DRIVING THROUGH CAUVERY DELTA -Day4

DAY-4:

      Vaitheeswaran is more popular for its Nadi Jyothisham than the Lord Vaitheeswarar and the adobe of graham Mars (Angaraka). It is believed that Shiva came down to this sthala to heal 4448 ailments, including those of mind. Along with him came the goddess Theiyyal nayaki, bearing a pot of healing oil, the sanjeevini herb and the mud from the roots of Vilvam tree (Indian Fig), all of which have curative powers.

   The Lingam in the main sanctum is tiny one but its power of healing is believed to be amazing.

          One of the Navagrahas, Angaraka, worshipped here is believed to be a fiery graham. But in this temple he appears to be smiling and benign.

For those interested in Astrology, this is an interesting place since it is the center for the practitioners of Nadi Jyothisha. I was a bit curious about that but since Sreeram has got no interest in that, we were out of that place with total happiness after the darshan of Lord Shiva.

At around 8.15 in the morning, we started our drive towards Chidambaram and on the way we were at Seerkazhi, the temple of Sattanatha swami.

Sthala puranam:

This is the place where the 3 year old Thiru Jnana sambandhar sang his first Thevaram (set of 10 verses). The toddler has been left on the banks of the temple tank, Brahma Teertha, while his father went to bathe there. The hungry child wept for milk. Legend goes that Shiva sent Parvathi to feed the child. The Goddess drew the milk from her breast into a golden cup and fed the child from it. Instantly Sambandhar was enlightened. When his father returned from his bath and, seeing the dribble of milk around his son’s mouth, asked him who had fed him. Sambandhar pointed to the sanctum of the temple and burst into song “thodudaiya seviyan….” (he wore an ear ring, rode the bull, the moon was in his hair and all over his body he had rubbed the ash from the funeral pyres- he who stole my heart…..).

                                                     

                There are 3 sanctums of Shiva in this temple-the main sanctum had Brahma pureeswara and is at ground level. Climbing steep steps to a higher level, we reach the sanctum of Thoniappar. Here are seated impressively large idols of Lord Shiva and Parvathi. Thoniappar is Shiva rowing a boat through the floods of the pralaya. Climbing further flight of steps takes us to the sanctum of Sattanathar. The sanctum is not kept open all the times. The forms of Lord Shiva and Vishnu can be seen incarnated on the same stone here.

We can find a small sanctum for Jnana sambandhar too which makes us recall the importance of the kshetra.

                   The next milestone was Chidambaram, the temple of cosmic dancer.

This is again a feast to watch. The temple complex is very huge and has got lot of specialties to witness. The sanctum having the idols of Shiva as Nataraja, Shiva kama Sundari and the Aakasa Lingam is very comfortably seen even from a distance. Standing exactly opposite to that a little far, if we move our head a little left, we can see the very amazing Thillai Govinda Perumal in the laying pose. This really stole my heart. The sanctum of Urdhwa pada Shiva is again a wonder. Near to this, the sthala puranam of Thirukkadaiyur, where the Lord Shiva rescues his young devotee Markandeya from Yama is depicted in pictures in an interesting way. We can go to the top to go still near to the main idols and watch them carefully. Then at particular time, the screen is drawn aside to show us the Aakasa lingam which has literally nothing except a garland of golden Bilwa dalas hanging to the wall. This symbolizes that the lord is infinite just as the sky and he can’t be fitted into a small limited rupa. The natya mantapa in the temple complex tempts the dance practitioners and its beauty is worth watching.

                                          
                     The temple of Tillai Kali Amman is located few miles from this main temple. Legend says that as per the rule of their competition, whoever loses the context of dance between Shiva and parvathi should go out of the village. Then Shiva, as a last refuge, lifts his leg high into the sky and Parvathi was thus declared the loser and she went to the outskirts. Here are 2 idols one ugra and the other depicting the Shanta murty. Ugra rupa is called-Thillai Kali and tha Shanta Rupa is called the Brahma Chamundi.   

               After having spent a considerable time in these temples, we turned around towards Vaitheeswaran. On the way, we tried our luck and drove towards Thirukkadaiyur. Here the goddess proved more kind towards us and blessed us with a great darshan but the Lord Amrita Ghateswara wanted us to come there again so hid himself behind the doors. This was a chasing seen for us since the temple closes at 1 o’clock. We were able to reach there by 12.50 but, the sanctum of the lord was already closed by that time. Even then, we had a very fulfilling darshan of the goddess Abhirami.

Sthala puranam:

     When the devas and asuras carried away the pot of nectar from the churning ocean, they set it down in this kshetra to bathe. When they returned from their ablutions, they found that the pot had turned into a lingam and had grown so deep into the ground that its base reached the netherworld. So the ‘Lord of the pot of nectar’ stayed in this kshetra and it came to be called (thiru) divine, (kadai) churning, (ur) place-thirukkadaiur.

Many people come here to celebrate their 60^th or 80^th birth days. It was here that the ideal son of a pious couple, Markandeya doomed to die at 16, embraced the lingam in the fear of death. Yama threw his rope at this boy. It fell around the lingam. An incensed Shiva emerged, slew yama and granted immortality to Markandeya.

                                                     
            The shrine of Goddess Abhirami is in separate enclosure. Abhirama Bhattar was a poet and devotee of the goddess. Once, Bhattar was meditating on the moon like radiance of the goddess’ face on an Amavasya day. At the same time, the chola king of that place came there and asked him what day it was. Still meditating on Abhirami’s face, the poet replied without hesitation, ”it is a full-moon day.” The incensed king ordered him to prove him that it was a full-moon day, or else he was to be put to death. It was near the flagstaff that the poet sat, above a pit of burning coals, singing his Antadi to move the deity to make the full-moon appear in the dark night. As Bhattar neared the desperate end of his 100 verse Antadi, Goddess Abhirami flung her Thatankam (ear ring) into the sky where it shone radiant as the full moon and her devotee was saved.  (Antadi means every slokam starts with the word with which the previous slokam ends).

After having a spectaculars grace of the Amman showered on us, we went back to the hotel at Vaitheeswaran, had lunch and started at 3 PM to reach Madhurai at 8.30PM.

Route: Vaitheeswaran-Mailaduthurai-Kumbhakonam bye pass-Tanjore-Madhurai.