Devara Paadal Petra Sthalam | 8th Shiva Sthalams(One of the Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam) |
Region | Thondai Naadu |
Thondai Naadu | 8th Shiva Sthalam |
Pathigam | Saint Thirugnanasambanthar |
HISTORY:
Lord
Shiva preached (meaning “Othu” in Tamil) Veda to celestial gods (Devas) and
sages at this place, hence this place gets the name “Thiruvothoor” and the lord
is praised as “Vedapureeswarar”. It is believed that this temple was
constructed during 6th century CE.
Dakshan humiliated both Dakshayani
and Lord Shiva:
Dakshayani,
daughter of Dakshan and the granddaughter of Lord Brahma was married to Lord
Shiva. Once, when Dakshan was performing a grand yagna, he intentionally failed
to invite Lord Shiva. Goddess Dakshayani took offence to this and decided to
visit the Yagna against the wishes of her husband with the purpose of asking
her father to invite Lord Shiva. But clouded by his arrogance and pride,
Dakshan humiliated both Dakshayani and Lord Shiva. Furious, Dakshayani cursed
her father that his Yagna would not be successful. Furthermore, she wanted to
seek absolution for the sin of being the daughter of an opponent of Lord Shiva
and decided to perform penance at this place (Thiruvothur).
Saint Thirugnanasambanthar:
A
devotee of Lord Shiva, who was looking after this temple, had grown palm trees
on the banks of the river Cheyyar and around the temple’s fields to protect the
temple’s walls from erosion and floods. However, all of these palm trees were
male and did not yield any fruits. The Jains laughed at him and started
taunting him by saying “why don’t you ask your God to change these male palm
trees into female (fruit bearing) ones?” When Saint Thirugnanasambanthar came
to this temple, he was informed about this incident. It is believed that as a
result of Thirugnanasambanthar’s hymns, all the male palm trees were
transformed into female palm trees. Some of these trees can still be seen in
this temple. When Saint Thirugnanasambanthar visited Thiruvothur, the Jains at
this place conducted a yagna and sent a poisonous snake to kill him. He
redirected the snake back to their leader who realized Sambanthar’s power and
surrendered to him. Sambanthar prayed to Lord Shiva who then appeared as
a snake charmer and took the snake away. To commemorate this incident, there is
a huge idol of Nagalingam / Sri Naganathar (snake with five heads) installed in
this temple.
After
failing in their attempts to kill him, the Jains invited Thirugnanasambanthar
for a competition (Punalvadam in Tamil). During this competition, the Jains
wrote their slokas on a palm leaf and put it in the river Cheyyar. This palm
leaf got carried away in the river stream. when Thirugnanasambanthar did the
same, the palm leaf in which he wrote his pathigam floated against the stream,
came back and got stationed at a particular place. After this incident, Jains
accepted their defeat. This place is called “Cheyyatril Ventran”. It is
believed that similar type of incidents and competition had also taken place in
Madurai.
Thondaiman:
A
local ruler by the name of Thondaiman requested Lord Shiva to help him conquer
the kingdom of King Visuvasu. Lord Shiva sent Nandhi along with Thondaiman to
help him defeat Visuvasu. In memory of this, Nandhi here is facing the
entrance of the temple instead of facing the lord.
Significance of this temple:
The
significance of this temple is that from the centre of the main hall you can
see and worship all the five deities at the same time - Lord Shiva, Goddess
Parvathi, Vinayakar, Murugan, Navagraham and the Palm trees. This is a unique
feature of this temple and you cannot find such placement of shrines in any
other temple in Tamil Nadu.
Another
significance of this temple is that in the outer corridor, separate shrines for
all the five “Panchapootha” lingams can be seen. It is believed that devotees
will get the benefit of visiting Kanchipuram, Thiruvanaikkaval, Sri Kalahasthi,
Chidambaram and Thiruvannamalai by worshiping these five lingams from here
itself.
SALIENT
FEATURE:
·
This temple with
main tower (Rajagopuram) has 7-tiers
·
This is one of
the few temples where palm tree is the sthala viruksham – they are –
Thiruvothur, Thirupananthal, Thirupanaiyur, Thiru Vanparthan Panangkattur,
Puravar Panangkattur, Thiru Mazhapadi and Thiru Valampuram.
·
Lord Shiva
performed his “Veera Nadanam” here.
·
This is one of
the temples where Lord Murugan is believed to have worshiped Lord Shiva. The
Cheyyaru River itself is believed to have been created by Lord Murugan and it
serves as the Theertham of this temple.
·
Nandhi’s posture
here is that when Lord Shiva preached Veda to the celestial gods and sages,
Nandhi was instructed to keep a watch at the entrance to prevent any
disturbances.
·
On the left side
of the entrance, there is a huge palm tree made of stone - half of it depicts a
male palm tree and the other half depicts a female palm tree. Lord Shiva can be
seen seated under this tree, and Saint Thirugnanasambanthar can also be seen at
his side. Thirugnanasambanthar’s idol looks as if he is reciting his pathigam.
·
This temple is
that everyday sun ray’s fall directly on the Shivalingam.
·
There is a
separate shrine for Lord Mahavishnu in the name of Aadhi Kesava Perumal.
·
Saint
Thirunavukkarasar (Appar) is believed to have visited this temple and rendered
pathigams, those pathigams have not been recovered.
TEMPLE
INFORMATION:
|
Moolavar |
Sri Vedapureeswarar / Sri Vedanathar |
|
Ambal |
Sri Balakujambigai / Sri Ilamulai Nayaki |
|
Theertham |
Cheyyaru river and Kalyana Kodi Thertham |
|
Sthala
Vriksham |
Palm Tree |
BELIEF:
It
is believed that those seeking “santhana prapthi” (child boon) can pray to the
Goddess here by making offering of palm fruits and then consuming it.
Devotees
also worship Lord Shiva of this temple for prosperity and wisdom.
In
this temple, there is a separate shrine for Nagalingam. Special poojas are
conducted for this Nagalingam on all Saturdays between 0900 and 1030 AM. It is
believed that devotees can worship this lingam to get relief from “Naga
Dosham”.
Lakshadeepam and Gnanasambanthar festival celebrated on Visakam day in the Tamil month of Aadi.
TEMPLE
FESTIVAL:
|
Tamil Month |
English Month |
Festival Name |
|
Thai |
Jan-Feb |
10 days Brahmotsavam |
|
Aadi |
July-Aug |
Visakam day |
|
Maasi |
Feb-Mar |
10 days
Brahmotsavam (Maasi Maham festival) |
|
Maasi |
Feb-Mar |
Maha
Shivrathri |
|
Panguni |
Mar-Apr |
Panguni Uthiram |
HOW
TO REACH:
Thiru
Vothur is situated at a distance of about 30 kms from Kanchipuram. From
Kanchipuram, there is a straight road to Thiruvothur.
From
Vandavasi, it is about 16 kms on the Vandavasi - Arcot route and from Thusi it
is about 20 kms on the Kanchipuram - Vandavasi route.
TEMPLE ADDRESS:
Sri Vedapureeswarar
Temple,
Thiruvothur
(Thiruvathipuram),
Cheyyar,
Thiruvannamalai,
Tamil Nadu – 604 407.
LOCATION:
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