Monday, May 19, 2014

Sri Sameevaneswarar (Mattrurai Varadeswarar) sametha Balambikai temple at Tiruvasi- A padal petra sthalam

On the Trichy to Salem road very near to Mannachanallur road is this ancient temple on the banks of the Kaveri.The temple has been connected with the miracles of Saint Thirugnanasambandar and Sundarar.It is a big temple which is in daily worship with a very energetic Priest who was patiently doing the sayam kala pooja when I visited.
How to Reach:
From Trichy toll gate take the musuri, salem road and in about 20 Kms after crossing Bhikshandar koil, Mannachanallur road you will come to the village of Tiruvasi. A right turn here leads to the temple inside the village20140517_173804
Legends of the temple:
The temple has been associated with Sundarar who cane here after visiting tiruvanaikaval. He asked the lord for some money. Shiva pretended to be a poor fellow and after Sundarar sung 10 songs was obliged to give sundarar a lump of mud? poor quality gold. Sundarar was not happy and he called on two men around who confirmed it was gold. These men were Shiva and Vishnu. The same is depicted in the temple gopuram in the entrance to the Shivan praharam20140517_181219

The king of this place had left his daughter inside the temples she  had a bad back problem almost crippling her. Sri Thirugnanasambandar came here and sung songs on Shiva who converted the dosha of the princess into the form of the demon Mugilan and danced on him with his hair tied up. The princess was cured and the same is depicted here in the figurines. The natarajar here is shown dancing on the sarpa (Snake) and not on the Mugilan as usual.20140517_181219
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As you enter the main gopuram you see the kodimaram and Nandi in front and the amman sannidhi on the left facing the west20140517_181316
There are directions to do pradakshinam and the history  board
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The next praharam leads to the main sannidhi of Shivan at an elevated place 20140517_173929 
The shivan is a medium sized lingam and the Natarajan in the outer sanctum
The Outer wall has the various Kosta vigrahas  like Ganesha, Dakshinamurthy. Vishnu and Lakshmi in the west  20140517_174008 20140517_174018 20140517_17445220140517_174206 
The ambal sannidhi is facing the Shivan sannidhi and the ambal is standing about 5 feet. The dwarapaalikas very important and the devotees tie their requests to their hands to be given to the devi.
There is a nice walking path outside the main praharam and there is a selva vinayagar in front of the 
Amman .
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The hall with the nandi has pillars with Thirugnana sambandar, Sundarar and the Mazhavan Raja and also a ball inside the pillar carved from a single stone  20140517_181209 20140517_181213  20140517_181240

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