Nachiyar Koil Kal Garudan

Nachiyar Koil (நாச்சியார் கோயில் )

One among the 108 Divya desams, this temple is located 10 km from Kumbakonam on the route to Thivarur. The presiding deity is Lord Vishnu as Srinivasa perumal and Lakshmi as Vanjulavalli Nachiyar.

 

Kal Garuda- கல் கருடன் ( Garuda made of Stone)

Garuda, the vehicle of the lord, is of special significance at this temple. The story goes that a sculptor who was creating an image of Garuda suddenly found the idol flying after he had made its wings. Shocked at this sudden action, the sculptor threw a stone at Garuda and struck him on the nose. Garuda came falling down and decided to settle here at this place and bless the devotees.

A huge and well built Lord Garuda is seen just next to Lord Srinivasa’s Sannidhi. As soon as you enter the temple, you can see Srinivasa perumal and to your right is Kal Garudan, huge seated in posture to carry the lord, with wings spread and significant beak.  Here the Moolavar and Utsavar are same deity and the Kal Garudan carries Srinivasa perumal during the festive season.

During the Garuda sevai, a magical event occurs. It is said that initially 4 people are enough to carry the Garudar out of the sannidhi. As the Garudar goes out of each layer or praharam, 4 people wont be sufficient to carry his weight, his weight seems to increase and 8,16, 32 and upto 128 people are required to carry Garudar. On his way back, the weight gradually decreases and finally 4 people can place him back in his sannadhi. We need to plan to visit this temple during the festive season, especially Kal garuda sevai to enjoy this magical event. I wish I visit there again.

Surrounding in the prahara, we found small sanctum for the 2 Garuda Birds with information as below.

We were lucky to see the Utsava moorthy in Kalyana Kolam ready for the procession.

 

For more details on the history/ pictures refer the links below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachiyar_Koil

http://kumbakonamtemples.in/naachiyaar-koil-thiru-naraiyur.html

http://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.in/2016/02/nachiyar-koil-thirunaraiyur-nambi_16.html

 

ThiruValanChuzhi temple, Kumbakonam

ThiruValanChuzhi (திருவலஞ்சுழி )

This temple is loacted on the way to Swamimalai and has a beutiful Gopuram. Also, as you enter the temple, the way enroute to the main deity is beautiful on either side with lots of coconut trees.

The presiding deity is Kapardiswarar, a form of the Hindu god Shiva and his consort Brihannayaki. There is also the Swetha Ganapathi/ வெள்ளை பிள்ளையார் (White Ganesha) and Ashta Bhuja MahaKali.

The temple is associated with a sage called Herandar, who, according to legend, is believed to have gone through an underground passage to (save the area which was flooded) the nether world and made the Kaveri River flow into the Bay of Bengal. It is believed he came out of the passage in Poombukar, the place where the river Cauvery reaches the Bay of Bengal. At Poombukar, at the place he came out, there is a temple built in his remembrance. Since the river took a convoluted direction in its flow, the place is called Tiruvalanjuzhi. There is an image of Herandar in the temple beside the deity Kapardiswarar. The Sage Herandar stand as a symbol of sacrifice. It is believed that when the river Kaveri was flooded, either the King or some sage had to go through the convoluted Passage that was formed in the river to drain out the water. The Sage Heranandar announced that he would go through it an prevented the King who was ready to go in to the passage.

As you enter the temple, after the Kodi Maram is a beautiful Mandapam in which is seated a very beautiful White Ganesh. It is believed that this statue of the God ganesh was brought by Devendran, the head of the devas and placed here. It is also believed have been formed from foam.The Mandapam has lot of minute architectural details. There is also a Balcony with small square holes which must have been very hard to make those days. The entire Mandapam is beautiful. Both the sides have windows and you can enter and leave the Mandapam from the sides.  You can light lamps in front of the God. The trunk of the elephant-headed god, Ganesha (Vinayagar) swirls towards the right. In Tamil, Valam means Right and Chuzi means Twist. Twist towards the right, hence the name ValanChuzhi

One another important deity of this temple is AshtaBhuja(one who has eight hands) Kali. It is believed that the great king Rajaraja Chozha Worshipped this Kali devi before all his Wars and gained victory in all his ventures. Hence, believed to be more powerful. The deity of Kali is to the left of the Brihannayaki devi Sannathi (the consort of the lord Shivs, Kapardiswarar).

 For more details/ photographs/ refer the links below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swetha_Vinayagar_Temple

http://www.dharsanam.com/2007/11/thiruvalanchuzhi-sri-swetha-vinayakar.html

http://templesoftamilnadu.co.in/thiruvalanchuzhi-vellai-pillayar/

Ayyavadi Prathyangira Devi temple

Ayyavadi Prathyangira temple

Earlier I have blogged about the Prathyangira temple in Sholinganallur, Chennai. Here is another post on the same Goddess located in Ayyavadi, Kumbakonam.

Ayyavadi is a small village 6 km from Kumbakonam. “Ayvar- Padi”(ஐவர் பாடி) has later become Ayyavadi(ஐய்யாவாடி ). It is believed that the Pancha Pandavars (Ayvar) worshipped Maha Prathyangira Devi here and hence the name. As we travelled along the Banks of the Kaveri river we crossed few Mayanabhoomi(grave yards) and reached this temple. It was mentioned in the compound walls of this temple that the temple is in middle of such MayanaBhoomis(surrounded by grave yards- to be more specific,Cremation grounds (as Hindus cremate)) in all 8 directions and so was asked not to speak bad words.

Lord Shiva  here is named as Agastheswarar and the Goddess is Dharmasamvarthini. After the darshan of Shiva and Ambal we went to worship Prathyangira devi. There is separate Sannadhi for Maha Prathyangira Devi. The Goddess has the face of the Lion, wears cresent moon on her head, and has weapons in her had. The priest served us Kumkum Prasad and flowers. The Goddess Prathyangira is also Named as Aparajitha (The one who can never be Won, the Goddess of Vistory).

Significance mentioned in the temple:

There are few facts mentioned to have happened here in this place

1. It is believed that Lord Krishna prayed Prathyangira Devi here along with his wives and was blessed with the child “Pradhyumnan”
2. It is believed that the Sage Agasthya worshipped the Goddess and gained more power
3. It is believed that the Pandavas worshipped the goddess here and regained their kingdom
4. The Banyan tree here is set to have 5 types of leaves. (We did not have a chance to lookas it was dusk)
5. Indrajith (alias Meganathan), the son of Ravana is believed to have performed the Nikumbala (red Chilli )Yaga to Win Lord Rama. This Yaga was disturbed by Laskhmana and Hanuman. Else, Indrajith would have gained more power to defeat Rama
6. It is believed that Sugreeva, the king of Apes received long life defeating death doing this Nikumbala Yaga

 

The RedChilla Yaga (Nikumbala Yaga) is performed every Full moon day and No Moon day in this temple.It is believed that perfoming this ritual removes the negativity. One interesting fact is that it is noticed by people that there is noeye irritaion, no sneezing nor running nose is being experienced by the devotees. They will be seated in their seats until the end of the yagam.

For more detail about the stories, history, temple, more Pictures or Photographs 

http://www.prathiyangaradevi.org/

http://kumbakonamtemples.in/ayyavadi-sri-maha-prathyangira-devi.html

http://navrangindia.blogspot.in/2015/07/prathyangira-devi-temple-ritual-with.html

KalyanaSundareswarar temple@ Nallur, Kumbakonam

KalyanaSundareswarar temple@ Nallur, Kumbakonam

Nallur Shivan temple is a very beautiful temple where the God Shiva is called Kalyanasundereswarar as it is believed that this temple is the place from where the Sage Agasthya witnessed the marriage of the God Shiva and Parvathi. The Goddess is called GiriSundari.

The legend of the temple is associated with sage Agastya and Amaraneethi Nayanar, one of the 63 nayanars, the Tamil Saiva saints. The lingam in the temple is believed to change colours five times during the day time.
The temple has three precincts. Unlike the other  Shiva temples I had visited so far, I observed that the God is placed a little higher from the ground level and is located in the stair one level(Mada Koil). Enquiring the reason, I came to know the  story of that the one who built the temple , who is also one among the Nayanmars had been a Spider in his previous birth and had built spider web over the Lingam in ThiruAnaika (Now Thiruvanaikoil, Trichy). Every day he built spider web as a roof to cover the head of the Lord, and the Elephant use to destroy it by pouring water over the linga. Frustrated Spider reported to the God & HE blessed that in his next birth he would build temples in to which elephants cannot enter. True, elephants cannot enter the sanctum. There are reportedly several such Mada Koils. This is the first one I have luckily visited.

 Also, this temple has songs reportedly sung in the Tevaram. (Paadal petra Sthalam). There are several stories told which are also depicted as drawings on the walls of the temple premises. The Major Specialty of this temple is thet the Lingam Changes 5 colors in a day.
1. Morning 6:00 AM to 8:24 - Thamira Niram
2. 8:25 to 10:48 AM- Ilam Sivappu (Light Red)
3.10:49AM to 1:12 PM- Orukkiya Thangam (Molten Golden)
4. 1:13 PM to 3:36 PM- Maragatha Pachai (Emarold Green)
5. 3:37 PM to 6:00 PM- Unknown color (We cannot determine the color of the God during this time)
In Sivapuram, hence we can see the verse "நிறங்கள் ஓர் ஐந்துடையாய் "

One another Speciality is that Unlike other Shivan temples,the Chatari is being served to devotees (Which is a practice followed only in Vishnu temples)

This temple is under the maintenance of ThiruVaavaduthurai Aadheenam. There are lot more specialties to this temple.

 One other thing I noticed is that in the Surrounding of the temple premisis, you can find the colored statues of Lord Shiva in various forms and various Names. I have so far never Seen Lord Shiva in other forms and there are stories for every form of his and am eager to learn them soon. I know only Somaskantha Moorthy and Nataraja Moorthy as I have seen them in other temples.

There is also special Sannathi for the Kali (believed to be more powerful) in the temple premises. The Gopuram of this temple is beautiful with multicolours and the Gods depicted on them are beautiful and bright. As I visited this temple early in the morning, I had the darshan of the God in color 1 (thamira Niram).

The Goddess GiriSundarai was really Sundari (Beautiful woman) dresseed in Marikozhundu Paavadai. She was having long hair and looked blissfull. No words to describe her beauty.




Below is the view as you descend down from the Shiva Sannidhi:

தென்னாடுடைய சிவனே  போற்றி ! என்னாட்டவர்க்கும் இறைவா  போற்றி !! 

For more details on location, Photographs, histroy of the temple and stories refer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalyanasundaresar_Temple,_Nallur

http://kumbakonamtemples.in/nallur-temple.html

http://templesoftamilnadu.co.in/kalyanasundareswarar-temple-thirunallur/