Sri Kalyana Pasupatheeshwar temple at Karur–A padal petra sthalam

Last Sunday I visited Karur to attend an engagement function and took the opportunity to visit this temple. Since It was night I could not get good photos.  This temple is the foremost of padal petra sthalams in kongunadu. Thirugnanasmbandar,Arunagirinathar,Karur devar have all sung about this temple.The thiruvisaipa of Karur devar was composed here.
How to reach:
Karur is a small place and the temple is very well known. It is in the middle of the town .

History and legends:
Lord Brahma had become arrogant as he was doing the creation.So to teach him  humility the lord directed kamadhenu the celestial cow to come here and pray to him and in turn take over the duty of brahma.The cow used to shower milk on a Shiva lingam daily and once accidently trampled on it. The Shiva lingam has a dent on the head due to this.Brahma’s ego was reduced and he performed puja to Shiva here and was given back his duties.The Sangam era king Muchukundha chakravarthy is supposed to have lived here and had received the invitation to Lord Muruga's wedding with Devayani at this place.
Pugazh Chola Nayanar.  Eripatha Nayanar , Karuvur Thevar,Sivakami Andar all great Nayanmars have lived here and done service at this  place .
Karuruvurar lived here. Some jealous priests complained to the king that devar was doing puja in the vama marga by offering meat and liquor to the lord in the temple.The charge proved baseless and in anguish the siddhar merged into the Siva lingam and this caused the tilting of the lingam.
As you enter the main rajagopuram you see outer praharam with a 100 pillared kalyana mandabam which is called Pugal chola mannar hall.
The dwajasthambam is unique in that there are sculptures of Kamadhenu, muchukunda chakravarthy on an elephant, Pugal chola mannar with a head on a plate and a Ganesha carved in four directions
The Pugal chola mannar kalyana mandabam

The dwajasthambam is seen below with Kamadhenu sculpture seen licking a calf.

The next entrance leads us o the main praharm where there is the sannidhi of Lord Shiva as a majestic Siva lingam which is tilted to the left. The base (Aavudiar) is square.This is the Aanilai appar
The koshta vigrahas are all unique and well carved. We have Ardhanaarishwara in the back, along with Ganesh , Durga, Brahma,Dakshinamurthy and Nataraja also.
There are also sannidhis for vinayaga,Arumugham ,Mahalakshmi and the north west corner has a second sannidhi for Shiva and his consort.
There is aside entrance leading to the ambal sannidhi which is unique in that there are two sannidhis for the ambal Alankaravalli facing North , Soundarya Nayaki facing east .
Both praharams area huge and well maintained. The main Shiva temple also has  well lit enclosure for Chitraguptan and also a navagraha sannidhi and a Bhairavar sannidhi.The huge Bhairavar statue in bronze is exquisite in size and detail as also the nataraja.
The temple is famous for removing obstructions to marriage and is hence very popular

Saptharishishwarar temple Lalgudi-Trichy

   This is the temple of my  village Lalgudi.The original name of the place was Thiruthavathurai a land made holy by the tapas of Lakshmidevi. who prayed to Siva for powers and  by Mahavishnu to get the sudharshana chakra and also the saptharishis to absolve them of the curse incurred in not feeding Murugan.. It is a very ancient temple with extensive written records patronised by the Cholas pallavas and has been in existence from the 6 century..There is a separate storage area built in the temple where rare thevarams were found (these are now in the saraswathy mahal  palm leaf library).The temple finds mention in the anbil copper plates unearthed in the last century.
How to reach:
Lalgudi is easily reached by road/train.It is on the Trichy to Ariyalur road about 20 kms from the toll gate.it is also on the Chennai to Trichy railway line.
Legend and connected stories:
The place was referred to by allahuddin khilji as Lal gudi in reference to the red tower of the temple or to the red coloured lingam inside the temple. Original name is Thiru thava thurai in tamil
When the asura king Tharakasura became un manageable Lord Shiva produced 6 sparks which were later to become shanmugha .The six children were seen by the wives of saptharishis who became so engrossed at their antics that they forgot to feed the children who were ultimately taken care of by the sapthakannikais.As a result the rishipathnis were cursed and banished by the rishis for neglecting an opportunity to get a better life.This angered muruga who cursed the rishis .They had to flee from thiruvaiyaru where they were doing yagnas and came to lalgudi where they were asked to pray to lord Shiva who had given boons to Lakshmi and Vishnu earlier at this place. The Saptharisis ultimately merged into the sivalingam which is split at the top with  a reddish hue.( It is a ardhanarishwara  sivasakthi lingam).
The goddess here is Sivakamasundari (@Sreemathy/,perun thiru piratti), she was born to Maangalya maharishi who lived in Edayathumangalam(link to.my blog on this temple https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2024/05/edayathumangalam-shri-mangalambikai.html?m=1 ) a suburb of lalgudi (his house is still in existence in the village and even now the inmates of the house send “poranthathu  seeru” (wedding gifts to the bride) to the goddess on specific days of the Kalyana utsavam).
Thyagaraja swami has spent time here in the temple  and composed the lalgudi pancharatna keerthanas on the amman here

As you enter the temple there are two prakaras one for the sivan and another for the amman.
In the sivan praharam before the sannidhi entrance are the statues for the Saptha rishis

The temple has very large number of inscriptions which speak of the times past.and extensive social structure present at that time in tamil society. The ASI has coped all these and they prove to be an authentic reference for history of the region .

As you go around the main prahara we have certain unique idols.The Dakshinamurthy here is Veena dakshinamurthy  Shiva with a veena in his hand

,there is also a ardha narishwarar in the back instead of the lingodhbavar / Perumal as in other shivatemples ( see below)
A bhikshandar (beggar shiva)
a jwareshwarar who has no form but has a sannidhi.

There is also a sannidhi for Lakshmi who was initially the tapaswini here (“Thiru thava thurai”)
There is a original kapaleshwar form of Siva which was also worshipped earlier here seen at the extreme right
There is also a Dakshinamurthy in a separate  niche  as seen below
The safe house where the thevarams were found this was built as an elevation behind the main sannidhi

Mangalya maharishi  sannidhi


Thyagaraja's keerthanas are engraved here

The amman sannidhi is also huge and has a standing smiling samvardhini sreemathy who is supposed to have fulfilled the wishes of both Lakshmi and Saraswathy.Lots of people buy sarees for the amman after their prayers are answered, The idol is wonderfully attired in a 9 yard saree.with sandal paste anointment. The priest informed us there are nice ear ring and nose ring holes carved in the idol as well as holes for the golusu which can be adorned by the ambal. Since she is always in 9 yards locals affectionately call her ,'maami'. Due to her size as well as the fact she gave boons to Lakshmi and Saraswathi she is also referred to as ,'perum piratti'


The 63 nayanmars displayed

The utsava murthis ( somaskandar and Parvathy)

The Natarajar in the outer praharam is huge (about 5 feet tall)and is resplendent during the pradosha puja which is a major attraction of this temple. During the thiruvadurai utsavam a separate chariot like canopy is carried inside which the Natarajar comes on veedhi ula which is spectacular to see as it involves a high degree of synchronization between the two sets of bearers
In all a very ancient and awe inspiring temple worth seeing for a whole day
The seven great Rishis – Athri, Bhrigu, Pulasthya,Vasishta, Gautama, Aangirasa and Marichi. .
The seven rishis are relatives of the nine planets. As all the rishis reached Lord Shiva here, those facing any problem through any planet are advised to worship Lord Saptharishiswara. . Sun is the grandson of Marichi rishi,Chandra the son of Athri, Mercury is the son of Chandra, Jupiter is the son of Angirasa, Mars comes in the lineage of Vasishta. Hence worship of Lord Saptharishiswara brings relief from planetary problems.
Margazhi Tiruvadhirai in December-January and Mahasivarathri in Masi in February-March are the festivals celebrated in the temple in a grand manner
Tel:0431 2541 329


Pictures from my visit in June 2018