Shri Kokileshwarar -Soundaryanayaki Temple -Thirukozhambum -A Padal Petra sthalam

Nestled in the verdant greenery between Thirunageshwaram to Peralam near Konerirajapuram is this famous temple, It is a bit difficult to spot but the  locals are helpful in guiding us

How to reach:
The temple can be reached from Peralam side or from Thirunageshwaram and is within a few KM from a village called S.Pudur,It is situated to the north of the road and Konerirajapuram is on the South side . The Kuberar koil/sanath Kumara koil is on the way and the board to this temple guides us there
The temple has a nice full pond

Legends and Stories:

The story that Shiva wanted Parvati to atone for fighting against him and siding with Mahavishnu  her brother during a game of dice ( for more details visit my blog on Therezhundur temple 

here https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2010/09/therezhindur-temples-and-legends.html)

A learned soul took birth here as a Koel (cuckoo) due to a curse by Indra and worshipped the lord hence the lord is known as  

Parvathi atoned here and worshipped shiva as a cow and the hoof marks on the Shivalinga ( Maatu Kozhambu in Tamil) made by the divine cow give he name Kuzhabunathar.He is a swayambhu . Since it was a sand formed linga here is no abhisheka and the lord is adorned with a casing (Kavacham)

Brahma atoned for telling a lie  here and he dug the tank in front called Brahmatheertham

The nayanmars Thirunavukkarasar and Thirugnanasambandar have composed poems on this lord and sung about them

main entrance view

inside the main gopuram

entrance to the outer praharam

The temple has one  entrance to an east facing Shiva and South facing Sundarambikai sannidhi

entrance to the sanctum

The eye catching feature here are the Koshta Vigrahas which have certain rare sculptures

Agastya Rishi adorns the wall between Ganesha and Dakshinamurthy

Between Dakshinamurthy and Agastya are Thirugnanasambandar, Thirunavukkarasar and Brahma

Linghodhbhavar with Vishnu and Brahma

Brahma

Durga and Ardhanaarishwara

Durga and Bhikshandar

A peaceful temple sadly not very popular among the tourists as not many know about it

exquisite Nataraja between Ganesha and Agastya

Sri Thavalavenniambal sametha Sri Palaivananathar temple, Papanasam -a padal petra sthalam

This temple is situated  between Kumbakonam and Tanjore. it is an ancient temple  with  11 epigraphic evidence of existence from King Kulathunga chola I to Kulathunga chola III.

The nayak rulers in 1600 built a huge granary here inside the temple called Kalanjiyam in Tamil

HOW TO REACH:

On the Kumbakonam Tanjore main road 6 kms from Kumbakonam you will find Papanasam a right turn here will lead to the temple in 2 kms

LEGENDS AND HISTORY:

Shiva was worshipped here by many gods like Brahma, Vishnu, Yama

This was the place where Vashishta was conferred Brahma rishi status

Sri Rama on his way back put down his bow and arrow near the sthala vriksha Vanni tree and prayed to Shiva to atone for killing Ravana a Shiva bhakta

Arjuna also kept his Bow and arrow in the Vanni tree here and descended to Nagaloka and married Uloopi,

Nayanmar Thirugnana sambandar has sung about the lord Shiva in this place

The Kalanjiyam maintained by ASI

The temple has two main praharams for Sivan

and Ambal both facing the east

The sthala vriksham where Rama and Arjuna left their weapons the Vanni tree

AS you enter the sivan complex

The complex has the usual Kosta vigrahas and sannidhis for Murugan and Ganesha

The ambal is in kalyanakolam and to the right of lord Shiva hence this place is famous for solving marriage related obstructions

Sri Pasupatheeswara temple , Avur near Kumbakonam–A padal petra sthalam

This is very near the Patteeswaram temple and a padal petra sthalam

HOW TO REACH:

The temple is in the town of Avur 12 kms south of Kumbakonam on the Patteeswaram valangaiman road. It is situated 6 kms east  from thirukarugavur

LEGENDS AND STORIES:

The  story of Shiva manifesting here on the prayers of nandini daughter of the divine cow Kamadhenu  also called Patti (calf). who prayed for a relief from Vashista’s curse is the origin here.

The Nayanmar Tirumoolar saw a herd of cows lamenting the death of their herdsman out of pity he entered the body of the dead herds man and sung 3000 verses on lord Shiva here.

The temple is built at a height to prevent elephants from entering and is called Maada kovil by the king Kochengat Cholan another nayanmar associated with the legend of Jambukeswaram atTiruvanaikaval. He built 70 such temples

The temple finds verses in its honour composed by thirugnana sambandar

Dasaratha did penance here and got rid of the pithru dosha so he could beget sons.There are 5 bhairavas inside who are prayed to, for getting rid of pithru karma dosham.

Dasaratha constructed the temple with Pankajavalli ambal but a divine voice directed him to the Bhairava idols and Mangalanayaki buried in the pond which were unearthed and placed here so there are two ambals

The lord  subramanian here does not have a spear but has a bow as weapon like Sri Rama

As you climb the steep stairs we come to the main praharam housing the Shivalinga

and both the Ambals with bhairavars

Dasaratha doing Shiva puja

The temple well accessible at two levels

Murugan with a Villu  not a Vel

Aarudra Kapaalishwarar Temple-Erode

 

In one of the stories of Sri Maha periyava he asks a devotee from Erode why is erode named so?. Apparently it is due to the wet skull stuck to the lord’s hands called ,"eera odu" in Tamil after he decapitates Brahma and encounters a curse

Since reading this story I have wanted to see this temple and could make it on Saturday after my trip to Tiruchengode

How to Reach :

The temple is right in the middle of the busy market place in Erode and quite famous. I drove down from Tiruchengode 20 kms away and as usual Google maps took me into small bylaness and one way and in the manikoondu( clock tower) area next to the Perumal  temple we found this temple.

The temple tank is a short distance away  which was recently rebuilt. The weaver community here takes care of the temple and about 5 years ago built a new  mandapam in front of the Nataraja

Legend and stories:

The temple was originally built by king called Lakshmikanthan who while doing a yaga found all his milk buckets getting upturned here. He dug the area and found the Lingam

Durvasa maharishi earlier established the Shivalingam Aarudra Kapaleeshwara in a lying posture here

In 1050 AD the area was ruled by Kongu Cholas and A king called Karikala chola rebuilt the temple as per epigraphic records

Indra is said to do Shiva pooja here daily

A weaver Thandavan was tested by the lord here and proclaimed as a great bhakta and used as an example as one should do charity despite personal limitations

The scene above the pillar tells the legend of Thandvan’s charity which was tested by Shiva – 

A view from the main entrance

. The main Shivalingam is quite small in the Garba graha. He is also known as Choleshwarar , Chendishwarar

There is a Kanni moola Ganapathy with 63 nayanmars in line and inside there is a sahasralingam. next to the Murugan sannidhi  in the back

The ambal sannidhi is in the North Sri Varunambikai graces us from here we can see it behind the pillar on the right in the pic  above

The sthalam vriksham is the Vanni tree found behind and there is a separate sannidhi for Murugan next to this tree

The temple runs a goshala inside the premise

Thirukazhippalai Sri Palvannanathar Siva temple 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 .

This is the fourth Padal petra sthalam on the northern bank of the cauvery

HOW TO REACH:

Head towards the bus stand and ask for the Annamalai university . The road crosses the Coleroon river and at the far end of  the bridge here you take a right turn 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 , you enter the present day Sivapuram.You can see the pond of the Thirunelvayil temple with the majestic temple behind on your right. A half KM away is the Sri Palvanna nathar Siva temple in the same road on the right.

LEGENDS AND STORIES ;

The temple was originally further away but during a floods in the Kollidam about 500 years ago was washed away the idols were retrieved and a new temple was built here.

Saint Agastya received the vision of Shiva Parvathi wedding here and they are enshrined in figures being the lingam

Saint Kapila built the shivalingam for his pooja but a king rode on this lingam and it received a hoof mark on the top. When Kapila rishi wanted to re build the lingam he received divine vision of both Siva and Parvathi who poured milk of Kamadhenu on this idol and fortified it and made it white. Till today only milk abhishekam is done to this lingam and all other offerings are placed below.

The Bhairavar sannidhi here is very famous. in fact the locals call it Bhairava koil only. Every new moon day and ashtami and during Rahukalam special poojas are done to this Bhairava. Unlike in other places Bhairava is not accompanied by his vahanam . he has a loin cloth, a sacred thread of 27 strung skulls, a tuft and lions fangs and smiles here. The lord Shani is supposed to worship Bhairava here. Shani  underwent training in sastras under Bhairava and both Guru and Sishya are very peaceful here.

The Bhairava here is supposed to be as famous as in Kasi and the place is called Dakshina Bhairava ksethram and the lord as Swarna Bhairava 

Thirugnana sambandar and Thirunavukkarasar have sung many padigams about this lord

As you enter the Rajagopuram you see the main temple complex. It is quite small with a single praharam

The east facing temple hall has a east facing Shivalingam which is quite small jus,t the size of an ordinary brick but sparkling white with a wedge on top  The back wall has

 the figures of Shiva and Parvathi as seen by Agastya and Kapila maharishis

(Pic from the net thanks to Dinamalar.com)

click here for the pic

The south facing Vedanayaki  ambal sannidhi can be seen on the right

The Koshta vigrahas are as seen below

                                                    Vinayaka

                                                Dakshinamurthy

                                                Vinayaka sannidhi

                                                    Lingodhbhavar

                                                        Brahma

                                                            Durga

The Bhairava sannidhi  is next and is remodeled with modern construction and I was asked not to click that

The Sthala Vriksham is Vilwam

Its a very famous destination as Bhairavar koil