9. SRI VRIDDHAGIRISWARAR TEMPLE TIRUMUDUKUNRAM, VIRUDHACHALAM

Devara Paadal Petra Sthalam	41th Shiva Sthalams(One of the Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam)
Region	Nadu Naadu
Nadu Naadu	9th Shiva Sthalam
Pathigam	Saint Thirugnanasambanthar, Saint Thirunavukarasar (Appar) and Saint Sundaramurthy (Sundarar)

HISTORY:

When Brahma thought of creating the earth, he created water. Lord Vishnu happened to cut down the evil Madhukaidavas. The cut pieces of the bodies floated on water created by Lord Brahma. On seeing that Brahma prayed to Lord Shiva to create the earth out of the hardened compound from the water and the flesh of the bodies. Lord Shiva appeared as a mountain. Lord Brahma who did not know this created many different mountains. As they did not have space to exist, he was sorrowful. The Pranava God appeared and conveyed Lord Brahma the truth through gestures. Brahma worshipped Lord Shiva who was the form of mountain. Lord Shiva created the earth combining the flesh and the water compounded in a hardened form. He called it medhini. He gave space for the mountains of Brahma.

He told Brahma that he was not different from the mountain. The mountains of Brahma came into being after that mountain. Hence the mountain of Shiva was named Pazha malai (Old Mountain). According to him, that Pazhamalai would be hard pressed on the earth appearing as Shiva Linga above. Those who worshipped it would get all they wished for. Thus, the oldest of all mountains is invisible, but the top layer of it is said to appear in the river-bed of Cuddalore at Vayalur, about four km north of Virudhachalam. The presiding deity Vriddhagiriswarar is revered in Tevaram, written by Tamil saint poets known as the nayanmars and classified as Paadal Petra Sthalam. The temple gives its name to the town of Vriddhachalam. The temple is in the banks of river Manimutharu. This temple is also called  as Thirumudukundram or Pazha malai.It just means a grand old mountain.

Sage Vibasithu:

Sage Vib­a­sithu paid the labours with Vanni leaves. He had a dip in the Man­imuthar River and un­der­took the ren­o­va­tion of this tem­ple. He gave the work­ers the leaves of the Vanni tree which later changed into coins to the value due to the work­ers based on the quan­tum and qual­ity of his work, is a story be­lieved by gen­er­a­tions of devo­tees. The Vanni tree is 1700-year-old, say re­searchers. The con­struc­tion of the tem­ple, by it­self, has an in­ter­est­ing leg­end. Vib­a­sithu Mu­ni­var, it is said, hap­pened to find the ear­ring that be­longed to Lord Ku­bera's daugh­ter. The jewel, dear to her, was dropped on the lap of Vib­h­a­sithu, by a bird. Ku­bera's daugh­ter an­nounced a re­ward of all her re­main­ing Jew­ellery in re­turn for her ear­ring. Vib­h­a­sithu gave the ear­ring and with the re­ward he con­structed the tem­ple.

Saint Sundarar:

It is one of the shrines of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthal­ams. Saint Sun­darar was on a fund-rais­ing mis­sion to feed the devo­tees on the Pan­guni Uthi­ram fes­ti­val in Tiru­varur. Sun­darar passed through this place with­out singing the glory of the Lord. He was stopped by the Lord and made him sing. Then, Lord of this tem­ple do­nated 12,000 gold coins to Sun­dararar. Be­ware of rob­bers on the way, he placed all the coins in the Man­imuthar River and col­lected it in the tank in Tiru­varur. This is a strange pre­cau­tion. Money placed in a river can­not be col­lected from a tank that has no link with each other. But this mir­a­cle hap­pened. Thus, came the proverb, “los­ing in the river and search­ing in the tank”. Sun­darar wanted to test the touch of the gold he took from the tank in Tiru­varur. Lord proved the qual­ity of the gold with Lord Vinayaka as a wit­ness who con­firmed the touch. Hence, Vinayaka in the inner prakara of the tem­ple is praised as Mat­tru-touch, Uraitha-con­firmed, Vinayaka- Mat­tru Uraitha Vinayaka.

Significance of Number Five:

Num­ber five has sig­nif­i­cance in this tem­ple. Murthis are five – Lords Vinayaka, Mu­ruga, Shiva, Shak­thi and Chandikeswara. Lord is praised by five names – Virud­ha­gireesh­warar, Pazhamalai Nathar, Vrud­dhachaleswarar, Mudhu Kun­dreeswarar and Vrud­dha­giri. There are five Vinayakas in the tem­ple – Aazhathu Vinayakar, Mat­tru Uraitha Vinayaka, Mup­pil­la­yar, Dasab­huja Gana­p­a­thy and Val­labha Gana­p­athi. Five Rishis had the dar­shan of Lord – Romesa, Vibasid­dhu, Ku­ma­radeva, Nada Sharma and Anavard­hini. There five tow­ers in the tem­ple at east, west, south, north and Kan­darathithan (a Chola king) gop­u­ram. There are five prakaras – called Thiruchutru in Tamil They are Kailaya, Van­niyadi, 63 Nayan­mar Chut­tru and Pan­chavarna Chut­tru. There are five Kodi­marams - flag post with five Nand­his – Indra Nandhi, Vedha Nandhi, Athma Nandhi, Maalvidai Nandhi and Dharma Nandhi. There are five inner Man­daps – Artha, Idaikazhi, Tha­pana, Maha and Isai Man­da­pams. Outer Man­da­pams are 20 pil­lar man­da­pam, Deeparad­hana, 100 pil­lar man­da­pam, Vipa­chithu and Chi­tra man­da­pam. Five-time puja is fol­lowed in the tem­ple - Thiru­vanan­dal, Kalas­an­thi, Uchi Kala, Sa­yarak­sha and Artha­jama at sched­uled times from early morn­ing till night. The tem­ple has five cars-Raths for Lords Vinayaka, Mu­ruga, Pazhamalai Nathar, Mother Periyanayagi and Sri Chandikeswara. The place has five names – Tiru­mudhu Kun­dram, Vrud­dha Kasi, Virud­hacha­lam, Nerkup­pai and Mud­hugiri.

Unaffected by flood:

It is the faith of the devo­tees that sal­va­tion is surety if he/she is born in the place, or lives in the place, or praise the Lord here, or even think­ing of him even while else­where and die in this place. One of the above five cri­te­ria will free him/her from the cycle of births and deaths. When the world was de­stroyed by pralaya floods, it is said that this holy place - Virud­hacha­lam stood un­af­fected and fully alive. Of the 1008 Shiva shrines of the coun­try con­sid­ered in high es­teem, four lead this di­vine list of which Virud­hacha­lam is one.

Virutha Kasi:

It is one of the places giv­ing sal­va­tion to the de­parted. It is even con­sid­ered holier than Holy Kasi i.e. Varanasi. As be­lieved in Kasi, here too Mother Virutham­bi­gai places the de­parted souls on her lap and fan them with the pallu of her Sari while Lord Shiva chants the Na­ma­si­vaya mantra in the ears of the dead en­sur­ing his/her sal­va­tion. Hence in olden days peo­ple of Virud­hacha­lam never both­ered to un­der­take a pil­grim­age to Varanasi when they be­come old and weak. As a re­sult, this place is also come to known as Virud­hakasi. It is also claimed that the ben­e­fit mea­sure is a lit­tle bit more here than Kasi, hence the say­ing “Kasiyil Veesam Ad­higam in Virud­hakasi”. The ashes of the dead when dis­solved in Man­imuthar River change into a stone and stay un­der­neath, ac­cord­ing to Stha­la­pu­ranam. Lord Shiva as Nataraja danced in Thillai for a con­test. He played here for his own joy.

Mother Peria Nayaki fed King:

Dur­ing his visit to this place, the king of Kar­nataka suf­fered due to hunger. Mother Peria Nayaki, as a young woman fed him with milk and named him Ku­mara Deva.

Mother's appearance:

Virutham­bi­gai means God­dess of el­derly age. Devo­tee Guru Namshiv­a­yar stayed in this place for a night on his way to Chi­dambaram. He was very hun­gry and called Mother with a verse with a word Kizhavi. Mother Periyanayagi came there as an old woman and replied that Kizhavi-old woman can­not bring food, only young woman can. The devo­tee sang an­other verse de­scrib­ing the youth­ful­ness of Am­bica. She ap­peared as a young beau­ti­ful woman and fed the devo­tee and thus came to be known as Bal­am­bika – young Mother.

Maasi Magam:

Maasi Magam is an im­por­tant fes­ti­val. It is be­lieved that Vib­a­sithu Mu­ni­var sought the dar­shan of Lord Siva, through the Nandi. On the sixth day of the Masi Magam fes­ti­val, Lord Vrid­dha­giriswarar, along with his Con­sort God­dess Virutham­bi­gai, ap­peared be­fore Vib­a­sithu Mu­ni­var.

SALIENT FEATURE:

·        The Vanni tree in the temple is 1700 year old, say researchers.

·        Girivalam cicumambulating the hill takes place on each poornima full moon days.

·        Lord vinayaka is in an underground shrinewith 18 steps to get in for worship.

TEMPLE INFORMATION:

Moolavar	Sri Virud­ha­gireesh­warar, Sri Pazhamalai Nathar, Sri Vrud­dhachaleswarar, Sri Mudhu Kun­dreeswarar and Sri Vrud­dha­giri
Ambal	Sri Peria Nayaki, Sri Virutham­bi­gai
Theertham	Manimutha River, Nityananda Koopam,Agni,Chakra theetham,Kubera Theertham
Sthala Vriksham	Vanni tree

BELIEF:

This temple is equivalent to Kasi because people who breathe their last here are blessed with god and goddess chanting the Shivaya Nama in the ears of the deceased.

Devotees believe that mental peace with his prayers submitted to Lord.Any and every ailment disappears.

Mother durga in the Temple graces the devotees with wedding boon.People pray for child boon and prosperity.

Devotees pray to Lord Bhairava with vada mala for removal of successive hardship attacking them.

TEMPLE FESTIVAL:

Tamil Month	English Month	Festival Name
Maasi	Feb-Mar	10 days Brahmotsavam (Maasi Maham festival) with car festival
Aadi	July-Aug	10 day Aadi Pooram with ambica wedding festival
Panguni- Chithirai	May-June	10 days vasanth utsav
Aani	June-July	Aani Thirumanjanam
Markazhi	Dec-Jan	Arudra Dharisanam
Aipasi	Oct-Nov	Skanda Sashti – Soora Samharam

HOW TO REACH:

Road transport is very good in Cuddalore District. National highways NH45 , NH45A are running through Cuddalore. Satte Highways 32 & 36 are also running through Cuddalore District. On road Cuddalore is located 200Km From state headquarters.

 Chennai – Villupuram – Cuddalore – Thanjavoor – Trichy Raliways route is available running via Cuddalore Town the District head quarters. 2. Another major rail route is also available in this District is Chennai -Villupuram – Vridhachalam – Trichy . It is also operational, In which Vridhachalam is loacted 50KM from Cuddalore Town. There is connecting rail route is also available between Cuddalore and Vridhachalam.

TEMPLE ADDRESS:

Sri Virud­ha­gireesh­warar Temple,

Virudhachalam,

Cuddalore,

Tamil Nadu - 606111.

LOCATION: