Sri Uchinatheswarar Temple at Thirunelvayil (Sivapuri), Chidambaram- A padal petra sthalam

Chidambaram is a very sacred town which houses many temples. The Natarajar temple is world famous and it is the first among the temples sung about by the nayanmars on the northern bank of the cauvery. There are 3 more padal petra sthalams in Chidambaram which are equally ancient but rarely visited as the Nataraja temple dwarfs the other temples by its uniqueness.

All four temples are within 2-3 kms radius in the southern direction from the Nataraja temple .

How to reach:

All four temples are within 2-3 kms radius in the southern direction from the Nataraja temple . Head towards the bus stand and ask for the Annamalai university . The road crosses the Coleroon river and here you take a right turn at the end of the bridge and in a KM you will see the Annamalai university .

Proceed straight for about 2 kms in the same road you will cross mariappan nagar on the right the road will curve right and  you enter Sivapuram there you can see the pond of the Thirunelvayil temple with the majestic temple behind. A half KM away is the Sri Palvanna nathar Siva temple on the same road

LEGENDS AND STORIES;

The temple has been visited by Gnana sambandar who has sung about the temple. the wedding party of this saint came from Sirkali and was proceeding towards Achalapuram near cuddalore . it was peak afternoon and the party rested here in this temple in the hot sun and were served food by the Lord himself in the afternoon in the guise of an old priest, hence he is called Sri Uchinatheswarar or also Madhyaneshwarar.

Sage Kanva and Agastya have prayed here to the lord Shiva 

Sri Arunagirinathar has sung songs on Murugan here As you enter you see Nandi and his consort on the left side he is called Adikara Nandi

The temple by itself is small but has many exquisite carvings and is patronised by the nagarthar Chettiars . It is well maintained.

The Nandi and Ambal sannidhi is seen below

                                    There is a single praharam with the majestic Shiva Lingam which is a Swayambhu one who manifested himself facing east. Behind the linga are sculptures of Siva and Parvathi seen in Kalyana kolam as seen by Agastya.

 The Ambal Kanagambikai graces us from the north side from her sannidhi facing south

The kosta vigrahas are Ganapathy,

Dakshinamurthy

Lingodhbhavar

Brahma

There are separate sannidhis for Vinayaka, Murugan

Shrine for Vinayaka

Shrine for Subrahmanya

Durga

.

The sthala vriksham is Vilvam

Sri Tripurasundari sametha Panchanadheshwarar koil-A padal petra sthalam at Thiruandar koil near Pondicherry

Thiruvandar Koil is a sleepy hamlet between Pondy and Villupuram. This a an ancient temple of about 800 AD under the control of the ASI which has many exquisite sculptures, I found some rare ones too.

HOW TO REACH:

The temple is on the state highway 332 about 17 kms from Pondy and 20 kms from Villupuram . there is a small board indicating this small but peaceful temple.

A few dilapidated  structures at the entrance

LEGENDS OF THE TEMPLE:

There was an asura called Vandasuran who was vanquished by Shiva as Bhairava form and the place came to be called as Thiruvandar koil.

It is also the place that brahma’s fifth head was removed by Shiva Shiva became Bhikshandar here and brahma prayed here to absolve himself of the sins of lying.

The temple has been sung about by Sri Gnanasambandar and Arunagirinathar

There is no Dwajasthambam only bali peetamm

The main temple is a simple structure with a slightly inclined Shivalingam facing east.

The Ambal Tripurasundari is in her own sannidhi facing south

The outer praharam has unique Koshta vigrahas

Ganapathy

The Dakshinamurthy here is famous  and helps clear marriage obstacles

Lingodhbhavar

A rare panel of Shiva Parvathi and murugan as hunters carrying Bow and arrows

Ardhanarishwara

Vishnu Durga

A rare Pradosha murthy Shiva and Parvathy as a couple

other sannidhis

Ganapathy sannidhi

Murugan Sannidhi

Bhairava on the left, Navagraha in the far left behind and Shanishwarar in front of murugan

This place is famous for the Bhairava and special prayers to him to help vanquish difficult times are performed here

A small neatly maintained ancient temple with rare sculptures

Sri Padaleeshwarar temple Thiruppathiripuliyur in Cuddalore-A Padal petra sthalam

Last Sunday my wife and myself had an opportunity to pray at this temple. Though I had driven via Cuddalore umpteen times the lord permitted me and gave me a darshan only  a week ago

HOW TO REACH:

When you are driving down from pondy on the east coast road you will enter into cuddalore and cross the bridge on the kedilam river the ECR turns left proceed straihjy into cuddalore town and after driving a couple of KMS on the right you can see the road to the temple turn in and take a left you will see the temple.

Alternatively youcan reach the main road from Thiruvanthipuram /panrutti from the west .Also  Kedilam bridge.from Mayavaram and kmbakonam you can come via the east coast road and turn left at the kedilam bridge.

The temple is walkin distance from the Thiruppathiripuliyur  railway station and Cuddalore bus stand

LEGENDS OF THE TEMPLE:

The temple is very ancient I was first fascinated by the story that after visiting 1008 temples Thirunavukkarasar and Thirugnanasambandar met up at this temple and continued their journey singing about the  Shiva temples  in the Cauvery delta.

Saint arunagirinathar has composed exquisite thirupugazh on  Murugan in this temple

Parvathi was once banished from Kailasa for closing the eyes of Shiva playfully she did penance here under the Padiri tree here and was again re united with Shiva

Saint Thirunavukkarasar (@ Appar) was tied to a rock and cast into the sea by Mahendra pallava (600-630 A.D) a staunch vaishnavite. He miraculously floated on the rock in the sea under divine blessings and landed nearby at “Karaiyeravittakuppam” a place nearby

upamanyu son of Vyaghrapada rishi while offering worship to Parvati  inadvertently  kicked Devi who cursed him to become a hare. He repented his action and devi ordained him to pray the lord Padaleeswarar to get rid of the curse. The hare after wandering many years was one day hunted by the legendary king Adiraja. The hare after getting wounded  came in contact with the branches of this padiri tree. The touch of the tree resulted in  upamanyu regaining his human form.

As you enter the main gate you see the dwaja sthambam and Nandi

The next praharam has the Koshta vigrahas Vinayaka, Dakshinamurthy, Lingodbhava, Brahma and Durga.There are also  the 63 nayanmars, a bala vinayaka in stone relief work, another selva vinayaka, Gajalakshmi,Shanmukaa having their own sannidhis.

The Main Sanctum of Shiva is huge and the Shivalinga itself is majestic and well decked up producing an divine spectacle for the bhaktas

The outer praharam has the Sthala vruksha the padiri tree

The Goddess Periyanayaki is a 6 footer standing in her own temple complex, bali peetam and Dwajasthambam on the northern side facing east

 

The temple houses a Go shala and I made a few friends

Thiruvennainallur –sri Krupapureeshwarar temple

Today i visited this ancient temple near Villupuram.It is very important place for shaiva siddhantha associated with the legends of great souls like Sundarar (van thondan),Thirunavukarasar,maithondar ,arunagirinathar ,vallal sadayappar , Kambar of ramayana fame  . The place has been in existance since antiquity and there are stone edicts excavated at tiruvannamalai and other placed describing grants during the reign of Raja raja chola I as well as Rajaraja chola II, The ramayana of Kambar makes reference to this place and temple,and in the Coronation scene Kambarpays homage to his sponsor and well wisher shri sadayappa mudaliar of Tiruvennainallur.
It is a padal petra sthalam with the ranking of 15 in tamil nadu
How to reach:
The place is 15 kms from Vizhupuram and easily reached. on the Chennai tiruchy highway after crossing the first pass to vizhupuram, look for the board to Tiruvennainallur on the right it is reached after  you cross the pennar river. Take the road on the right after agaram and proceed straight till you cross a village called gramam . Proceed further for about 8 kms and the road takes a bend to the left. The first left after this turning leads to the temple. The marker for this place are  the flower vendors at the market on either side of the narrow road.. The road curves around to the temple and the entrance appears narrow it leads to a mammoth temple
The fore ground has the sannnidhi for Sundarar


(side enrance leading to the ambal sannidhi)

Legends with the temple:
This temple is associated with many interesting stories.The basic legend is that when Shiva had consumed poison and was unconscious Parvathi came here and created a hall of butter (hence vennai nallur) , and created a panchagni and reduced the poison. Hence Shiva was saved .
This place is one of the Shakthi peetams with Parvathy on a simha vahanam and sangunidhi and padmanidhi as gaurdians.of the door.Her ugram was pacified by the Meru installed in front and she is a shanta swaroopi here called Mangalambikai who bestows only good here.
Maikandar a renowned shaiva poet was blessed by Sage paranjothi when he was playing here as a five year old and he received the knowledge in front of the swayambhu Vinayagar ( unchiselled vinayakar) seen below.He saw the truth (Mai kandar) and started composinghis mammoth work here.
This is the temple(around about 600 AD) where Sivaperuman stops the marriage of Sundarar and proves that sundarar is his slave and brings him to the temple disguised as an old man. The sandals that Shiva wore are still seen preserved in the sanctum .It is huge and frayed . Sundarar realises that the old man who he called as a mad cap is Shiva and starts singing the first of his compositions”Pitha pirai soodi”(mad man wearing the moon as a head ornament) in this temple.
The hall where Siva argued withthe vilage elders to prove that Sundararis his slave is seen below It is a 100 pillared hall present at the entrance of the temple as seen below

Arunagirinathar is supposed to have had the vision of Muruga dancing on his peacock here

As you enter the temple you see the dwaja sthambam with a small vinayagar in front
The structure behind is the Sivan sannidhi . The nandi seen behind the dwaja sthambam is supposed to be dharmarajan himself. He also helps in people getting married, so he is very popular .

Seen above is the chamber leading into the Shivan sannidhi complex on the right. The way to ambal sannidhi is on the far left
The main hall has a garba gruha with a massive sivalingam and the anteroom has the paduka of shiva inside a glass box.
There are sannidhis for vinayaka and muruga in addition to the usual niche devatahas like bhikshandar, Dakshinamurthy, Lingodhbhavar, Brahma, Durga and chandiikeshwarar as in all shiva temples.(lingodhbhavar below)

Dakshinamurthy seen below

(Bhikshandar seen below)


There is a huge verandah running all around the main praharam
One of the sculptures seen in a corner
The ambal sannidhi is next door in the next prakaram

She is seen standing with four arms and a benign smile.There is a simha vahanam in front and a meru installed .
The Sthala vriksha here is the bamboo.It seems the vedas came here to worship the lord in the form of bamboos.


Kurukkal Ravi is seen in the picture of the ambal sannidhi  he can be contacted on cell:7708638986
People light lamps for pariharam with a mixture of five oils hence the notice below to do it outside!

A view of the 100 pillar hall in front and the main praharam seen on the right as seen from The ambal praharam to give a sense of the size of the temple

I revisited the temple today 27/4/13 here are a few more pics. The road to the temple is freshly relaid and is great.

Legend from the amman sannidhi

Legend on the side of the vinayakar at the entrance in front of the dwajasthambam

Nandi at the entrance

 

Temple legend at the entrance

 

 

The Divine couple at the entrance

1/02/24 I revisited the temple today after many years. It has been recently repaired here are a few pics