Shri Vedagirishwarar temple Thirukazhukundram

This is the most famous of the temples here in this town and is very scenic. It is well seen from all the temples around . It is at a height of 500 mtrs and you need to climb 550 steps . It is a very thrilling experience due to the monkeys and the vendors. Please carry water as it is sold for Rs.32 a bottle on the hillock. All pooja articles are better bought down and do not carry anything in plastic covers as the monkeys will pluck it out of your hands.

How to reach:

In front of the Thazha kovil take the road in the market and take the first left turn. There is parking allowed on the road in front of the steps. There is a new temple being built here. You need to buy tickets to climb up, fo your camera and also pooja articles.

Legend:

Sage Bharadwaja prayed to Shiva for long life to master the vedas, Lord shiva appeared to him and said that even if he lives to eternity what he learns will be only a hand ful as compared to the four vedas he created as hillocks here to state that they will stand eternal. He also said that Bhakthi will be the way to salvation in Kali yuga and not mastery of the vedas. The four hillocks represent the four vedas and the Shiva shrine is situated on the Atharvana veda .

The climb is made cool due to the shelterd pathway  

 

 

   By the time you climb here you will be tired so take rest and then climb to the top.

The temple is quite small with an elevated Garbhagriha with a resplendent Shivalingam on a square avudaiyar. The Koshta vigrahas are all placed on the side walls and are at a lower level than the floor  after renovation hence you have to down to see but can not enter. There is no Ambal sannidhi here or Nandi.. When I went in the abhishekam was going on and in the cool breeze it was a nice sight.

The exit hate is behind and you will need to climb down via a climb different route which takes you past the spot where the Eagles used to come

There is also an ancient rock cut temple for shiva under the ASI built by the pallavas .

Note that the temple opens only after 8 and darshan commences after 10 AM till noon and reopens at 4 PM.

Therezhindur a small hamlet between Mayavaram and Kumbakonam - temples and legends

 

The capital of Karikala Chozhan I and the birth place of the great Tamil poet Kamban, Ther Ezhendur (ThiruVazhandur), a Krishnaranya Kshetram, is situated 11kms West of Mayavaram.A tall and handsome 12 feet Lord Devathirajan is flanked on his right by Prahalad and on his left by Garuda.

There are two Vishnu temples ( krishna and Devadiraja) and a sivan koil Vedagiriswarar temple.

A view of kambar’s house

There are many  quaint legends which links these temples.

Once Siva and Vishnu were playing dice (Sokkattan) Parvati was the  judge she ruled that her brother won and Siva was enraged and cursed her to be born as a cow.At once Vishnu took up the role of a cowherd to take care of her and there are a lot of places and temples nearby which are connected to this, There is a sokkattan mandapam in the Sivan koil, There is a cow and calf next to the utsava murthy in the perumal temple and the Lord is called Gosakha here Amaruvi appan in Tamil. The nearby areas of Mandhai, Komal Mekhri Mangalam were all the grazing grounds that the cow and the cowherd visited and there are krishna temples in all these places,At about 20 kms away is the thiruvaduthurai Temple under the aadhinams control where Parvati had papa vimochana and the temple lord here  is Sivan called Go muktheeswarar . The nearby village of Thiruvelvikudi is the place where the homams were done prior to Siva marrying Sakthi. And the wedding was conducted in Thiruveezhimazhalai nearby. The lord of this temple is sivan called Mappillai Swamy

Legend 2:

King Ubarisaravasu had the flying chariot, courtesy a boon he had received from Indra for helping the devas in battle.. With this, he had become arrogant and incurred the wrath of the rishis, whose curse resulted in the chariot coming crashing down into this place .

Legend 3

Another story goes that Lord Krishna’s cows were injured when King Ubarisaravasu’s chariot’s shadow fell on them (It is believed that Ubarisaravasu had obtained this quite special boon that anyone on whom his chariot’s shadow falls would get into trouble). Wanting to teach the king a lesson, Krishna pierced the chariot to prevent the chariot from flying any further. The Chariot came thudding down into this place and got stuck here.

The king saw a small boy had pierced the shadow of the chariot and arrogantly asked him what he wanted . The cowherd replied give me 1000 pots of butter and I shall release the chariot, The kings army procured the same but to their surprise when it was handed over to the boys hands the pots miraculously became empty . The king realized that it is no ordinary boy and apologized and was shown Krishna's true form on his request he stayed here

Legend 4:

Indra once presented Garuda a gold ornament and a vimanam. It is said that Garuda gave the Vimanam at this temple at Thiru Vazhandur( the Gold ornament was given to Thiru Narayanan at Melkote near Mysore). Happy at this gesture of Garuda, the Lord accorded him a special status at this temple with a position alongside him at the sanctum sanctorum, a unique feature at a Divya Desam. Normally one finds Garuda opposite the Lord but here he is seen next to the Lord Himself

Legend 5:

Cauvery's Penance at Therezhendur

Sage Agastya held river  Cauvery captive in his kamandalam.  Cauvery escaped from the kamandalam at Talakaveri  only to be cursed by the Sage who said " Let the place where Cauvery goes be in trouble'. Cauvery undertook penance here at Therezhundur to get liberated from the curse of Sage Agastya. There is a Cauvery idol in the main sannidhi

Legend 6:

This is the birth place of the famous Tamil poet Kamban ( Kamban wrote the Ramayana in Tamil). There is a separate sannidhi for Kamban and his wife  at this temple. The place where Kamban resided, on the Sannidhi street, has now been turned into a beautiful new ‘Kamban Mandapam’

Legend 7:

Markandeya rishi being eternally young came here and was praying for moksham. Since he has everlasting life  Vishnu bhagwan asked him to stay here always looking at him and have peace of mind. So he is also present in the main sannidhi. ( Lord living with his father in law!!)

Legend 8:

Prahalada wanted to have a darshan of the shanta roopam of Mahavishnu and he came here for darshan . An Idol of prahalada is also seen in the main sanctum

Therazundur A pristine village with so much greenery and peace