Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Tiruvarur Thyagarajaswamy Kamalambikai temple Padal petra sthalam and Sakthi peetam

The temple has the biggest chariot requiring thousands of people to draw the chariot.. The temple is spread across 35 acres and has a pond with a replica temple also stretching 35 acres.The temple is part of the saptha vidanga sthalams with the specialty of dance of the lord called ajabai nadanam here.It is also the birthplace of the  carnatic musical trinity of Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy dikshidhar and Shyama Shastri
How to reach:
Tiruvarur is a town in tiruvarur taluk and district roughly 40 kms from kumbakonam and 60 kms from tanjore. The main attraction is the temple .
There is a temple on the banks of the pond for Sri Sundarar who used to  use the pond as a deposit locker to retrive gold 20181225_094823
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History and legends:
The temple is referred to as Kamalalayam due to the pond and aroor in the pre devaram days and called tiruvarur as the lord here is called aruran,The Ambal sannidhi complex has a lot of mysticism built into it with the figures and construction all as per Srividya concept and it will not be explained.by the priests to all For example  The ambal sanidhi has an Uchishta ganapathy with   an asura neela on his lap (and his hands controlling this asura with many features which can not be simply explained here) who becomes a goddess as Ganapathy is with her , These are all part of the Srividya worship traditions20181225_105008

Muthuswamy dikshathar was a great exponent of carnatic music and Srividya upasaka is painted here in front of the Ambal sannidhi. He composed the famous Vaatapi Ganapathim Bhajae in the Sivan sannidhi before the Ganapathy in the praharam
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The Thyagarajar Temple at Tiruvarur is famous for the ajapa natanam (dance without chanting), that is executed by the deity itself. According to legend, there are  seven temples which  are part of the same legend of Indra donating 7 lingams to Muchukunda Chakravarthy a Chola king who  obtained a boon from Lord Indra and wished to receive the  Sivalinga gifted to Indra by Vishnu. Indra tested the king He had six other Maragatha Lingas made, and asked Muchukunda chakravarthy to choose the right one the king chose the right Maragatha Lingam and installed it  at Tiruvarur. The other six Siva lingas were installed in Thirunallar, Thirukkuvalai, Nagapattinam, Tirukaravasal, Tiruvaimur, and Vedaranyam All the seven places are villages situated along the river Cauvery. All seven Thyagaraja images are said to dance when taken in procession (it is the bearers of the processional deity who actually dance). The temples with dance styles are regarded as Saptha Vidangam(seven dance moves) and the related temples are as under:
Tiruvarur Thyagarajar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:               Vidhividangar
Dance form:                                       Ajabathaanam
Dance without chanting, resembling the dance of Sri Thyagaraja resting on Lord Vishnu's chest

Thirunallar Dharbaranyeswarar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:               Nagaradangar
Dance form:                                       Unmathanathaanam
Dance of an intoxicated person

Nagapattinam Kayarohanaswamy Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:               Sundaravidangar
Dance form:                                       Vilathithaanam
Dancing like waves of sea

Thirukkaravasal Kannayariamudayar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:               Adhividangar
Dance form:                                       Kukunathaanam
Dancing like a cock
Thirukuvalai Brahmapureeswarar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:         Avanividangar
Dance form:                             Brunganathaanam
Dancing like a bee that hovers over a flower

Thiruvaimur Vaimoornaathar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam              Nallavidangar
Dance form:                                 Kamalanadanam
Dance like lotus that moves in a breeze

Vedaranyam Vedaranyeswarar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:             Bhuvanivividangar
Dance form:                                 Hamsapthanathaanam
Dancing with the gait of a swan
The main Sannidhi of Lord Shiva is that of Vanmikinathar ( One who came out of the Ant hill) with Bhoga sakthi as his consort also known as Somakula  amman, padi thanda pathini or Piriyaa Vidai Amman, Appar, the 7th-century poet saint, refers to the main deity in his hymn as puttritrukondan(one who resides in the ant hill). The sthala vruksham is patiri(trumpet flower tree).

The next sanctum has the figure of Thyagarajaswamy with Shiva and parvathy and Murugan in between. The lord here is covered all the year and the left padam is revealed in Panguni uthiram as the shakthi padam and  the right padam is revealed on Arudhra day as per the prayers of Vyagrapada and Patanjali maharishi.In the southwest corner of the inner prakara Nilotpalambigai is seen blessing her child Muruga sitting on a maid’s shoulder. The ganapathy in this praharam is the oldest sculpture here and is called Vataapi ganapathy. Muthuswamy dikshatar composed his krithi Vataapi ganapathim bhaje on this deity only 20181225_104340
The akshara peetam inside the praharam20181225_104418 
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The Nava grahams are all in a straight line here and not in vakram as they have come to pray to llord shiva so no nagvagraha dosha can affect devotees in this temple. They are also located in northwest corner of 1st praharam
The major shrines in the temple are of Aananthiswarar, Neelothphalambal, Asaleswarar20181225_10272520181225_10283820181225_102846, Adageswarar, Varuneswarar, Annamalieswarar and Kamalambal.
The temple has many halls like. Bhaktha Katchi hall .It is located to the left of the image of Moosukuntha Nandi. The festival image of Thyagaraja arrives at this hall after the Panguni Uthiram festival.
Oonjal hall is located opposite to the Kabatha Katchi hall. The festival images of Chandrasekarar and Sekari Amman arrive at this hall during the Thiruvadhirai festival.
Thulabhara hall is named after the legend in which king Muchukundaka placed Thyagaraja image of Thiruvarur in one and all others in another plate he received from Indra (the king of celestial deities).
Purana hall is located in the northern part of the temple.
Rajanarayana hall is a public hall for localities of Thiruvaru.
Rajendra Chola hall, also called Sabapathi hall houses the museum of the temple.

The next sannidhi is of Sri Kamalambikai..20181225_104938
Sri Kamalambal is the shakthi here and the temple history credits this temple as the earliest in  the  whole complex. The ambal is shown with crossed legs and pasam ankusham, rudraksha and lotus in her arms. She is sitting on the tip of a needle, balancing herself and doing penance. Sri Muthuswamy dikshadar has composed 9 krithis on this diety  called nava varna krithis which people who practice Srividya say is his Gnana drishti. flowing out as compositions.
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Thiruvidaimarudhur Mahalingaswamy- Padal petra sthalam and Shakthi peetam

One of the biggest temples in this area this temple is also one of the famous Shakthipeetam. The temple is the birth place of Tamil poet pattinathar.The tamil saints appar, sundarar,Gnanasambandar have composed and sung of this temple’s individual idols and these are well marked out aptly near each idol.

How to reach:
The temple is bang on the road about 10 kms from Kumbakonam towards Mayavaram
 Thiruvidaimarudur Tiruvidaimarudhur
History and legends:
The temple is the madyarjuna kshetram
Malligarjuna (Thalai-top)
Sri Sailam (Andhra)
Madhyarjuna (Idai-middle)
Idaimarudur Kumbakonam (Thanjavur Dt)
Sputarjuna (kadai-end)
Thiruppudaimarudur Ambasamudram (Thirunelvelli Dt)
The Temple shiva is supposed to be a swayumbhu lingam and here he taught the rishis how shiva pooja has to be done.
King varaguna pandian was affected with a brahma hathi dosham (sin of killing a brahmin) he was rid of the brahmahatti spirit when he came in through one gate and left through another so all devotees follow the same pattern.There is a sculpture of a person with head between knees at the entry of the temple
The temple has Ambal Bruhat sundara Kujambikai a sakthi peetam in itself and also a separete Mookambikai sannidhi with a meru installed next door the only other mookambikai is in kollur.
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The Shivan sanidhi has four prakaras,The outer most praharam is around half a km longDSC04774
Next is  the outer ashwamedha prakara  This prakaram is closed most of the time. People with mental illness benefit from doing pradakshinam here
The middle prakaram is called the pranava prakaram . This is built with pure sound aesthetics. A single ohm namashivaya echoes thrice in this praharam.
The inner  kodumudi praharam gives the punya of going around Kailasa.
Generally the prahara devathas are many in this temple other temples are considered the prahara devathas
Tiruvalanchuzhi with its grand temple dedicated to Vinayaka,
Swamimalai with its revered shrine to Subramanya,
Thiruvarur the greatest of the Vitanka Stalams with Somaskandar,
Tiruvavaduthurai with its shrine to Nandikeswarar,
Sirkazhi with its shrine dedicated to Bhairavar,
Thiruseingalur (Thiruvoypadi) with its shrine to Chandikeswarar,
Suryanar koil with shrines to the nine celestial bodies Navagrahas
Alangudi known for its Dakshinamurti
Thirukkadaiyur for Ambal
Thirunallar for Saneeswaran
Patteeswaram for Durgai and
Chidambaram for Natarajar shrine respectively,
Sri Sridhara Iyyaval of Thiruvisainallur, a great scholar of Sanskrit of 17th century, got into jeeva samadhi at the sanctum of this temple.
The main sanctum is housing a mammoth Shivalingam majestic yet simple to look at.
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Adi shankara came here and the shivalingam expresssed advaitham sathyam as the supreme truth (these pics are from the kanchi mutt nearby at tiruvidaimarudhur click the link for more details http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2013/12/kanchi-mutt-veda-patashla-at.html)
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