The capital of Karikala Chozhan I and the birth place of the great Tamil poet Kamban, Ther Ezhendur (ThiruVazhandur), a Krishnaranya Kshetram, is situated 11kms West of Mayavaram.A tall and handsome 12 feet Lord Devathirajan is flanked on his right by Prahalad and on his left by Garuda.
There are two Vishnu temples ( krishna and Devadiraja) and a sivan koil Vedagiriswarar temple.
A view of kambar’s house
There are many quaint legends which links these temples.
Once Siva and Vishnu were playing dice (Sokkattan) Parvati was the judge she ruled that her brother won and Siva was enraged and cursed her to be born as a cow.At once Vishnu took up the role of a cowherd to take care of her and there are a lot of places and temples nearby which are connected to this, There is a sokkattan mandapam in the Sivan koil, There is a cow and calf next to the utsava murthy in the perumal temple and the Lord is called Gosakha here Amaruvi appan in Tamil. The nearby areas of Mandhai, Komal Mekhri Mangalam were all the grazing grounds that the cow and the cowherd visited and there are krishna temples in all these places,At about 20 kms away is the thiruvaduthurai Temple under the aadhinams control where Parvati had papa vimochana and the temple lord here is Sivan called Go muktheeswarar . The nearby village of Thiruvelvikudi is the place where the homams were done prior to Siva marrying Sakthi. And the wedding was conducted in Thiruveezhimazhalai nearby. The lord of this temple is sivan called Mappillai Swamy
Legend 2:
King Ubarisaravasu had the flying chariot, courtesy a boon he had received from Indra for helping the devas in battle.. With this, he had become arrogant and incurred the wrath of the rishis, whose curse resulted in the chariot coming crashing down into this place .
Legend 3
Another story goes that Lord Krishna’s cows were injured when King Ubarisaravasu’s chariot’s shadow fell on them (It is believed that Ubarisaravasu had obtained this quite special boon that anyone on whom his chariot’s shadow falls would get into trouble). Wanting to teach the king a lesson, Krishna pierced the chariot to prevent the chariot from flying any further. The Chariot came thudding down into this place and got stuck here.
The king saw a small boy had pierced the shadow of the chariot and arrogantly asked him what he wanted . The cowherd replied give me 1000 pots of butter and I shall release the chariot, The kings army procured the same but to their surprise when it was handed over to the boys hands the pots miraculously became empty . The king realized that it is no ordinary boy and apologized and was shown Krishna's true form on his request he stayed here
Legend 4:
Indra once presented Garuda a gold ornament and a vimanam. It is said that Garuda gave the Vimanam at this temple at Thiru Vazhandur( the Gold ornament was given to Thiru Narayanan at Melkote near Mysore). Happy at this gesture of Garuda, the Lord accorded him a special status at this temple with a position alongside him at the sanctum sanctorum, a unique feature at a Divya Desam. Normally one finds Garuda opposite the Lord but here he is seen next to the Lord Himself
Legend 5:
Cauvery's Penance at Therezhendur
Sage Agastya held river Cauvery captive in his kamandalam. Cauvery escaped from the kamandalam at Talakaveri only to be cursed by the Sage who said " Let the place where Cauvery goes be in trouble'. Cauvery undertook penance here at Therezhundur to get liberated from the curse of Sage Agastya. There is a Cauvery idol in the main sannidhi
Legend 6:
This is the birth place of the famous Tamil poet Kamban ( Kamban wrote the Ramayana in Tamil). There is a separate sannidhi for Kamban and his wife at this temple. The place where Kamban resided, on the Sannidhi street, has now been turned into a beautiful new ‘Kamban Mandapam’
Legend 7:
Markandeya rishi being eternally young came here and was praying for moksham. Since he has everlasting life Vishnu bhagwan asked him to stay here always looking at him and have peace of mind. So he is also present in the main sannidhi. ( Lord living with his father in law!!)
Legend 8:
Prahalada wanted to have a darshan of the shanta roopam of Mahavishnu and he came here for darshan . An Idol of prahalada is also seen in the main sanctum
Therazundur A pristine village with so much greenery and peace
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