Devara Paadal Petra Sthalam | 137th Shiva Sthalams(One of the Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam) |
Region | Chola Naadu - South |
Chola Naadu - South | 20th Shiva Sthalam |
Pathigam | Saint Thirugnanasambanthar, Saint Thirunavukarasar (Appar) |
HISTORY:
Adisheshan (the serpent
on whom Sri Mahavishnu rests) and Vayu (lord of the winds) fought among
themselves frequently to test their superiority. During one such struggle,
against Vayu’s severe wind, Adhiseshan failed to hold on to the Mount Meru.
In this process, two peaks of the mountain were dislocated and fell onto
the earth, one at this place (Nallur) and the other at Aavoor, a nearby
village. The Shivalingam here is believed to have formed from the mountain peak
that fell here.
Sri
Panchavarneswarar:
Lord Shiva’s lingam
here changes its colour 5 times in a day. Hence, the lord is praised as “Sri
Panchavarneswarar” (“pancha” means five, “varnam” means colour and “eswarar”
means the lord in Tamil).
Saint
Thirunavukkarasar:
When Saint
Thirunavukkarasar was at a nearby village called Shakthi Mutham, he pleaded to
Lord Shiva that he be blessed with the lord’s “thiruvadi deeksha”. Lord Shiva
advised the saint to come to Nallur (this temple) to get this “deeksha”.
It is believed that Lord Shiva gave the thiruvadi deeksha to Saint
Thirunavukkarasar here by placing his feet on the saint’s head. A unique
tradition in this temple is that similar to Vaishnava temple, “sadaari” (lord’s
foot) is placed on the heads of devotees as a form of blessing.
In his hymn, Saint
Thirunavukkarasar referred to this place as “vadapal kayilaiyum, thenpal
Nallurum tham vazhpathiye” (It is significant to note that Nallur is described
as South Kailash). In his hymn, he also mentions about thiruvadi deeksha.
Amaraneethi
Nayanar:
He is one of the 63
Nayanmars. He lived in this place and attained salvation. He belonged to
Pazhaiyaarai, a nearby village and later migrated to this place due to his
immense devotion towards the lord of this temple. He was a trader in
gold, diamonds, silks and cotton goods. Though he was engaged in worldly
activities, he was an ardent Shiva devotee. Every day he would invite Shiva
devotees to his house to worship and feed them. He was also extremely generous
and would also give them clothes as gifts.
Lord Shiva wanted to
test the extend of Amaraneedi Nayanar’s generosity. He also wanted to show the
Nayanar’s greatness to the world. One day Lord Shiva visited him in the form of
a young brahmin boy and praised his noble activities. The Nayanar requested the
boy to take food in his house to which the boy agreed. The boy told him that he
wanted to take a bath in the river. Since it was raining, he handed over his
clothes to keep them dry. When he returned from the river and asked for his
clothes, the Nayanar was unable to return them as they had magically
disappeared. The Nayanar gave him a new set of garments as replacement but the
boy was not ready to accept anything other than his own clothes.
The boy then demanded
equal weight in gold for his lost clothes. One by one, Amaraneethi Nayanar
started depositing all his wealth on one pan of the scale, but no amount of
gold was able to balance it. Finally, he submitted himself, his wife and his
son and prayed to Lord Shiva to save him. Lord Shiva was pleased by his
devotion and blessed the three with salvation.
Idols of the Nayanar
and his wife can be seen in the hall. There are both stone idols as well as
metal procession idols. The “Thula Mandapam” (hall) where he weighed himself in
a balance, can still be seen.
Kunti
Devi:
Kunti Devi, from the
Mahabaratha period. She is the wife of King Pandu and the mother of the
Pandavas. Kunti had committed a sin by having a child before her
marriage. She then put this infant in a basket and set him afloat in a river.
This child grew up to be known as Karna. After this act, a repentant Kunti
sought the advice of Sage Naradha. The sage said that she would be absolved of
the sin if she takes bath in the waters of all the seven oceans on a Maasi
Maham star day. A flabbergasted Kunti wondered how this could be possible. The
Sage then told her to come to this place. Following the advice, she reached
this place and prayed to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva instructed all the seven seas
to come to this temple’s tank to enable Kunti to take a dip. She took a dip in
this Theertham and was absolved of her sin. This tank is known as “Sapthasahara
Theertham”. There is a beautiful relief in this temple depicting Kunti
performing pooja to Lord Shiva.
Sage
Agasthiyar:
When the marriage of
Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati took place, everybody went to Mount Kailash to
attend the marriage. This created an imbalance and the earth tilted to one
side. In order to maintain balance, Lord Shiva asked Sage Agasthiyar to go to
the southern end. However, Sage Agasthiyar was disappointed that he could not
witness the lord’s wedding. Understanding the sage’s concern, Lord Shiva told
him that he would be blessed with the wedding darshan whenever he wished to see
it. Nallur is one such place where Lord Shiva gave his wedding darshan to the
sage.
At this temple, Sage
Agasthiyar consecrated another small lingam besides the existing one and
performed pooja. This small lingam is known as “Agasthiyar lingam”. Hence there
are two Shiva lingams on a single base (avudaiyar). This is a unique feature of
this temple. Lord Shiva was pleased with Sage Agasthiyar’s devotion and
appeared before him with his wedding form (“Kalyana Kolam”).
Behind the Lingam in
the sanctum (“garbagraham”), there is a sculpture of Lord Shiva and Goddess
Parvathi in a seated posture. An interesting feature is that lords Shiva,
Vishnu and Brahma are present in the same sanctum. Brahma is seen standing to
Shiva’s right and performing the marriage rites, while Vishnu is seen standing
to Shiva’s left. Sage Agasthiyar can be seen worshiping the lord.
Sage
Brinki:
Sage Brinki, an ardent
devotee of Lord Shiva, was not willing to worship the Goddess Parvathy. Hence,
he took the form of a “vandu” (bee) and worshipped Lord Shiva alone by flying
around him. Similar to a bee hive, there are a few small holes on this
Shivalingam.
Emperor
Musukundha Chakravarthi:
It is also believed
that Emperor Musukundha Chakravarthi was presented with seven idols of Lord
Thiyagarajar by Lord Indra. While taking them back to his kingdom, the emperor
stayed here for three days and worshiped Lord Shiva. This emperor belongs to
the “Dwapara Yuga”, the third of the four yugas.
People who worshipped here:
Lord Vayu, Sage
Agasthiyar, Sage Birunki, Sage Kaka Bhujandar, Kunti, Musukunda Chakravarthy
andSaints Thirugnanasambanthar and Appar have worshiped the lord here. It is
also believed that this lord was once worshiped by a lion.
SALIENT
FEATURE:
·
This temple is also famous as “Then
(Dakshina) Kayilayam”.
·
The uniqueness of this temple is that
the Shivalingam here changes its colour 5 times in a day.
·
Lord Shiva granted his “Thiruvadi
Deekshai” here to Saint Thirunavukkarasar.
·
Amaraneethi Nayanar, one of the 63
Nayanmars, lived in this place and attained salvation.
·
This east facing temple with main tower
(Rajagopuram) has 5-tiers.
·
Inside the sanctum, at the back of the
main lingam, there is a sculpture of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi in their
wedding form. Mahavishnu and Brahma can also be seen in this sculpture.
·
The “Balipeeta” (platform for making
offerings) is referred to as Lord Gananathar. It is considered to be a form of
Lord Shiva. There are only two places where Gananathar can be seen in this form
– one in Varanasi and the other one here.
·
It is believed that King Kochengat Chola
built about 70 “Madakkoils”. The distinguishing feature of a Madakkoil is that
it is not easily approachable by an elephant. He built these temples at an
elevation and there are a few steps that need to be climbed before seeing the
lord. Also, the sanctum sanctorum’s (Karpagragam) entrance is narrow such that
no elephant can enter it.
·
A very interesting phenomenon, a miracle
even, is that the Shiva Lingam here changes colour every six “nazhigai” (one
nazhigai equals 24 minutes). This means that the Shivalingam changes to a
different colour after every 2 hours and 24 minutes. From 6 am to 8:24 am the
lingam is copper coloured, between 8:25 am to 10:48 am the lingam is red in
colour, it changes to a golden hue between 10:49 am and 1:12 pm. Between 1:13
pm and 3:36 pm the colour changes to emerald green and finally, the lingam
appears multi-coloured between 3:37 pm and 6 pm. Hence the lord gets the name
“Sri Panchavarneswrar”.
·
The idol of Uchishta Ganapathy here can
be seen with his wife.
·
Lord Shiva’s hair (“Jada Mudi”) is
believed to occupy the space behind the sanctum. Hence, no one is allowed to go
around the inner corridor.
·
Saints Manickavasakar, Ramalinga
Adigalar, Sekkizhar, Nambiyandar Nambi and Malaikkozhunthu Navalar have sang
songs in praise of this lord.
·
This temple’s ancient Sthala viruksham
(vilvam tree) is called “Aadhimaram” (“adhi” means very old and “maram” means
tree in Tamil). This tree is believed to be the first tree on earth.
·
In the corridors, there are many
beautiful sculptures depicting various “avatars” of Lord Shiva.
·
There is a famous proverb - “Maham
piranthadu Nalluril Mahamaham piranthadu Kumbakonathil”. This means that the
“Maham festival” started in Nallur and the “Mahamaham festival” started in
Kumbakonam.
·
Thiru Nallur’s “Sapthasthana” temples
are – Thiru Nallur, Govindakudi, Avoor, Maaligaithidal, Mattiyanthidal,
Papanasam and Thiruppalaithurai.
·
In this temple, we can see a sculpture
of Lord Narasimha on the vimanam (tower) of the sanctum.
TEMPLE INFORMATION:
|
Moolavar |
Sri
Kalyanasundareswarar, Sri Panchavarneswarar, Sri Periyandeswarar, Sri
Soundara Naayakar, Sri Amirthalingar |
|
Ambal |
Sri
Kalyana Sundari, Sri Giri Sundari, Sri Thiripurasundari, Sri Parvatha
Sundari, Sri Vanduvaazh kuzhali, Sri Thirumalai Sokki |
|
Theertham |
Saptha
Sahara Theertham, river Kaveri |
|
Sthala
Vriksham |
Vilvam
tree |
BELIEF:
Devotees who are born
during the time of “Maka nakshatram” can visit this temple to seek the
blessings of the lord.
Devotees believe that
by worshiping the lord here, they will be relieved from the sins committed by
them (such as illicit relationship, abortion, cheating and adultery).
It is believed that a
dip in this temple’s holy water, Saptha Sahara Theertham, will absolve a person
from all his sins. This Theertham is considered to be as auspicious as the
Kumbakonam Mahamaham tank.
Thirunavukkarasar Guru Poojai is celebrated here.
|
Tamil Month |
English Month |
Festival Name |
|
Aani |
June-July |
Aani Thirumanjanam |
|
Aadi |
July-Aug |
Aadi Pooram |
|
Avani |
Aug-Sept |
Vinayakar Chaturthi |
|
Purattasi |
Sep-Oct |
Navarathri |
|
Aippasi |
Oct–Nov |
Skanda Shashti and Annabishekam |
|
Karthikai |
Nov-Dec |
Thiru Karthikai |
|
Markazhi |
Dec-Jan |
Thiruvadhirai |
|
Thai |
Jan-Feb |
Makara Sankranthi |
|
Maasi |
Feb-Mar |
Shivrathri |
|
Panguni |
Mar-Apr |
Panguni Uthiram |
HOW
TO REACH:
Thiru Nallur is
situated at a distance of about 15 kms from Kumbakonam on the Kumbakonam –
Papanasam – Tanjore route. After Sundara Perumal Koil, take the diversion road
at Uthani village and proceed further for about 2 kms to reach Nallur. From
Papanasam (via Vazhappazhakkadai) Nallur is about 5 kms.
Nearest railway station
is Sundaraperumal Koil (3 kms) on the Kumbakonam to Tanjore line.
TEMPLE
ADDRESS:
Sri Kalyanasundareswarar Temple,
Thirunallur,
Sundaraperumal Koil-Via,
Valangaiman,
Thiruvarur
Tamil Nadu – 614208.
LOCATION:
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