Thiruthuraiyur shri.Shishta Gurunathar temple- Nadu nattu Guru sthalam

This is a famous temple near Panrutti.This is the 16^th Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam of Nadu Naadu ( Saint Sundarar paadal petra Shiva Sthalam)
How to reach:
On the Vikravandi to Panrutti road proceed past koilanur koot road for about6 kms, cross the gedilam river. From here takethe second road to the right and proceed for 2.5 kms the temple will be on the right.

Alternatively you can come from the NH 45 also. Cross theVillupuram bypass and at arasur  take the left towards Panrutti proceed for about 4 kms and ask for road to thiruthuraiyur and take aleft.Youwillreach thetemple in 2 kms
Legend of the temple:
The Saint Sundarar was born near here at Thirunaavalur and was made a slave to Shiva at Tiruvennainallur ( to See my blog on this temple click http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2012/02/thiruvennainallur-sri-krupapureeshwarar.html)
Shiva disappeared after leaving his slave Sundarar clueless about his next job hence Sundarar came in search of him and found him here residing in the Gopuram of an older temple as in Sirkali.The temple at that time was known as Pasupatheshwara temple . Sundarar received diksha from lord Shiva as Dakshinamurthy  at this place in the presence of all the Gods hence the name of the lord of the temple was changed to Shista gurunatha temple and this is the centre for Guru bhagavan in the Nadu naadu Chola mandalam
The peculiarity of this temple construction:
The Sivalingam faces North Consequently the Koshta devathas are all reversed in order. with Chandikeshwarar and Durga on the right side facing east,Vishnu facing south,Dakshina murthy and  narthana ganapathy facing west in this order in a clock wise direction.
Each of the sannidhis of Shiva,Parvati,Ganapathy, muruga face in a different direction hence each of the four directions is governed by one sannidhi !
The Amman sannidhi is in  the third the  outer most praharam .Vinayaka and murugan are in the second praharam, And Lord Shiva is in the inner first praharam.
There is no Rajagopuram for this temple.
Suns rays bathe the feet of the lord in the tamil Month of Chittirai i.e..',May June .
There are many linga’s here which were prayed to  like ram, bheema, agastya surya, etc., There is a separate suryan sannidhi also.

(View from the main gate with the third praharam and amman Sannidhi seen on the right)
This praharam also has the agasthya sannidhi with the agasthyalingam



The amman sannidhi faces East (in other Shiva temple it usually faces South)

(View of the first praharam and the dwajastambam with Nandi The lord is facing North)

Murugan, Valli devasena,Adi kesava Perumal and Lakshmi sannidhi facing the west


A drawing showing the way do pradakshina here in the various praharams so that we pray to the koshta vigrahas in the same order as in other shiva temples

Chandikeshwarar and Durga on the right wall of the main sannidhi.Brahma is seen in the far corner

View from the back of the temple from the suryan sannidhi The Lingothbhavar sannidhi can be seen

Kalabhairava,Suryalingam and Suryan sannidhi facing north from behind the temple

Ganapathy Sundarar and Somaskanda in relief form

The Dakshinamurthy is special here as he gave the dhiksha to Sundarar.
The four saivaite savants appar, sundarar, manickavasagar and gnanasambandar

The Narthana Ganapathy sannidhi facing North


Ayyappan, Rama linga and bheema linga
A small well maintained temple with a helpful archakar who lives just behind the temple.The temple opens at 6 am and closes by 10 Am. Shri.A. Murali. the Archakar can be contacted on tel:09444807393

Thindrivaneshwarar and Maragathambikai temple Tindivanam

Having travelled many times on the bypass today I ventured to travel into the town and visit this ancient temple. It is an ancient structure which has now received  a new make over with oil painting , granite and white marble interiors. The temple is still not fully repaired . The chariot festival was over just the previous day.
How to reach:
while proceeding from Chennai to Trichy when you reach Tindivanam bypass the road will have three exits. Take the far right one and proceed for 4.2 kms into the town. The temple is seen on your right
Legends and Story:
The whole area was initially a tamarind forest (Thindri vanam in sanskrit) and the lord is called Thindrivaneshwarar the eashwara (lord of this place). The temple was probably built by the Cholas and there is history of Vyasa having built the rajagopuram.Various ancient rishis  like Valmiki, Vyasa, Dhindi, Killi, Killali, prayed here. The place has also been visited by the saivate savants like Appar Sundarar, Manickavasagar , Thirugnana sambandar ,and Arunagirinathar as per local history.

As you enter the Dwajastambam is seen with the Nandi in front.The area has been covered recently
The main sannidhi is seen in front of the Nandi which looks very aged. The lord is facing east
The main sannidhi has A large Shivalingam  blessing the devotees. There are two corridors to cross before we can see the lord.
The inner praharam around the lord’s shrine has a lot of painted murals with the Koshta vigrahas of Selva ganapathy, Dakshina murthy, Vishnu, Brahma,Durga and Chandikeshwarar. The temple being repaired recently, there is lot of work left to be done, the Dakshinamurthy and Durgai also have a separate small enclosure which has a grilled door that can be best viewed from the outer praharam
There are murals of prahalladha and the surutupalli temple painted on the wall as seen above. There were also few dogs sleeping inside to escape the heat.!! as seen in the photo above at about 9 AM.
The Koshta Vigrahas are seen below in the inner praharam ( under repair)

( The saivaite savants)
The outer praharam has Vinayaka, Murugan, Anjeneyar and Navagrha sannidhis
  (Ganapathy above and murugan below)

( Navagraha sannidhi above and Anjeneya sannidhi below)

 

( Maragadhavalli ambal sannithi is seen above to the left of the main sannidhi facing east )
The bhairavar and suryan flank the inside entrance of the Gopuram
An old temple with a modern make over with a new  anjeneyar sannidhi .

Brahmapurishwarar(Sathyavageeswarar) temple at Anbil

Anbil also boasts of an old Siva temple sathya vaageshwarar temple / Brahmapurishwarar temple which is a padal petra sthalam and also a very ancient Siva temple.This is the 57th Shiva temple on the northern bank of Cauvery praised in holy hymns.
History and Legends of the temple:
Saint Thirugnana Sambandar was singing the glory of Lord, and  passing through this place. there was heavy floods in Cauvery. The saint could not cross the river to reach the place. He sang in praise of Lord from the other side of the river, but the sound could not reach the temple clearly. Vinayaka in the temple turned His ear to the direction of the sound and enjoyed the hymns with a smile. He bent one of His legs, sat in a half-sitting form with His ears wide open and head tilted to one side . A sculpture depicting this story is in the temple. Sevi sayitha vinayakar
Brahma was released of his cursed  for  lying when he said he had seen the top part of Shivain the lingothbavar form . He prayed here and got relief from the  curse.
The Navagrahas have also come here and prayed to Shiva here as depicted in the carvings, Parvathy devi is also shown to be praying to shiva here.
 
The temple has a beautiful Rajagopuram.


There are two Nandi’s guarding the door. the whole temple is more than 1 1/2 acres big!.
the main gopuram leads to a garden with a huge pond
This leads to the outer praharam


Beyond this we see the inner praharam

 
The main sannithi of Shiva is seen next
There is a resplendent Shiva inside .
There is a seperate sannidhi for the ambal which also faces east to the left of the main sannidhi


There are exquisite carvings on all the pillars and the side walls of the temple which show multiple devathas praying to Shiva like agni Chandra, parvathy, Vyagrapada, brahma , Surya ,Nagas,etc
The outer praharam has a sannidhi for the Sevi saitha vinayakar alluded to before
 
The kosta vigrahas of brahma, bhikshandar, dakshinamurthy,etc are all seen

There is a separate Shanishwara as well as a navagraha sannidhi seen below

Kaalabhairava

Appar, Sundarar, Manickavasagar, thirugnanasambhandar and sekkizhar are  represented here
More pics of the carvings on the pillar

A very artistic, calm and history rich place!!