the Ultimate Web on Indian Gods & Temples

 by Padmani,

Abodes of Shiva

According to sthalapuranam, Lord Murugan sought the blessings of Lord Shiva to cleanse himself of the sin Veerahathi dosham that he accrued from killing demon Surapadman. Lord Shiva advised him to go to this place and perform penance. Lord Murugan reached this place and made a Vinayakar with turmeric (Manjal in Tamil) powder and started his worship. That place near Velur is now called Manjadi. He also created a pond using his spear (Vel). With the help of Indra and Maya (the divine sculptor), he built a beautiful temple for Lord Shiva.During the course of his penance, Veerahathi in the form of mayas began to interfere in his worship. He sought the help of Lord Shiva who in turn asked Goddess Parvathi to protect Lord Murugan’s penance. Goddess Parvathi appeared there as Badrakaali and protected him by covering all the four directions and the sky. As she covered all the five directions, she is praised here as Anju Vattathu Amman (anju means five and vattam means circle in Tamil). She is also known here as Kaali. It is believed that Sage Agasthiyar had performed penance here. Lord Shiva was pleased with his prayers and allowed him to witness his wedding darshan as well as his cosmic dance. This is the only place where Lord Shiva danced on a different leg (left leg on the ground and his right leg lifted). It is believed that while he was dancing, Mahavishnu played an instrument (Mathalam), Mahalakshmi clapped her hands, Brahma played thalam, Saraswathi played veena, Indra played flute, Vinayakar and Murugan both sung songs while Sages Agasthiyar, Pathanjali and Viyakrapathar worshiped and enjoyed the beautiful dance. The procession idols depicting this dance performance can be seen in the main hall. It is believed that Kuberan visited this place on an Atchaya Trithiya day and worshiped the lord. Lord Shiva gave him nine pots full of wealth, which included the Sanga Nidhi and Paduma Nidhi.

This is one of the 276 Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams and 84th Shiva Sthalam on the Southern bank of the river Cauvery in Chozha Nadu (Thenkarai). Lord Shiva in this temple is a Swayambumurthi (self-manifested).This temple is counted as one of the Maadak Koils built by King Kochengat Cholan, one of the 63 Nayanmars. This temple is also known as Kubera Sthalam. This east facing temple has two corridors and its main tower (Rajagopuram) has 7-tiers. The legend is that once upon a time, when the Devas and Asuras were churning the Thiruparkadal ocean to extract nectar, it is believed that a drop of the nectar fell on the ground at two places – one in north India and the other one at this place. The place where it fell in north India is known as North Badarikaranyam (present Badrinath in Uttarakand state) and this place is known as South Badarikaranyam. Badri refers to Elanthai tree and once this region was a forest densely covered with badri trees. The sthalaviruksham of this temple is also badari tree.As Lord Murugan (Vel) worshiped Lord Shiva here, this place gets the name Velur.The temple is built at an elevation of about 21 feet with 18 steps on the hillock and is known as Chithira Kooda Parvadam. All the idols of Navagraham are seen in a single row facing Lord Shiva. Normally in other temples, they are in the 3X3 matrix.In this temple, the shrines of both Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy are facing the east direction. Goddess Parvathy’s shrine is on the right side of Lord Shiva’s shrine. This is considered to symbolise their wedding posture. The lord of this temple is called Akshayalingeswarar. kshayam means destruction and A-kshayam means the inverse of that. Another reason for this name is that this lord is believed to be the owner of the Akshaya bowl (the bowl of wealth). In Tamil, he is praised as Sri Kediliyappar because kedu means destruction. Goddess Kaali is made of sand (Sudhai), hence only Punugu (civet) and sambirani thailam are applied once in a while. The Anju Vattathu Amman Koil here is famous among devotees.There are nine (nava) Theerthams related to this temple – Brahma Theertham, Yama Theertham, Agni Theertham, Soorya Theertham, Chandra Theertham, Indra Theertham, Sesha Theertham, Saravana Poigai and Kubera Theertham.The idol of Natarajar here is incredibly beautiful and it dates back to the 18th century. The lord is seen here standing with his left leg and his right one is lifted above. Here he is seen with ten hands. This is a very unique posture.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. This is a parihara sthalam for all kinds of doshas including Pithru dosham.

Poojas are performed here six times every day. The annual Bhramotsavam is celebrated in the month of Chittirai (Apr-May). During this time, the Rishabha vaahana utsavam and the Sapta Sthana utsavam are important festivals that are celebrated in a grand manner. Some of the other important festivals celebrated in this temple are – Aani Thirumanjanam in the Tamil month of Aani (June-July), Aadi Pooram in the Tamil month of Aadi (July-Aug), Vinayakar Chaturthi in the Tamil month of Aavani (Aug-Sept), Navarathri in the Tamil month of Purattasi (Sept-Oct), Skanda Shashti and Annabishekam in the Tamil month of Aippasi (Oct–Nov), Thiru Karthikai and Somavaram in the Tamil month of Karthikai (Nov-Dec), Thiruvadhirai in the Tamil month of Markazhi (Dec-Jan), Makara Sankranthi in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan-Feb), Shivrathri in the Tamil month of Masi (Feb-Mar) and Panguni Uthiram in the Tamil month of Panguni (Mar-Apr). Pradosham, Pournami and Sankatahara Chaturthi are also observed regularly.