Vedaranyeshwarar Temple-Vedaranyam

This temple has great antiquity and is situated near Point Calimere the south eastern tip of the Indian Peninsula where a deer and bird sanctuary exists.It is a padal petra sthalam, a part of the Saptha vidanga with Hamsa pada Nadanam being the speciality of this place and the Shivalinga in the Thyagaraja sannidhi called Bhuvani vidangar. The ambal sannidhi is a shakthi peetam  also called Sundari peetam . Goddess Ambica is praised by Adishankara in the 66th verse of  Soundarya Lahari .
How to reach:
The temple is in the middle of the town Vedaranyam can be reached from Velankanni about 30 kms or from Thiruthiraipoondi about 35 kms.Point Calimere national park is about 15kms away
Legends of the temple:
The 7th century Thevaram by by Appar and Tirugnanasambandar mentions the place as "Tirumaraikadu".  The four Vedas worshipped Shiva in this place, giving the name "Vedaranyam" there are huge bronze deities of the Vedas inside the temple Rama, visited the temple to absolve himself from sins committed in the war against the demon king Ravana The footprints of Rama is preserved in a place called Ramar Padam near Vedaranyam . According to a Tamil legend, the Vedas locked the gates of the temple after worshipping Shiva.  Appar and Tirugnanasambandar could not enter the locked temple.  on Tirugnanasambandar's request, Appar sang devotional hymns praising Shiva, after which the gates opened. Tirugnanasambandar's devotional hymns locked the gates again.
The present temple has records of being built  by Aditya Chola (871–907 CE), Rajaraja Chola I (985–1014 CE), Rajendra Chola I (1012–1044 CE) and Kulothunga Chola I (1070–1120 CE) indicating various grants to the temple Paranjothi Munivar, a 13th-century saint, who wrote the book Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam, was born at Vedaranyam. An inscription dating back to Parantaka Chola mentions the gift of 90 sheep by a merchant to the temple for the maintenance of a perpetual lamp
The temple has three praharams and 15 foot walls
The outer praharam has the Ambal sannidhi as well as the famous Manikarnika pond
The ambal sannidhi has a seperate Gopuram and a Dwajasthambam
The Nandi's in front of the ambal sannidhi.The Goddess is also known as veena Vaada Vidhushini,Vedanayagi. It is a shakthi peetam also

The main shrine houses  two templesdoor that was shut by the Vedas was opened by the nayanmars is below
A view from inside the door
The inner praharam houses the sannidhis of Thyagaraja on the left and Vedaranyeshwarar on the right.The Thyagarajah is in full resplendence with Uma and Skanda.The Nandi is seen standing as in the pic above.
The main Vedaranyeshwar is a sand built Lingam which is majestic. the area behind in the main Garbhagruham houses the images of Shiva marrying Parvathi a scene shown to Agasthya rishi
The Kosta vigrahas are Ganesha, Dakshinamurthy, A huge Durgai and a huge saraswathi along with Mahalakshmi.There are also are paintings on the walls

Tiruvarur Thyagarajaswamy Kamalambikai temple Padal petra sthalam and Sakthi peetam

The temple has the biggest chariot requiring thousands of people to draw the chariot.. The temple is spread across 35 acres and has a pond with a replica temple also stretching 35 acres.The temple is part of the saptha vidanga sthalams with the specialty of dance of the lord called ajabai nadanam here.It is also the birthplace of the  carnatic musical trinity of Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy dikshidhar and Shyama Shastri
How to reach:
Tiruvarur is a town in tiruvarur taluk and district roughly 40 kms from kumbakonam and 60 kms from tanjore. The main attraction is the temple .

There is a temple on the banks of the pond for Sri Sundarar who used to  use the pond as a deposit locker to retrive gold

History and legends:
The temple is referred to as Kamalalayam due to the pond and aroor in the pre devaram days and called tiruvarur as the lord here is called aruran,The Ambal sannidhi complex has a lot of mysticism built into it with the figures and construction all as per Srividya concept and it will not be explained.by the priests to all For example  The ambal sanidhi has an Uchishta ganapathy with   an asura neela on his lap (and his hands controlling this asura with many features which can not be simply explained here) who becomes a goddess as Ganapathy is with her , These are all part of the Srividya worship traditions

Muthuswamy dikshathar was a great exponent of carnatic music and Srividya upasaka is painted here in front of the Ambal sannidhi. He composed the famous Vaatapi Ganapathim Bhajae in the Sivan sannidhi before the Ganapathy in the praharam

 

The Thyagarajar Temple at Tiruvarur is famous for the ajapa natanam (dance without chanting), that is executed by the deity itself. According to legend, there are  seven temples which  are part of the same legend of Indra donating 7 lingams to Muchukunda Chakravarthy a Chola king who  obtained a boon from Lord Indra and wished to receive the  Sivalinga gifted to Indra by Vishnu. Indra tested the king He had six other Maragatha Lingas made, and asked Muchukunda chakravarthy to choose the right one the king chose the right Maragatha Lingam and installed it  at Tiruvarur. The other six Siva lingas were installed in Thirunallar, Thirukkuvalai, Nagapattinam, Tirukaravasal, Tiruvaimur, and Vedaranyam All the seven places are villages situated along the river Cauvery. All seven Thyagaraja images are said to dance when taken in procession (it is the bearers of the processional deity who actually dance). The temples with dance styles are regarded as Saptha Vidangam(seven dance moves) and the related temples are as under:

Tiruvarur Thyagarajar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:               Vidhividangar
Dance form:                                       Ajabathaanam
Dance without chanting, resembling the dance of Sri Thyagaraja resting on Lord Vishnu's chest

Thirunallar Dharbaranyeswarar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:               Nagaradangar
Dance form:                                       Unmathanathaanam
Dance of an intoxicated person

Nagapattinam Kayarohanaswamy Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:               Sundaravidangar
Dance form:                                       Vilathithaanam
Dancing like waves of sea

Thirukkaravasal Kannayariamudayar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:               Adhividangar
Dance form:                                       Kukunathaanam
Dancing like a cock

Thirukuvalai Brahmapureeswarar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:         Avanividangar
Dance form:                             Brunganathaanam
Dancing like a bee that hovers over a flower

Thiruvaimur Vaimoornaathar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam              Nallavidangar
Dance form:                                 Kamalanadanam
Dance like lotus that moves in a breeze

Vedaranyam Vedaranyeswarar Temple
Name of the Sivalingam:             Bhuvanivividangar
Dance form:                                 Hamsapthanathaanam
Dancing with the gait of a swan

The main Sannidhi of Lord Shiva is that of Vanmikinathar ( One who came out of the Ant hill) with Bhoga sakthi as his consort also known as Somakula  amman, padi thanda pathini or Piriyaa Vidai Amman, Appar, the 7th-century poet saint, refers to the main deity in his hymn as puttritrukondan(one who resides in the ant hill). The sthala vruksham is patiri(trumpet flower tree).

The next sanctum has the figure of Thyagarajaswamy with Shiva and parvathy and Murugan in between. The lord here is covered all the year and the left padam is revealed in Panguni uthiram as the shakthi padam and  the right padam is revealed on Arudhra day as per the prayers of Vyagrapada and Patanjali maharishi.In the southwest corner of the inner prakara Nilotpalambigai is seen blessing her child Muruga sitting on a maid’s shoulder. The ganapathy in this praharam is the oldest sculpture here and is called Vataapi ganapathy. Muthuswamy dikshatar composed his krithi Vataapi ganapathim bhaje on this deity only

The akshara peetam inside the praharam 
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The Nava grahams are all in a straight line here and not in vakram as they have come to pray to llord shiva so no nagvagraha dosha can affect devotees in this temple. They are also located in northwest corner of 1st praharam
The major shrines in the temple are of Aananthiswarar, Neelothphalambal, Asaleswarar, Adageswarar, Varuneswarar, Annamalieswarar and Kamalambal.
The temple has many halls like. Bhaktha Katchi hall .It is located to the left of the image of Moosukuntha Nandi. The festival image of Thyagaraja arrives at this hall after the Panguni Uthiram festival.
Oonjal hall is located opposite to the Kabatha Katchi hall. The festival images of Chandrasekarar and Sekari Amman arrive at this hall during the Thiruvadhirai festival.
Thulabhara hall is named after the legend in which king Muchukundaka placed Thyagaraja image of Thiruvarur in one and all others in another plate he received from Indra (the king of celestial deities).
Purana hall is located in the northern part of the temple.
Rajanarayana hall is a public hall for localities of Thiruvaru.
Rajendra Chola hall, also called Sabapathi hall houses the museum of the temple.

The next sannidhi is of Sri Kamalambikai..

Sri Kamalambal is the shakthi here and the temple history credits this temple as the earliest in  the  whole complex. The ambal is shown with crossed legs and pasam ankusham, rudraksha and lotus in her arms. She is sitting on the tip of a needle, balancing herself and doing penance. Sri Muthuswamy dikshadar has composed 9 krithis on this diety  called nava varna krithis which people who practice Srividya say is his Gnana drishti. flowing out as compositions.

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