Devara Paadal Petra Sthalam | 87th Shiva Sthalams(One of the Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam) |
Region | Chola Naadu - North |
Chola Naadu - North | 33th Shiva Sthalam |
Pathigam | Saint Thirugnanasambanthar, Saint Thirunavukarasar (Appar) |
HISTORY:
The sage wanted to seek
the darshan of Lord Shiva and was performing rigorous penance. His penance was
disturbed by a Gandharva (dancers and singers from the celestial world). Sage
Durvasa cursed the Gandharva that he would turn into a crane (Naarai bird).
When he begged for forgiveness, the sage advised him to come to this place
(Naraiyur) and worship the lord every day with water from the Ganges in Banaras
to get relieved from this curse.
As a bird, the Gandharva
flew to Varanasi (Kasi) every day as fast as he could, fetched water from the
Ganges in his beak and performed abishekam. One day there was a heavy storm and
he could not continue his journey against the direction of the winds. Despite
all the hardships, the bird laboured on. Slowly, he lost all is feathers and
started falling down. Some of the water that he was carrying for the abishekam
also fell from his mouth. Lord Shiva was very pleased with his devotion and
blessed him with salvation (“mukthi”). Hence this place gets the name Naraiyur
and this temple is considered to be a “Mukthi Sthalam”. The place where the
water fell turned into a pond and it is now known as “Karunya Theertham”. The
place where the feathers fell is known as “Sirakizhantha Nallur” (“siraku”
means wing and “vizhuntha” means “to fall” in Tamil). This village is about 3
kms away from this temple.
The most significant
aspect of this temple is the Vinayakar – also called “Polla Pillaiyar”.
Polla Pillaiyar means that this idol is not chiselled but has appeared on
its own as “Swayambu”. He is very popular and regarded as the most powerful
deity here.
Nambiyandar
Nambi and Chola King Rajarajan:
Nambiyandar Nambi was
born in Thirunaaraiyur and his father Ananthesar was the temple priest. At a
young age, Nambiyandar was well versed in the Vedas and agamas. As a
young boy, he used to watch his father perform poojas in the temple. One day,
when his father returned from the temple, he asked his father where the
offering (nivedhanam) was. His father replied that the Vinayakar (Pollap
Pillaiyar) had eaten it as usual. He had said this only in jest and the
nivedhanam was distributed among the devotees.
One day, when his
father had gone to a nearby village, Nambi was asked to perform poojas in the
temple. After completing the regular poojas in the temple, he offered the
nivedhanam to the Vinayakar and asked him to eat. However, there was no
response from Lord Vinayakar idol. Nambi was worried that he had committed some
mistakes in the poojas because of which the lord had refused the offering. He
repeatedly requested the lord to eat the offerings. He started weeping and
punishing himself by bashing his own head on the foot of the idol. Pleased with
the sincere devotion of the child, Vinayakar came down to that shrine and
stopped Nambi hurting himself. He also ate the offering. When Nambi told this
story to his parents, they didn’t believe him. Next day, his parents hid
themselves in the shrine and watched in bewilderment as Lord Vinayakar started eating
the offering.
The story of this
miracle spread all across the nation. When King Rajaraja Cholan came to know
about this miracle, he refused to believe it and decide to come to this place.
The King came with some offerings and asked Nambi to offer it to the Pillaiyar.
Initially, the lord did not take the offering. Nambi became worried and
rendered his hymn which later came to be known as “Irattai Mani Malai”. Pleased
with his hymn, Vinayakar consumed the offerings in the presence of the
gathering which included the king.
The King then bowed
before the child and requested him to seek information about the whereabouts of
the Devara hymns. On Nambi’s request, Polla Pillaiyar, by way of a divine
voice, said that the hymns were kept in a room in the Chidambaram Natarajar
temple. The divine voice also informed him that on the door, there would be a
symbol of “hand”. Hence this Vinayakar is also praised as “Thirumurai Kattiya
Vinayakar” (the lord who revealed the Thirumurais).
The lord further
disclosed to Nambi the number of hymns rendered by each of the three saints
-Thirugnanasambanthar (16000 pathigams), Thirunavukkarasar (4900 pathigams) and
Sundharar (3800 pathigams).
The king took Nambi to
Thillai Natarajar Temple at Chidambaram in search of the hymns written on the
palm leaves. They found it in the room but most of them had been destroyed by
termites. Though the local Dikshithars from Chidambaram temple opposed this
mission, the king intervened and helped Nambi procure these scripts and
complete his task of compiling and arranging them. The king also assigned a few
scholars to assist Nambi.
However, what could be
recovered later was not even 10% of the total pathigams. The number of
pathigams that were recovered are - Thirugnanasambanthar (383 pathigams), Thirunavukkarasar
(313 pathigams) and Sundharar (100 pathigams) only. Nambi was saddened by the
loss of so many pathigams. At that time, the divine voice was heard stating
that whatever was essential had been recovered and instructed everyone to be
content with it.
Nambi’s “Irattai Mani
Malai” hymn, available in the 11th Thirumurai, is considered very
auspicious. It is sung before the Polla Pillaiyar here at every “Sankatahara
Chuthurthi” festival.
In Saint Sundarar’s
“Thiruthondar Thogai”, the names of the 63 Nayanmars have been mentioned.
Nambiyandar Nambi has written a brief history of each of the 63 Nayanmars.
Saint Sekkizhar’s “Periya Puranam” (also called “Thiruthondar Puranam”) builds
on the base provided by Nambi’s work. Nambi is also one of the authors of the
11th Thirumurai of the “Panniru Thirumurai”.
The whole Saivite world
is indebted to these great people – King Rajaraja Chola and Nambiyandar Nambi –
for recovering these priceless hymns, which would otherwise have never seen the
light of the day.
SALIENT
FEATURE:
· Lord Polla Pillaiyar (Vinayakar) in this temple is a Swayambu murthy and is very popular.
· This is the birth place of Nambiyandar Nambi, who along with King Rajaraja Chola recovered the Saiva Thirumurais from the Chidambaram Shiva temple.
· As the primary Shivalingam is “swayambu”, the lord here is praised as “Sri Swayamprakasa Eswarar”.
· Like his brother Murugan, Lord Vinayakar also has six abodes. They are Thirunaraiyur (this place) Thiruvannamalai, Virudhachalam, Thirukkadaiyur, Madurai and Kasi. Thirunaraiyur is considered to be his first abode.
· There are two Chandikeswarar here - one is for the Moolavar and the other one is for the Thirumulanathar.
· The shikara on top of the sanctum sanctorum is in the shape of a half- moon. There are two “kalas” on top of it. This is an architectural rarity. It is believed that Goddess Parvathy is always a part of Lord Shiva, thus signifying the second Kalas.
· There is also a separate small temple for Nambiyandar Nambi in front of this temple.
· During every “Sankatahara Chuthurthi” festival, Nambi’s “Irattai Mani Maalai” Pathigam is recited before Polla Pillaiyar.
· There are beautiful sculptures on either side of the second gopuram. On one side Polla Pillaiyar is shown taking offerings from Nambiyandar Nambi and on the other side, the sculpture depicts a crane (Naarai) worshiping a Shivalingam.
TEMPLE INFORMATION:
|
Moolavar |
Sri
Soundareswarar, Sri Swayamprakasa Eswarar |
|
Ambal |
Sri
Thiripurasundari |
|
Theertham |
Karunya
Theertham |
|
Sthala
Vriksham |
Punnai
tree |
BELIEF:
By worshiping the lord
here, devotees can seek forgiveness for all their sins – even those which were
committed unknowingly.
The highlights of this
temple are the 13-day Brahmotsavam - Rajarajan festival and the Nambiyandar’s
Guru Poojai (date of salvation) festival which are celebrated in the Tamil
month of Vaikasi (May-June).
It has been notified by
the temple authorities that the Brahmotsavam festival will be celebrated this
year (2018) after a long gap of 70 years.
|
Tamil Month |
English Month |
Festival Name |
|
Vaikasi |
May-June |
13-day Brahmotsavam - Rajarajan
festival and the Nambiyandar’s Guru Poojai (date of salvation) festival |
|
Vaikasi |
May-June |
Vaikasi Visakam |
|
Avani |
Aug-Sept |
Vinayakar
Chathurthi |
|
Maasi |
Feb-Mar |
Maha Shivrathri |
|
Karthikai |
Nov-Dec |
Thirukarthikai |
|
Aippasi |
Oct–Nov |
Skanda
Shashti and Annabishekam |
|
Markazhi |
Dec-Jan |
Thiruvadhirai |
HOW
TO REACH:
Thiru Naaraiyur is
situated at a distance of about 8 kms from Kattumannar Koil on the Kattumannar
Koil to Chidambaram route, near Kumaratchi. It is about 18 kms from
Chidambaram.
TEMPLE
ADDRESS:
Sri Soundareswarar Temple,
Thiru Naaraiyur,
Kattumannarkoil,
Cuddalore,.
Tamil Nadu - 608 303.
LOCATION:
No comments:
Post a Comment