Aarura! Thiayagesha!!

Dear friends, this blog is for those interested in Puranas.. I mean புராண கதைகள். If you feel religious, please feel free to ignore this blog..

When my husband was transferred and posted in Thiruvarur, I didn't even know how to reach there. The first time when we went there to look for a rental house for his stay, the beautiful Kamalalaya tank welcomed us.

 As it was during pongal holidays, some water sports competitions were held there. Initially thought that for that occasion, they have filled the tank with water but later came to know that it is a perennial water body! May be earlier days the tank would have been filled with lotus and hence the name. Even at present we could sight many small small ponds with lotus when we went in search of rental house!

At first visit we couldn't go inside the temple as it was closed in the afternoon. During our next visit we had the blessing to go inside the temple. Just as you all, before going there googled about the temple and gathered some information. I love to share them in this blog.

"Thiru" "Aarur" 

Aarur as mentioned in Thevaram is it's ancient name suffixed with respect "Thiru"

Aar (ஆத்தி)Aathi trees) were plenty in this oor, hence the name.

Aathi flowers were distinct flower of chola kingdom. ( Palmyra flower for Chera and Neem flower for Pandya )

Thiruvarur was one of the ancient capital of Cholas especially Manuneethi Cholan, the Chola king who sacrificed his son for sake of a cow which lost its calf in his chariot. 

The temple here has mixed architecture of Dravidian style and Nayak style. Most of us would have gone to temples with Dravidian style. Nayak architecture is fusion of Dravidian and Islamic. If you have been to Thirumalai Nayakar palace in Madurai, you can very well appreciate the pointed arches and pointed dome shaped roofs. Similar small shrines are noted within the temple. 

The main deities here are the Thiayagarajaswamy and Puttridankondar( Vanmeeganathar) and his consort Neelothpalambika. Kamalambika has a separate shrine. Kamalambika wished to marry Lord Thiayagesha but her wish remains unfulfilled till date. This is mentioned in some poem as, 

"கல்தேர் ஓடினால் 

காளைமாடு பால் கொடுத்தா கமலாலயம் வத்தி போச்சுன்னா கமலாம்பிகைக்கு கல்யாணம்"

Remember Kamalalaya tank is perennial, even in case of no rains, water is replinished by means of numerous springs underneath!

You may wonder what's the Kal thaer (Stone Chariot) !

 It's a beautiful stone chariot seen in the North East part of the temple complex commemorating the sacrifice of Manuneethi Cholan. We went there in the late night on the day of car festival, temple was open at around 10.30 pm with people waiting to see Thiageshar returning to temple after his நகர் வலம் in ஆழி தேர். We went around the temple searching for the Kal thaer, when one priest said it would be closed by now but to our surprise it was open but dark!

Now let's get into the story of the main deity, Lord Thiayagarajaswamy!

Musukunda chakravarthy, a king of sun Dynasty with monkey face, a very talented king who protected Indra and other Devars from Asuras on an occasion, in favour of which he was blessed with a boon of his choice! He asked for the special idol of Shiva dancing over the Lord Vishnu in deep yogic penance, worshipped by Indra! The speciality of this idol is that it's untouched by sculptor! Hence the name vidangar, "விடங்கர்" signifies the deities who are not sculpted with chisel, but are believed to have emerged naturally, probably they are made with help of moulds!(Outcome of imagination 🤔) But Indra was not happy enough to give away the idol! So to prank the king he made 6 other similar idols and kept all 7 idols in a row and asked the king to find the original one to get the divine idol from him! Out of the 7 idols, the king with his divine bakthi, correctly chose and astonished by his divine bakthi, Indra gifted him all 7 looking alike vidangar idols, the Saptha vidangargal! 

The real vidangar worshipped by Indra is Lord Thiayagarajar, also known as Veethi vidangar, the other 6 vidangars are located around Thiruvarur.

திருவாரூர் - வீதி விடங்கர்

திருநள்ளாறு - நாகவிடங்கர்

நாகைக்காரோணம்(திரு நாகை)- சுந்தரவிடங்கர்

திருக்காராயில் - ஆதிவிடங்கர்

திருக்கோளிலி( திரு குவளை)- அவனிவிடங்கர்

திருவாய்மூர் - நீலவிடங்கர்

வேதாரண்யம் (திரு மறைக்காடு)- புவனிவிடங்கர்

In all these temples at the entrance of Thiayagarajaswamy sannithi we can see images of Indra and Musukunda chakravarthy.

Thiayagarajaswamy is a form of natarajar, and here the idol of Thiyagarajar is covered with clothes and flowers, so that only his and ambal's face are visible. His right foot and Parvathy's left foot are revealed on Aarudhra Dharshan in the month of Margazhi, and on Panguni Uthiram in the month of Panguni. So other days we will be able to see only the face! 

In the Saptha vidanga temples, each idol has different dance forms as follows, 

திருவாரூர் தியாகராசப்பெருமான் - உயிரின் இயக்கமான மூச்சு உள்ளும் வெளியும் போய்வரும் உன்னத இயக்கத்தை உணர்த்தும் அஜபா நடனம்

திருநள்ளாறு - பித்தர் ஆடுவது போன்ற உன்மத்த நடனம்

நாகைக்காரோணம்(திரு நாகை) - கடல் அலைகள் எழுவது போன்று உள்ள தரங்க நடனம்

திருக்காராயில் - கோழியைப் போல் ஆடும் குக்குட நடனம்

திருக்குவளை - வண்டு மலருக்கும் குடைந்து குடைந்து ஆடுதல் போன்று உள்ள பிருங்க நடனம்

திருவாய்மூர் - தாமரை மலர் அசைவது போன்றுள்ள கமல நடனம்

வேதாரண்யம்(திரு மறைக்காடு)- அன்னப்பறவை அடியெடுத்து வைத்தாற்போலுள்ள ஹம்சபாத நடனம்

The main lingas and ambals in these 7 temples are as follows,

Thiruvarur - Vanmeeganathar - Neelotpalambika

Thirunallar - Dharbaranyaeswaraswamy - Praneswariamman @ Bogamartha Poonmulayal 

Thirunagai - Kayarohaneshwarar - Neela Dakshi amman 

Thirukarayil - Kannayiranathar - Kailasanayaki

Thirukkuvalai - Brahmapureeswarar - vandu amarntha poonguzhaliamman

Thiruvaimoor - Vaimoornathar - Palinum Nanmozhiyal பாலினும் நன்மொழியாள்

Thirumaraikadu - Vedharanyeswarar - Vedhanayaki @ யாழைப்பழித்த மொழியாள் @ விணாவாதவிதூஷணி

In each of these temples when idols are taken out in procession, as name suggests the palanquin is swayed by the bearers accordingly! 

Out of these 7 temples, I had the chance to visit Thiruvarur, Thirukarayil, Thiruvaimoor and Thirukkuvalai! 

 

Each temple harboured many stories, may be after visiting all 7 temples, I can comeout with a final version!

In all shiva temples, we can see Nandhi in sitting posture only but in front of the vidangars the standing Nandhi can be seen.

Also in Thiruvarur in Navagraha sannithi, all planets are in a row worshipping Shiva Linga. That too in the order Sun (ஞாயிறு) Moon (திங்கள்) Mars (செவ்வாய்) Mercury (புதன்) Guru (வியாழன்) Venus (வெள்ளி) Saturn (சனி) Raghu (ராகு) Kethu (கேது). The last two are shadow planets. The Navagraha sannithi has always been fascinating to me, making me to wonder how scientific they are in their arrangements even before the planetary motions and laws were described by the western world. If you observe carefully, the above planetary bodies in Navagraha represent the planets that can be seen with naked eyes even before the invention of telescope. The shadow planets may have been the representation of asteroid belt! Decoding our Indian Astrology with a scientific knowledge can reveal many more miracles. The planets position in other Navagraha sannithi will be like , Sun Mercury Venus facing the East, Mars and two shadow planets the South, Moon and Saturn facing the West and the Jupiter(Guru) facing the North! Interesting isn't it!!

My drawing of Navagraha position in other temples 

And finally, on the big day (April 7th), we had the blessing to witness the Asia's biggest temple Chariot (ஆழி தேர் திருவிழா).

Totally 5 தேர் 

1. Vinayagar

2. Subramaniar

3. Thiayagesha (The Biggest ) 

4. Kamalambal

5. Chandikeshwar

Before winding off, let's go through the short flashback story of King Musukunda! 

Once upon a time, there lived a monkey chased by a tiger, as a life saving measure, it climbed up a tree. Alas, the tiger was waiting beneath the tree for its prey to fell into trap! Monkey, fearing that it may doze off and fell down, started plucking leaves of that tree split it into two and put it down to keep itself awake! It was doing this all night and before the dawn, the tiger left and the monkey was saved! 

The twist is that the night happened to be Shivaratri and the tree was vilvam. There was a linga beneath the tree and the monkey unknowingly has offered vilvam leaves to the lingam on the auspicious Shivaratri. Overwhelmed by this, the Lord Shiva gave a boon to the monkey that it will be born as a powerful and pious king. But the monkey wished to have it's own face in the rebirth and the wish was granted. And that's Musukunda chakravarthy!