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

Thiruvettipuram Vedapureeshwarar temple near Cheyyar- A padal petra sthalam

The next temple I visited today morning was this ancient temple which is revered for the miracle performed by Sri Gnanasambandhar where he made a barren Palmyra tree bear fruits with his prayers miraculously . It is most sought after by devotees anxious to bear children.
How to Reach:
The temple is inside the town of Cheyyar which is a district headquarters between Kanchi and Vandavasi. The suburb of Cheyyar where the temple is called Thiruvettipuram The temple is very close to the highway and easily found
The gopuram shows the legend of the temple of Palmyra tree bearing fruit

Legends and Stories of the temple:
The temple was where Shiva preached Vedas to the Devas hence the name Vedapureeshwarar and the place was called Thiru vedapuram or Thiru odhu puram in Tamil now corrupted to thiruvettipuram.
The miracle of Gnanasambhandar helped convert many Jains into Hinduism . This also made the place famous to beget progeny.
There are separate sannidhis for the pancha bhoota sthalams of Shiva like Chidambaram, Thiruvanaikal, Thiruvannamalai, so we get the benefit of praying at all these places here itself.
There is a rare Nagalingam idol here which is also prayed to for begetting progeny and also during Rahukalam pooja prayers here will be answered.
The outer praharam has the nandi and Kodimaram. The nandi is facing outside toward the main entrance
The temple pond in the outer praharam

The next inner praharam houses the main sannidhi, Ambal sannidhi and the pancha bhoota lingam sannidhis. There is a corner where The miracle of Gnanasambandhar is shown
The entrance to the main praharam is flanked by Narthana ganapathy , Murugan and The nagalingam   
The  praharam and Various shrines with sthalavruksham are seen below     
The inner praharam houses the sannidhis of the lord and Ambal,
The Shivan sannidhi has to be entered through two main halls with various inscriptions. The third hall is the Garba gruha with a majestic rough surfaced Shiva lingam facing east
The koshta vigrahas here are the usual Narthana ganapathy, Dakshinamurthy,Mahavishnu ,Brahma and Durga
The Ambal Balagujambikai is about 3 feet tall and standing in her seperate sannidhi with her own Koshta vigrahas ganapathy here is a rarity.
The navagraha sannidhi is in front of the nagalingam. During Saturdays and Rahukalam there are special poojas for these lords.

Kurangu Anil Muttam A Padal petra sthalam near Kanchipuram

This  is one of the temples which has been referred to by Kanchi Mahaperiyava in his Deivathin kural when some monkeys came to his camp and took away the plantains.

How to Reach
The place is about 10-15 kms from Kanchi on the Kanchi Vandavasi road. Travelling from Kanchi you will reach a village called Dusi. Turn left into Dusi and proceed for about 2 kms inside via small village roads and the locals will guide you to the temple. The temple is in front of a pond which was dug by Yama as a crow called Yamatheertham.This is sadly dry and in need of help.
Legends and stories of the temple:
The place is famous for the fact that Vali ( as a monkey), Indra (as a squirrel-anil) and Yama (as a crow- muttam) came here to pray to Shiva for redemption of their sins at the same time. Hence Kurangu anil muttam
The lord id a swayumbhu called Vaalesshwarar. Sri Gnanasambhandar has sung about this lord in his thevaram
In the month of Chittirai the sun shines on the lord. It is a surya kshetram and good for praying to be rid of eye ailments
The Sthala vriksham is the Elandhai  tree and the fruits are given with garlic and pepper as a prasadam for infertility to tone up the uterus

As you enter you see the nandi mandap with the balipeetam, The door way has the sculptures of Brahma, Indra, Vaali, Yama worshipping the lingam.

The temple is west facing and hence the ambal sannidhi is on the left facing south as you enter. The Shivalingam is a swayumbhu lingam with the avudiar facing our left. He is also known as Koyya malar nathar one who is worshipped with flowers untouched by the hand. It seems vaali shook the ilandhai tree and caused the flowers to drop on the lord as he did not want to defile the flowers by
touching them before offering it to the lord. Such was his bhakthi
The ambal Irayarvalai Ammai is atanding about 3 feet high facing south in her own sannidhi on the left as you enter the main temple
The kosta vigrahas are also reversed so we have durga
There are other vigrahas in the praharam like Kasi vishwanathar with Visalakshi,
Bhairavar

Saptha mathas

The temple history with the priests contact number
The outer court yard is well laid out and the trees abound with fruits and weaver bird nests!!
Elandhai maram
A bird peeping out of its nest!!
The Pond Yama theertham
Contact
Sridhara Gurukkal :9445642409

Technorati Tags: Kuranganilmuttam,Kanchipuram,Padalpetra sthalam,Thirugnanasambhandar,Yama,Indra,Vaali,Vaaleshwarar

Sri Sivanandhishwarar temple Thirukandalam near Red hills – A padal petra sthalam

Today on a leisurely Sunday our family visited this famous ancient temple near red hills . It was a peaceful village with a nice temple.

How to reach:

The temple is fairly easy to find about 40 kms from Chennai on the Chennai Nellore highway. After the karanodai bridge and toll plaza look for the periyapalayam turning on the left. 6 kms after the turn take a left at Kannigaiper village bazaar road and proceed for 6 kms the meandering road gets you to  thirukandalam village and the temple .

Nandikulam in front of the temple with good clean water bathing here is allowed.

Route 2:

Alternatively you can take a left into the road to red hills from the Kolkata highway  on to SH 114 and after 4 kms  turn right at boochiathipattu, This is a horrible road on the riverbed the temple is about 3 kms on this road. Please do not take this road. I travelled back on this road and almost busted my suspensions . There is scarcely any habitation around luckily a few lorry drivers were found drinking in a groove who guided me properly to red hills

Legends and stories of the temple

Shiva is worshipped here by Saint Bhrigu with Kallil flowers (Huge Indian hedge cactus) hence he is also called Kalilishwarar. Saint Bhrigu had a peculiar habit of circumambulating shiva alone daily which used to irritate Parvathy.Shiva gave darshan to Bhrigu rishi in the form of Shakthi dakshinamurthy to prove he was not different from shakthi . We find a sannidhi with Shakthi on the lap of Shiva here.

When Thirugnanasambandar was travelling to Kalahasthi he had a bath in the Kushashtalai river. His pooja box and Vibhuti box were washed away and were found near this Shiva in between a cactus  (Kallil) forest. The saint thus composed poems on this lord.

This temple is recommended for couples with differences to visit so that they may resolve their differences with the lords blessings

The temple itself is very small and neat. It is built in the Somaskanda pattern with Skanda in between Sivan and Parvathi sannidhi. Ambal is known as Anandavalli here .

Today when I visited a group of devotees from Chennai were doing  Laksharchanai .with such great devotion. The Kurukkal here is aged 102 years and is very sprightly. He lives on the premises hence the temple is open from 6 AM to night.7 PM

   

The main sannithi has a small austere Shivalingam with a square avudiar . There is good peace inside the main sivan sanidhi and it was a real divine blessing. The main Vimanam has a Gajaprushti construction signifying an ancient Swayumbhu lingam

Just near the Gopuram there is a shrine built for the nayanmars and Suryan

There is a shrine for anjeneya which is new and in the far corner a vinayaka sanidhi

Next to vinayakar is the sannidhi for Kalahasthishwarar

The Kosta vigrahas are Ganapathy, Dakshinamurthy, Lingodbhavar, Brahma and Durga 

Next to the main sannidhi is Murugan sanidhi. Here the lord is having a rudraksha in his hand signifying creation which he took over from Brahma temporarily.This was the norm in early chola temples I was told by the Kurukkal

The ambal sanidhiis after the Murugan sanidhi. Anandavalli  ambal is standing benignly blessing the devotees

A new addition is the Shakthi dakshinamurthy sannidhi

Shloka on the sannithi for harmonius married life

 

 

 

Navagraha sannidhi seen below

View of the gopuram from inside . It has an ardhanari as well as a Hari hara

A very peaceful and nice experience