Thirukaraayil Kannayiramudaiyar temple -Saptha Vidangam at Thirukaravasal

See my blog on saptha vidangam temples for the legend and the story behind this group of temples
Click here to see my blog
Location and How to reach:
Thirukaravasal can  reached via the Tiruvarur to Thiruthiraipoondi road at about the 20 km take a left at Thirukaravasal and this temple is on the main road
Legends and Stories:
The lord gave vision to a blind girl during the kumbhabishekam hence he is also known as Netrapureeshwarar or Kannayiranathar.
The vinayaka here is known as Kadukai vinayagar as he once changed the Jadikkai crop of a trader to kadukkai as the trader lied it contained kadukkai. Realising his mistake he prayed to the vinayakar for redemption and was granted the same
There are two theerthams and a bath in the Sesha theertham and some herbal medicine given in this temple helps vision problems. Patanjali, Indra Surya have prayed to the lord here.
The Emerald Lingam is Adi vidaangar and the dance is Kukkuta natanam like a Cockerel
The Ambal Kailasa nayaki is said to have descended from Kailasa here and there is a stone etching of the same in front of the sannidhi she descended in the ardhanari state so each foot is different

The temple has inner praharam with the shivan sannidhi and the Thyagaraja sannidhi next to each other facing east.The ambal sannidhi is on the right facing South
The Main nethrapureeshwarar  below pic from Dinamalar.com



The Koshta vigrahas are exquisite especially the Dakshinamurthy
Pramoda(Joyous) Vinayakar

Murugan sannidhi
Ambal Sannidhi from Dinamalar.com far below is the Kadukkai vinayakar

Thiruvaimur Vaimurunathar saptha vidangam temple

See my blog on saptha vidangam temples for the legend and the story behind this group of temples
Click here to see my blog

Location and How to reach:
Thiruvaimur is located about 20 kms from Nagapattinam on the Tiruthuraipoondi road, It is approx. 2 kms before the Ettukudi Murugan temple(Click here to see my blog on this temple Ettukudi Murugan) It can also be reached via the Tiruvarur to Thiruthiraipoondi road at about the 20 t km take a left at Thirukaravasal and this temple is about 5 kms after Thirukkaravasal temple after ettukudi
Legends and Story
The lord has three  sannidhis here one as Thyagaraja,another as vaimurunathar and the third as Vedaranyeshwarar who blessed appar the last two are small Sand Lingas which have kavachams . The temple is quite small and has two praharams Appar and Gnanasambandar came here . When Appar asked Vinayaga where his father was hiding Vinayaka points to his father and is known as Kai Kattiya vinayakar as in this place Vaimur, truth alone is spoken
The outer praharam has ambal sannidhi .The mother is called Ksheera vachana Nayaki.and appears in bluish hue.Sambandar has composed various padhigams about her.The priest was very nice to take us around and explain in detail
The temple is presently famous as Bhairavar temple as there are ashta Bhairavars here and prayers to them are seldom un answered!
As we enter via the rajagopuram we see the main temple with two vinayakas on the door on either side
The inner praharam has the Viral kattiya pillaiyar
The three sannidhis of Shiva are all next to each other facing east . The Thyagaraja sannidhi is shown below note the Nandi standing
The list of the Saptha vidangam with dances and names of the Lingams 
The outer praharam has the Exquisite Vrishaba dakshinamurthy (Seen Below), Ganapathy,Murugan sannidhi,Ambal and the Ashta bhairavars

The ambal sannidhi South facing

The ashta bhairavars sannidhi

Neelayadakshi Kayarohaneshwarar temple Nagapattinam- A padal petra sthalam and Shakthi peetam

There is no dearth of Shiva temples in Nagapattinam district and this is one such ancient temple which has been sung about by Appar, Sundarar and Thirugnanasambandar. Though it is a siva temple it is more famous as neelayadakshi temple.
How to reach:
It is very easy to find in Nagapattinam as all roads go around this temple only.It is close to the sea.
Legends:
The lord is present here as a maragadha lingam kept here by Mujukundha chakravarthy a ruler who assisted Indra to defeat the devas and obtained a boon for this idol. The Lord also is present as Thyagaraja in the sanctum.
Pundarika maharishi did penance to the lord to attain salvation with his physical body and was embraced by the lord here hence he is also called kayarohaneshwarar
The naga king used to worship the lord here. He had a daughter born with three breasts. As per blessings the third breast fell off when her suitor king Shalisuhan appeared in the court.

There are various interesting facts associated with this temple. Goraka siddar was connected to this temple and many miracles are attributed to him. Infact the Gorakhpur peetam in UP of with Yogi Adhityanath is the head was also established by Sri Goraka siddar 

A peculiar practice exists here  for the fishermen community. Normaly when a death occurs near the temple it is closed for the day and purification rites commenced. But here the temple is kept open and the body is placed in front of the temple and draped / adorned with the garland and dhoti adorned by Shiva in the sanctum. The temple is not purified. It is believed that one of the Nayanmars Sivapathar who was from the fishermen community lived here and was immersed in worship here so as mark of affection of the lord towards this nayanmar his community is honoured on their last journey by the lord of this temple.

As you enter you see the Ganapathy at the gate the Vishwaroopa vinayakar
Here to the left we find the statue of Pundarika maharishi
Entrance to the second praharam
The dwajastambam and sivan sannidhi behind



The inner praharam around the main sannidhi  


The entrance to the ambal sannidhi

The ambal is very enthraling with blue eyes hence called Neelayadakshi. She has a separate sannidhi facing south and a Nandi guarding the entrance. The nandi is so exquisite with one eye on the Shivan and another eye on the Goddess.

Nandi asked for a boon to be seeing Shiva always  so Shiva commanded that the nandi in front of Neelayadakshi  can have his darshan at all times by turning his face 
It is a very ancient and peaceful temple