Sunday, February 22, 2015

Sri Bava Oushadheeshwara temple at Thiruthuraipoondi

Thiruthuraipoondi is a big town south of Tiruvarur . The temple is referred to Periya koil.The temple is not exactly a saptha vidangam but Thyagaraja sannidhi and a Maragatha lingam are present here
 How to Reach:
The town can easily be reached from either Tiruvarur or Nagapatinam.it is also Close to Vedaranyam.It is at the Junction of the ECR and the Tiruvarur to Vedranyam road,capture image.png2
Legends of the temple:
The rishis in Tharukavanam were becoming very arrogant and so Shiva and Vishnu came as Mohini and Bhikshandar The rishis were humiliated as they created a huge elephant to attack Shiva who killed the elephant and got the title Gajasamhara murthy,  this act dissolved the ego of the rishis and rishi patnis making them realise they are but small characters in the great cosmos in front of Shiva and Vishnu.
The ambal Periya nayaki of this temple brought back to life the  asura husband(Virupakshan)  of Shiva devotee Jalika.Though Virupakshan was a bad demon the goodness in Jalika bore fruit and the goddess blessed her with mangalya bagyam.
The temple is very easy to find at the end of the ECR
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There are two temples here one for the main Shivan facing west and the one for ambal facing east
As we enter the Shiva temple complex we find the Murugan sannidhi and the Gajasamharamurthy    followed by the entrance to the inner praharam with Thyagaraja sannidhi on the rightIMG_0003IMG_0004IMG_20150214_094137
The inner praharam has the shivan and the various Koshta vigrahas and upa vigrahas as belowIMG_20150214_094230seen below are the durga and Guru as the Shiva is west facing the Koshta vigrahas are reversedIMG_20150214_094105IMG_0008IMG_20150214_094115IMG_20150214_094203
As we come out we cross to the ambal sannidhi complex on the right facing eastIMG_20150214_094317IMG_20150214_094330IMG_20150214_094759
Below is the second ambal sannidhi Mangalanayaki  inside facing southIMG_20150214_094805
Below are some pictures from Dinamalar.com of this temple

The Gajasamhara murthy
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Ambal Periyanayagi
[Gal1] And the Maragada Lingam
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Sri Logambikai sametha Paleeshwarar temple– at Pazhaverkadu near Ponneri-A vaipu sthalam

I had a quick trip to this temple today morning. The temple was built by Raja Raja chola in his grandmothers name, It has been rebuilt by other kings and bears a very serene atmosphere. I had crossed this temple while visiting Pulicat but made it today.It is a Vaipu sthalam which is referred to by Saint Manickavasagar in his poems
How to Reach:
The temple is about 15 kms from Ponneri towards Pulicat.Alternatively you can reach it from Minjur via Minjur Pazhaverkadu road,It is  approximately 45kms from the Padi Flyover in Chennai on the Kolkata highway.
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There is a huge pond in front
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There is a 16 pillared mandapam in front with carvings on the pillars and the huge door  has a wonderful stone carved border all-aroundIMG_0007
The temple courtyard is neat IMG_0008IMG_0011IMG_0066
The temple plan is shown here with sivan sannidhi on the right and ambal on the left facing eastIMG_0012
Thirumadhi Lokambikai sannidhi seen below with the goddess about 4 feet tall standing and pleasant faced blessing devotees.
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The entrance to the sivan sannidhi is to the right where we see a huge Nataraja and the Nandi is on the east
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We can see the huge Siva lingam with whitish colour  in the garbha gruha below.
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The entrance to this sannidhi is guarded by Ganesha and a DakshinamurthyIMG_0020IMG_0021
The praharam around the Shiva has various Koshta vigrahas and much moreIMG_0022IMG_0023IMG_0024IMG_0025IMG_0026IMG_0027IMG_0028IMG_0032IMG_0033IMG_0034IMG_0035
The outer praharam has  a  neat garden and Compound.  IMG_0045IMG_0050IMG_0053
There was a Maha vilva tree with leaves extending up to 11 in number from the normal three we find in the usual Vilva treeIMG_0061IMG_0062IMG_0064
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A very serene temple with peace written all over so quiet and still not too far away from the city of Chennai