Thiru Kumaraswamy temple Erukathampuliyur nearVriddhachalam- A padalpetra Sthalam

I had an opportunity to visit this temple near Vriddhachalam last Sunday. I was driving down from kumbakonam to Chennai after an “on the spur of a  moment” trip the previous day. my wife and her aunt wanted to visit Andimadam , a small village famous  for its cotton sarees which are very light in weight and on the purse too!! So after a feel good saree purchase trip I happened to pass by this temple currently under renovation and had a good darshan.

How to Reach: 

The temple is situated in Rajendrapatnam and is known as Erukathampuliyur due to the abundant Erukka( Calotropis procera, Arka, Jilledu, Erukkam) trees forest here puliyur because Vyagrapada did penance here.More about that in history.Rajendrapatnam is 25 kms from Jayamkondan towards Vriddhachalam and it is 13 kms away from Vriddhachalam.The temple is easily found just by the side of the highway.

Legends and Stories:

This place was very peaceful in the past and all the devas used  to come here to meditate on the lord Shiva here in the form of bees, animals, trees etc. The local hunters started hunting these animals and cutting the divine trees.The lord cursed these hunters to become erukka plant which is generally considered useless .This explains the Erukka forest.

Once Shiva was expounding the Vedas to Parvati and she appeared disinterested he cursed her then to be born here as a fisher women.this enraged Murugan who threw the palm leaves of shiva as his mother was cursed so Shiva also bid him to be born on earth in Madurai  to Sri. Thalapathy and Gunasalini in the name of Rudrasanman , He was unfortunately born a deaf mute.  When he grew old, he went to many Shiva shrines seeking relief and was blessed with speaking skills at Erukathampuliyur.  As Kumaran (Murugan) worshipped Lord Shiva in the place, the Lord is named Thiru Kumara Swami.  There is an idol of Rudrasanma in the temple.

King Rajaraja Chola I(/Ponniyin Selvan/Arulmozhi Varman) prayed to Lord of this temple seeking a worthy progeny and was blessed with a son who later grew famous as Rajendra Cholan, hence, the place is called Rajendrapattinam.

A king from the North of India called Suvedhan a, staunch Shiva devotee was infected with leucoderma due to his past sins and got relieved of the cruel disease by worshipping the Lord after a dip in the sacred Erukathampuliyur spring.   

The rays of Sun fall on the Lord from March 16 to 20. 

People with Speech impediment and speech difficulties pray to the lord here for mitigation of their problems.

It is the birth place of Thiru neelakanta Yazhpanar a Nayanmar

Thirugnanasambandar has composed Padigams on this lord

It iss a small temple with both the Shivan a medium sized Shivalingam  and Ambal Veramulai Amman – Abhinna Kusa Nayaki sannidhi are both side by side facing east

The small outer praharam has sannidhis for Vinayaka and Murugan. The Koshta Vigrahas are Dakshinamurthy, Brahma and Durga and Perumal

The Nayanmars and Rudrasanman statue behind

Below we see Brahma and Durga in the Koshta

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

Sri Mangalapureeshwarar temple at Tiruchopuram near Cuddalore- A padal petra sthalam

This Sunday 23/8/14 I visited this temple . It is very close to the shore and in a quaint village. Sadly many people do not visit this temple and the priest stays at Cuddalore but does 5 kala pujas daily. Since he is in charge of many temples  he is always on the move. The temple manager stays behind and has custody of the keys and so we were able to enter the temple and have a darshan
How to reach:
The temple is between cuddalore and chidambaram On the east coast road about 20 kms from cuddalore you will see the road to Alapakkam take this road and cross the railway track at 4 kms you will come to Thiruchopuram now called Thiagavalli in memory of the queen of Thribhuvana maharaja who used to worship here. The Temple is in the middle of the village
     
The bells on the kodimaram were pleasantly welcoming us with their music
Legends:
A few hundred  and fifty years ago the temple was covered by sand and was lost. Ramalinga sivayogiar of Madurai had a dream and he came here and discovered the kalasam and with the help of villagers reclaimed  the temple. Till a few years ago it was accessed only  by boat access the river. You can still see copious sand in the courtyard

Agasthya did penance here .
Thirugnanasambandar has sung songs about this temple
The temple itself is quite small but spacious. The shivalingam faces west hence the  square avudiar is on the left. The ambal sannidhi is on the left facing south. There is only one praharam
The dwarapalakas of the shivan sannidhi
 
The ambal is known as Veladan nadunkanniyal, sathyaaya dakshi and is about 5feet tall and quite imposing.
The kosta vigrahas are reversed as the temple faces west and hence you find Vishnu durgai first, The Dakshinamurthy, lingodhbhavar are unique in having attendants Ganesh has Thirugnanasambandam as attendant 
Dakshinamurthy has sanath kumaras

Brahma and Vishnu are attending Shiva above
There are other sannidhis in the praharam  as below with many lingams and the 63 nayanmars  
Navagragas in an enclosure
   

Sthala vriksham Konrai maram