- December 16, 2024
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Thennadudaya Sivane Potri
Ennattavarkum Iraiva Potri
Thepperumanallur Vedanta Nayaki Sametha Viswanatha Swamy Temple, which has the pride of “Only those who have not been reborn can come to this temple”
Thepperumanallur is a town located 7 km from Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district via Thirunageswaram. This temple related to the Purana period is blessed by Vedanta Nayaki Sametha Viswanatha Swamy. It is said that this temple was built by Rajaraja Chola.
The Uppiliyappan Temple and the Thirunageswaram Naganath Temple are located near this temple.
Only those who have not been reborn can enter this temple. Anyone who thinks otherwise will face so many obstacles that they will not be able to enter this temple.
Legend has it that even though Mahasiddha Agastya Muni tried to visit this temple many times, he could not see Lord Shiva. The sacred tree of this temple is Vanni. The sacred water of Brahma Theertham is in the eastern part of the temple. The legendary name of this temple is Devarajpuram.
“Every morning, the Sun God spreads his rays on the Shiva Lingam and worships it”. Only after that, the temple is opened at seven in the morning. This is a miraculous temple where the sunlight falls on Shiva 365 days a year.
The eastern door is designed like a window so that the sunlight falls on the Shiva Lingam.
Although this temple faces east and Lord Vishwanath (also known as Sri Rudraksheswarar, Naga Vishwanath) faces east, the entrance to the temple is from the back, the west. There is no Rajagopuram at the entrance, but a small entrance.
Ambal Sri Vedantanayaki is seated in the main complex facing south. There is a flag tree. The temple pond is in the eastern part. Inside the main temple, the Shivalinga is fully decorated with Rudraksha. This is an armor with 22,000 Rudrakshas. The specialty of this temple is that the Archana here is also performed with Rudraksha. It starts with a single-faced Rudraksha and ends with a 12-faced Rudraksha. The emerald stone ornament adorns the Linga and when the sun shines, the sanctum itself shines.
A miraculous snake that comes to this temple once a year to worship the Lord.
Once a year, a Naga (good snake) performs Vilva Puja to Shiva here and garlands Shiva with its skin. This is one of the miracles that will happen in Kali Yuga. Visiting Lord Shiva at this temple on Pradosham is a thousand times more auspicious. The temple is kept clean and tidy. The temple is closed at 11.30 am on other days except Pradosham. Rudraksha, taken from Lord Shiva’s ornaments, is sold here as Prasad.
#On January 16, 2010, a large number of people witnessed the miracle of a cobra worshipping the Shivalinga with willow leaves during the solar eclipse at Theperumanallur. A few minutes before the eclipse was to begin at 10.30 am, the Shivacharya of the temple, Satish, and the devotees who had come to the temple were delighted to see the cobra enter the temple and lie on the Shivalinga.
The snake slowly descended from the linga and went towards the Bilva tree, which is the temple’s sacred tree, through the abhishekam path. Then it climbed a tree, plucked some willow leaves and returned to the Shiva shrine, opening its mouth to let the willow leaves fall on Lord Shiva. The cobra did not stop there, but kept doing the same thing over and over again until the eclipse ended. The snake hissed at every devotee who tried to go near it. This miracle was recorded in video and photos and published in newspapers.
The name Naga Viswanathar is associated with the snakes in this temple. A peeled snake shirt is occasionally found in the temple. Legend says that there is no rebirth by worshipping Lord Viswanath.
This very ancient temple is built completely differently from the Agama rules. All the deities present here appear in different forms.
Vedanta Nayaki is enshrined in a separate shrine facing south inside the Maha Mandapam. This Ambal appears to be coming forward with her right leg raised. Her lips are pursed as if she is talking to us. This is a sight not seen anywhere else.
It is said that she is the one who teaches us the meaning of the Vedas. With the teaching and compassionate gaze of this mother, we can excel in education and knowledge. It is believed that if you worship this Ambal on Fridays and offer saffron archana, the marriage ban will be removed.
A few years ago, the lamp in the Ambal shrine would go out from 7 am to 9 am and then light up again on its own. It was a great miracle that all the people of Thepperumanallur gathered to worship that sight and the Ambal, which created a great stir.
Two Bhairavas are seen in the same shrine near the Ambal shrine, a small form called Shantha Bhairava and a large form called Maha Bhairava, about five feet tall.
Next to the Bhairava shrine, Lord Shani is seen riding a crow, with his left hand below his waist, looking towards the Lord in a relaxed manner, facing the west. Why is he standing still?
As the time to catch Lord Shani was approaching, he told Ambal, “I am going to catch Lord Iswaran tomorrow morning at a quarter to seven.” Hearing this, Ambal got angry. In any case, Lord Shani came slowly the next day to catch Lord Iswaran with the intention of catching Lord Iswaran at a quarter to seven and doing his work properly. Then Mother told Lord Iswaran to hide behind the royal tree nearby. Lord Iswaran did the same.
Lord Shani, who came there, saw Ambal standing under the royal tree and understood where Lord Iswaran was. So he stopped there, looking at the royal tree. When Lord Shani said that the seven-quarter hour had passed, Lord Shani started moving slowly from there. Then Mother looked at Lord Shani and asked,
“What, are you going back after failing to catch Lord Iswaran?” Lord Shani said arrogantly, “The work I came for has been completed successfully. Didn’t Lord Iswaran himself happen to be hiding behind the royal tree? That was the time I caught him,” and stood in front of Ambal, resting his left hand on his hip. Listening to what Lord Shani said, Lord Iswaran emerged from behind the royal tree in anger, took the form of Mahamantra Bhairava and tore Lord Shani in two.
Lord Shani, who was torn in two, said to Lord Shiva, “Lord Iswaran! I act according to the law you have laid down. If I were not there, the inhabitants of the earth would act with great arrogance according to their own wishes. Due to this, the arrogant and wicked people will increase in the world. Therefore, please forgive me for my arrogant behavior and grant me the grace to act as before again.” He prayed. Lord Shiva accepted his prayer and blessed him by joining his two bodies together. It is believed that if one worships Lord Shani, who has thus removed his arrogance, the evils of Shani will be removed.
Ambika pacified the anger of Lord Shiva, who appeared fiercely in the form of Maha Mantra Bhairava, by reciting the four Vedas. With the grace of Ambal, Lord Shiva’s anger subsided and he regained his peaceful form. Due to this, Ambal was named the Vedanta Nayaki.
At that time, Narada came there. “Lord! The sin of tearing Lord Shani into two has taken hold of you. From now on, you will not be able to take the form of a world. Therefore, only if you see all twelve Jyotirlingas together will that sin be removed.”
Immediately, Lord Iswaran summoned all twelve Jyotirlingas to this holy place. Seeing this, Narada said, “Even if one of them comes here, all sins, curses and evils will be removed. Since all twelve have come and descended, this is a very wonderful place!”
“Since this is a holy place where all twelve Jyotirlingas have given darshan, only those who have performed meritorious deeds in seven or seven births and have not been reborn can come and have darshan here,” said Narada. One of the Jyotirlingas, Kashi Vishwanath, remained there with a visalakshi. The shrine is in the southeast corner of the Mahamandapam.
Knowing the glory of the Lord, Agastya Ma Muni came to have darshan of Sri Vishwanath Swami. Knowing that Agastya was coming, Lord Shiva wanted to stop him from coming there because Agastya had a rebirth. Therefore, he called Makaranda Maharishi and asked him to stop Agastya from coming. Following the Lord’s order, Makaranda Maharishi blocked the way, turning Agastya into a pollen flower. Agasthiyar, who saw the Makaranda flowers blocking the path in his vision, realized that Makaranda Maharishi was among those flowers and said, “Maharishi! I want to go to see the Lord; please make way.”
When Makaranda Maharishi refused to make way, Agasthiyar became angry and cursed, “May your flower-like face turn into the face of a Yazhi.” To fulfill Agasthiyar’s curse, the Maharishi appeared with the face of a Yazhi and said, “Mamunivar, I did not do this of my own free will. I blocked your path only on the orders of the Lord. Since you have been reborn, you cannot see the Lord of this place,” and asked for absolution for his curse.
Agasthiyar, who was appeased, said, “Makaranda Rishi, to get absolution from the curse I have given, if you worship the Lord with an object that no one in the world worships, the curse will be lifted and you will regain your old face,” and then went back.
Immediately, Makaranda Rishi came to the Thepperumanallur Sri Vishwanatha Swamy temple and performed puja with a lion face. If he performed puja with one type of flower today, he performed puja with a different type of flower the next day. He performed puja in this manner for fifty years. One day, while performing abishekam to the Lord, the Rudraksha garland from his neck broke off and fell on the Lord’s head (lingam). At that time, the Lord shone like a light. Seeing this, Makaranda Rishi presented from one-faced Rudraksha to fourteen-faced Rudraksha for puja and showed them to the Lord. The Rishi changed his lion face and was freed from the curse. That is why it is said that the Lord of this place is adorned with a Rudraksha armor.
Twenty-two thousand Rudraksha beads are used to make a robe, a robe, and a naga image. The Rudraksha armor is worn on Pradosham, Shivaratri, Madha Shivaratri, and special days of Shiva. It is said that the Lord, who has a mane wearing such Rudraksha armor, cannot be seen anywhere. The person who helped prepare this armor was a devotee named Sivakumar from Trichy.
When one comes out of the Maha Mandapam through the eastern door, Lord Nandi appears. He does not have a right ear.
When the entire world was submerged during the flood, only this place remained unsubmerged. At that time, Brahma descended to this place. He saw Lord Vishwanatha Swamy standing there and worshipped him. Jesus then appeared as a Jyotirlinga.
In this situation, Nandi, who was caught in the flood, came quickly to this place in search of the Lord. Then, as it slipped and fell to one side, its right ear curled inwards. Nandi, who was saddened by this, looked at Lord Nandi and, knowing Nandi’s inner feelings, consoled him by saying, “O Nandi! Do not be sad. Whoever tells their grievances to the side where your right ear used to be, I will immediately resolve it.” Accordingly, it is said that if one tells their grievances to the right ear of this Nandi, it gets resolved.
Sri Annadhana Dakshinamurthy, who accepts old rice and satisfies our hunger, appears on a bullock cart
Sri Dakshinamurthy appears in the shrine on the southern side of the temple. He sits on a bullock cart without any disciples and offers blessings towards the direction of Nrithi. He is called Annadhana Dakshinamurthy. If you see him, curses will be removed; you can excel in education and knowledge. He is offered old rice (the first day’s rice after pouring water) every day. The temple priests say that if you worship him sincerely, you will get food when you are hungry.
Lord Muruga appears with his consorts in the northwestern part of this temple.
Lord Vishnu appears in the northern side of the temple. During the Navaratri festival, she would arrange the wedding of her groom, Lord Shiva, and her sister, Vedanta Nayaki, and take them to her temple. There is a Perumal temple near this Shiva temple. When the Navaratri festival is held in this Perumal temple, it is customary for the Shiva couple to visit there on the last day. As a symbol of the fact that the Perumal of that temple came here and arranged the wedding, he has been erected here in the north fort.
Near him is the Sri Chandikeswara shrine. Two Chandikeswaras are worshipped here. One is in a large form facing south and the other in a small form facing east.
A four-armed Vishnu Durga is seen in the koshtam near the Chandikeswara shrine. Behind the Ambal shrine, an eight-armed Durga is seen in the north koshtam. These two Durgas stand in a tripangi position and face the northwest.
There is a separate shrine for Kapala Vinayaka in the Kanni corner. It is said that worshipping him removes all sins and the undertaking undertaken will be completely successful.
The eyes of this Ganapati are not on the sides of the face like those of an elephant, but in the middle of the face like those of a human. Moreover, his fingers and toes are long like human fingers. He wears a kapala garland around his waist. During a great flood, when the entire world was submerged in water, only this place remained unsubmerged.
Seeing this, the four-faced man meditated on Ganesha to clear his doubts. Ganesha, who appeared before him, said, “This place is sacred. Lord Shiva is going to ascend here. Only a saint who has not been reborn will have the privilege of worshipping the Lord in this place. My mother and I will ascend in this place with the Lord.
Then my eyes will be straight like human eyes; my nails and nerves will be like human organs. At that time, I will transform the Ashtadi Balagaras into skull garlands and wear them as pendants on my waist. I will forgive the sins of those who worship me and grant all the blessings,” said Thiruvai.
While anointing this Kapala Vinayaka with sandalwood oil, you can see the Kapala Ottiyana on his waist.
History says that only the sanctum sanctorum of this temple was built with lime mixed with honey.
In this temple, next to the Thiruppampuram Pampuranathar temple, Lord Rahu and Lord Ketu appear together in one place. Nowhere else do they appear together like this. They appear together in one place so that both of them can be worshipped.
The special feature is that each of the nine planets is facing a different direction only here.
It is good to buy the items for worship. Since the house of the guru is nearby, we can have darshan while we are there. The temple is undergoing renovations and will soon be consecrated. Devotees can participate in this and receive the blessings of the Lord.
After seeing the Lord, devotees are given a Rudraksha along with a vilvathalam as prasad.
Thepperumanallur Temple is open from 08.00 am to 11.30 am and from 05.00 pm to 07.30 pm.
Thepperumanallur Temple Contact Number: +91 435 246 3354, +91-94435 27247
Arulmigu Viswanatha Swamy Temple,
Thepperumanallur, Kumbakonam,
Thanjavur District – 612 204
