subrahmanya. Yes, Lord muruga with 6 faces, 12 hands, surrounded by Valli and Devasena on his both sides. To have darshan of Vinayaka first, we move to our left side portion. There Lord Vinayaka, protected by two bhutha gaNAs (one with banana bunch on his head and the other with a jack fruit on his head) is seated, blessing the devotees.

We then move into the main mandapam with dvijasthambam. If we look up, on the ceiling, there we could be amazed by the awesome paintings. We can see the five faces of Lord Shiva - thathpurusham, eesaanam, vamadevam, satyojatam and agOram, moorthis of 4 vedas, and more. After praying there at the dvijasthambam where it is believed that the power of the deity inside the sanctum sanctoram is concentrated, we enter the temple. There were also paintings of british period - policemen with arms standing at the ritual and so on. But due to poor maintenance, most of the area in the paintings got faded.

We could see lord Uma maheswara. The lingam is quite large in size that one could see the lord from the entrance. We circum ambulate the sannidhi and in the prahaaram we can see lot of other idols. Idols of Bhairava, Surya, some more siva lingas like kasi viswanathar, Shenbagavana nathar and few more are there.

Further proceeding we could see the vaahana mandapam (place where God's vehicles like swan, yaLi (mixture of lion and elephant), ox (rishabham) are kept). All the vaahanam speaks about the antique values. But again time has eaten away the charm of them. On the opposite side we could see the idols of Agastya rishi, vinayaka and some writings, stating about the architects of this temple (sembian madevi and kandaradithan).

We complete the round and come outside to see the navagraha sannidhi and there is another shiva linga that has been worshipped by all the 9 planets.

In the opposite side we see the majestic Nataraja. The tallest / the highest/ the majestic.. Whatever adjective that suits the best, we can use for him. There will be a mole and a hair stuck to the mole on his chest. To his side, stands the graceful SivakAmi. He is the moolavar. He wont be taken out for procession. To his side, there is another sannidhi where lies another nataraja. This is the utsava moorthi who will be taken out for procession. He is also called as kalyanasundara moorthi, also called as Maapillai swami and his consort is Devi kAthyAyani.

We come out of the shiva's sannidhi and go for a bigger round in the outer prakAram. There comes the devi sannidhi. Its like a separate temple. We offer our salutations to the anga vaLa nayaki or deha sundari and request for good health for every one of us. One could observe that there is a separate nandi for ambal which is very uncommon in temples in and around kumbakonam district. In few temples in other places this is very common. There is also a sannidhi of Lord Vaidyanatha in the outer prakAram, after coming out of Ambal sannidhi.

We go around the temple's outer prakaaram, talking about the massive structure and spacious prakaaraas of the temple and finally offer our namaskArams to the lord near the dvijasthambam and come out of the temple.

We then proceed to the agrahAram where people stayed. Now, it is almost deserted. Many of the people got settled in major cites or in other countries. There were houses on both sides of the street. There is also another street having houses in one lane alone. We saw our ancestral house, now belonging to someone else, from outside and proceeded to the perumaL temple, situated in the west side of the agrahAram.

PerumAL is called here as Varadharajan. Bhoomi and Neela Devi are his consorts here. In addition to Varadharaja perumal, we have a separate sannidhi for kodhanda ramar (rama with bow and arrow in his hands). Rama stands along with Sita, Lakshman and hanuman and blesses all his devotees.

There is also another temple near this perumal temple, for goddess Durga. Durga stands on the devil Mahishasuran's (buffalo like deamon) head. There is no roof for her. She is called as Akaasha Durga or Durga who is open to sky.

Praying to all these deities, with a nostalgic feeling, we left the village.

Tanjore Brihadeeswara Temple

I had been to ThanjAvoor for a marriage this week end.

I visited the Brihadeeswarar temple also called as The Big Temple. What a massive structure! The gOpurams, prakArams were all studded with impressive paintings, sculptures, inscriptions.

There is a Ganapathi sannidhi in the outer prakAram. On the steps, there were inscriptions in sanskrit instead of the traditional dEvanAgari (grantham). The temple is well maintained by archeological department. Earlier, the gOpuram will not be that much bright and all. But now, they had cleaned the entire stretch and its very bright and shiny.

I visited the temple on a Saturday which happened to be a pradOsham day. The priests were preparing the massive nandi for pradOsha kAla abhishEkam. But I went there at around 11 AM in the morning and the sun was at its peak. Though the prakAram was very hot, I managed to walk through it and saw other sannidhis like vArAhi amman, brihannAyaki, dakshinAmoorthy who was seated at reasonable a height from the ground (we need to climb some 15 to 20 steps to see him), rAhu bhagawAn, Bhairava, Sanaischara so on. There was also a siddhar sannidhi (karuvoorar) which was also very pious.

I went to that temple for the second time. My first visit to that temple was when I was 10 or 11 years old. At that time I didnt observe this much.

And one good thing that made me happy was, a small boy, aged about 7 or 8 years, chanted the vEdA. He was chanting sri rudram in front of the lord brihadeeswara under the supervision of the head sivAchAryA. I was amazed by the tone with which the boy rendered the rudram.

Lalgudi - Thiru Thava Thurai

Lalgudi - the place well known for the great violin maestro Shri G.Jayaraman is also a popular shiva kshetra. The name for this kshetra is thirutthavatthurai.

The presiding deity is Lord Shiva - known by the name saptharhisheeshwarar or the lord of the seven saints. In Tamil, the deity is given the name Thiruththavanathar. The ambal of the temple is called by name "Srimathi" or Thirupperumpiraatti. The pushkarani or holy tank is Shiva Gangai.

This tank is said to have cured the illness (leprosy) of the group of people affected by a curse. The people of the Mazhava nadu along with their king were affected by the disease and upon the instruction from their guru, they took a dip in the sivagangai and got cured of their illness.

Lalgudi is on the state highway (Trichy - Chennai). We can also reach Lalgudi by train (Pallavan, Vaigai, Rockfort and many trains starting from Chennai Egmore and reaching Trichy).

A very pleasant and enjoyable place with lot of green fields, Lalgudi need to be visited once in our life time.

Thiruvaanaikkoil - Sthala puraanam

Thiruvaanaikka, also referred as Jambukeswaram or Gajaaranya kshetram is located in Trichy, near the banks of the sacred river Kaveri.

Its a famous Shiva temple. Few info about the kshetra:
Presiding deities - Jambukeswara and Akilandeswari
Sthala vriksham - Jambu tree or naaval (in Tamil)

There lived an elephant and a spider in a forest, without knowing each other. Both were born there as a result of some cursings that they got from an ascetic in their previous birth. To overcome the curse, they came to the forest on the banks of the river kaveri. They found a lingam (form of shiva on the earth) under a naaval tree.
Each started worshipping the lord in their own way without noticing each other.

The spider use to build a web to protect the lingam from dust. After completing it, the spider use to fly away somewhere and the elephant use to come to that place. Everyday the elephant use to take water from the river kaveri, fill it in its trunk and it will perform abhishekam (pour water on the lingam) and offer flowers. As a result of this the spider web will be destroyed.

This was happening every day. One day both the spider and the elephant met each other. On seeing the spider building the web over the lingam, the elephant became angry. Also on seeing the elephant spraying water on the lingam, the spider became angry. So the spider advanced itself towards the elephant and intruded inside the elephant's trunk. Elephant was unable to breathe and eventually died. The spider was also unable to come out from the deceased elephant's trunk and it also breathed its last.

Suddenly Lord Shiva, appeared and granted salvation to the Elephant. The spider was given another birth and it was commanded to be born as a Chola king, "senkot chozhan". It was this chola king, who built the present day thiruvaanaikka temple. He built several temples for Lord Shiva, on the banks of river Kaveri. In these temples, the shiva sannidhi will be at a lower level and there will be a window with nine openings in front of linga. Why so? Because of his previous birth vasanas, He built in a way that elephants could not worship Shiva easily. Elephants could not enter the sannidhi as it will be very small and at a lower level.

The image above and those below is that of the east side gopuram, which is the rajagopuram of this temple. This tower is built by Pandya king - Sundara Pandiyan. Hence it carries his name Sundara Pandiyan gopuram.