Thiruthalinathar Yoga bhairavar temple , Nindra Narayana Perumal templeat Thirupattur Sivaganga a padal petra sthalam

Yesterday 19/7/12 Enroute to Nattaraskottai from pudukottai I visited this ancient temple . it is one of the pandya desam padal petra sthalam. It has been visited by Appar, sundarar,Gnanasambandar and sung about. It is also associated with Valmiki. The ancient name for his temple is Thiruputhur (ant hill) but it is not corroborated by Ramayana. There is how ever a Sannidhi for Valmiki inside, below the sthala Vriksham Sara konrai. It is about 15 acres .

How to reach:

when you drive from Pudukottai to sivaganga on the Rameshwaram route you will reach Thirumayyam fort. Take the right turn to Rameshwaram and Thirupattur is about 50 kms from Pudukottai.The temple is situated on the main road itself.

Legends of the temple:

Shiva annihilated the demons Andakasura and Sambasura who were the sons of the Demon Hiranyaksha.Since he wanted relief from the sin he went into yoga nidra here and worshipped shri Thiruthalinathar. The concept of Pranavam is said to have been realized here( that Shiva & Pranavam were one and the same) PRANAVAM  is said to have manifested itself as the Konrai Maram the sthala vruksham here

 

Mahavishnu has also worshipped shiva here . There is a separate sannidhi for Vishnu with  Sridevi, Bhudevi a well as Hanuman the Lakshminarayana sannidhi.

Sri Ninra Narayanaperumal Temple:
It has served as a place promoting Vaishnavism. During the rule of King Varaguna Pandiyan II (862-885) a Perumal temple had been existence in this place. Lord Perumal installed in this temple is referred to as Jalasayanathupadarar in the inscriptions of King Varaguna Pandiyan II. In addition to this temple, for the sake of Lord Perumal in the standing posture, another Perumal temple was constructed in the south of Sri Thiruthalinathar temple during the Pandiya period. It contains inscriptions of later Pandiyas dating back to the 13th century. The inscription of King Maravarman Sundara Pandiyan (1216-1239 A.D) refers to this other temple as Kola Varaga Vinnagara Emperumal temple and donation of lands in 1237 A.D to meet daily expenses of the performance of poojas.

The navagrahas are in the sitting posture  here hence they will wait to hear your requests!

Yoga bhairavar is without his vahanam here.The Guru dakshinamurthy here is also without the four disciples

There is also a shrine for Lord Tirunageswarar where people worship during Rahu Kalam time. According to the legend, the prominent snakes Vasuki and Kaarkotakan worshipped Lord Shiva here and hence the separate shrine for Tirunageswarar in the outer 3rd Praharam

Lord Muruga is facing north with His consorts Valli and Deivanai.  Saint Arunagiriar had praised Lord Muruga of the temple in his Tirupugazh hymns.  Lord Nataraja graces in His Gouri thandava dancing form.  Mahalakshmi wanted to see the thandava of Shiva and here he blessed her with that dance

As you enter the temple you see the first praharam with an elephant enclosure and the Peacock strolling around. 

The Sannidhi for  Bhairavar and Vishnu are in this praharam facing west and east respectively. The Bhairavar temple has an unique epoxy coating to prevent damage to the carvings. 

The next sannidhi has Sivagami Amman sannithi on the right here facing east

The Sthala vruksham, Murugan sannidhi , the vinyaga and Valmiki sannidhis are situated behind the main temple.     

The Carvings here are exquisite as are the Ramayana scenes below

 

Lord Shiva is in the main sannidhi as a swayubhulingam here.

The temple is quite big with  a well maintained ambience.

Surutapalli Pallikondeshwarar Temple

It was a long felt desire of mine to visit this temple. After finishing darshan at the Thandalam temple another 15 kms drive  towards Tirupati took us to Uthukottai . About half a km outside the town is this famous temple where Lord Shiva is found in the lying down form.

This temple represents the Tathpurusha face of Shiva in the Pancha brahma Kshetrams on the Arani river  near Chennai for details of this please visit my blog on this

 Pancha brahma Kshetras





The Legend here is that shiva drank the poison churned out from Vasuki’s mouth when the ocean of milk was churned and he swooned. Parvathi held the poison in his neck .( If he had consumed it fully the entire world would have been wiped out). Once the amrutham was obtained all the devas rejoiced and forgot Shiva. When realisation hit them they went to Shiva thanked him for saving the whole world and appeased him though a bit late. Shiva being “Asutosh” (easily pleased) forgave them and was joyous and danced here, The rapturous dance was so spell binding that all Devas and asuras were watching in awe,  this was the first  Pradosha time. Hence it is believed that at this time every fortnight Shiva dances in front of the Nandi between the two horns of Nandhi and all gods come to witness this dance, So in all temples no pooja will be done and the screen will be closed as the respective gods would have gone to see Shiva’s Dance. Thus anybody who prays at pradosham time in a shiva temple  will have the benifit of his prayers reaching all the gods at the same time in the same place at one go!!

The main gate leads us to the Mandapam where Nandi is housed. This is a large hall and this is where Pradosha pooja takes place.

From this you enter the goddess's Sanctum. This sanctum complex  houses three gods ,Maragathambikai, Valmkeshwarar and Ramalingeshwarar. Goddess Maragathambikai is standing and is the same proportions as the idol I saw at Thandalam Dharaneeshwaran temple. To the left of her is the Shrine of Valmikeshwarar. This is a Shivalingam which was worshiped by Valmiki. Legend says this place was Valmiki's ashram where Seetha and Lava Kusha came to live after being banished by Rama.

The sanctum wall on the south has a beautiful dakshinamurthy with consort ( a rarity)


( photo courtesy The Hindu)
on an excavation inside the temple  a stone with the impression of small feet ( Lava and Kusha’s feet) was found . This is kept on display even today.

The uniqunes of this sannidhi is that in front of a sivalinga it is usually a Nandhi, instead  here there is a sivalinga which was installed by Rama on his return from Lanka , The Ramalingeshwara. The uniqueness does not end here, In the Sanctum on one side you can see Rama and Seetha and on the other side there is Bharatha and Shatrugna who have Anjeneya facing them instead of Rama and Seetha!! 

The main Sanctum complex has lord  Shiva in lying down form on Goddess Parvati's lap with all the Devas , Saptharishis in attendance Vinayaka andSkanda are also  seen
(photo courtesy shantraju.wordpress.com).



A View of the Main sannidhi from outside