We started by 4:30 PM for the afternoon trip. So far in this trip we were travelling in the direction of Thiruvaiyaru and this time we started in the opposite direction towards Kabistalam.
There is one favourite place in this direction on the banks of Cauvery which always attracts me whenever I travel in this direction irrespective of whether river cauvery has water or not. It is called Manniyar Vadikal Dam Viewpoint, the starting place of an irrigation canal from cauvery on the main road itself.
Video here:
https://youtu.be/r8g9Uka1j6k
There is a Kasi Viswanathar temple on its bank and the water just circle around the temple. I’m yet to visit the temple and this time, the temple was undergoing renovation and so didn’t visit but we just enjoyed the water front. It’s a very safe place to take bath and I’m longing to take my family kids to this place and enjoy bathing together.
We reached Kabistalam and took a right turn towards Papanasam, my native place. Well, now I have to go a little personal for some time:
Being a native of Papanasam, I got immersed into the nostalgic memories of this route of Kabistalam – Papanasam while passing through. This is a scenic path that travels through bridges on 4 branches of Cauvery – Cauvery, Arasalaru, Thirumalairajan and Kudamurutti. When I learnt cycling, I will find a reason to visit my grandparents at Kabistalam and cycle through very often in this route doing all the gimmicks of driving hands free etc., We lived at West main street (Mela veethi) of Papanasam till my marriage in 1982 and then shifted to Chennai. Studied at Sri Vidhya Padashala at Melaveethi till 8th Std, at High Scholl till SSLC (1973 batch) and then moved to ACCET Karaikudi. The birth place of Sri Sri Ravishankar of Art of Living is just about 100 meters from our house (he was just born there but brought up fully at Bangalore) and his cousin was my street mate. We visited the street where we lived, the Rettai Pillaiyar koil, the schools etc., and I was explaining all my nostalgic memories to the other family members while on the drive.
Coming back, our first temple of this afternoon session was Sri Garbarakshambiga Temple at Thirukkarugavur. Originally this temple was not in our list since we had visited the temple many times in the past but all of a sudden, I got a reason to visit. Yes, we got the message of our daughter’s second pregnancy on 3rd Aug on the Aadi Pathinettu (18) day, just 4 days before starting our trip on 7th Aug. That’s the reason, we included this temple at Thirukkarugavur in this trip. Being the Aadi Velli day, the Ambal was in Sandana Kaappu alankaram and there was a significant crowd. People were being allowed batch by batch into the garbagraham and we were in the last batch. We had to wait for 20+ minutes but that was the blessing. Being the last batch, no one asked us to leave after the dharshan and we were there till we decided to leave. Since Ambal was in a mesmerising alankaram, we didn’t have the mood to leave either. Finally, after a long time we came out and just outside the Ambal shrine, when we were about to light some ghee lamps, we got the phone call from our daughter saying that she went for the first scanning and just heard the heart beat sound of the baby for the first time! What a moment at this temple! Just when we were praying to the Garbarakshambika Ambal inside, she heard the heartbeat of her baby for the first time. For sure, no words can express our feelings of that moment.
19. SCN018 – Sri Garbarakshambiga Temple at Thirukkarugavur
Distance: 21 kms from Kumbakonam; diversion from Papanasam towards Saiyamangalam (south) for 6 kms.
Moola moorthies: Sri Mullai vana nadhar (God of the Jasmine Garden) as Swayambu lingam with Sri Karu katha nayagi (in tamil) or Sri Garba Rakshambikai (in Sanskrit)
Significances:
- One of the 276 Thevara padal petra sthalams and the significance of the temple has been explained in the Skandha puranam.
- The most popular temple of Tamilnad for child boon and safe delivery
Legend:
- An orphan pregnant girl here was taken care of her pregnancy period by this Goddess and so is known as Karu (fetus) – katha (protector) – nayaki and the place as karu-kavoor.
- Vedhika, wife of Sage Nidhruva, conceived after many prayers. Once while the sage was away, the pregnant Vedika was deep asleep when Sage Urdhvapada came to her door asking for alms. She did not hear him and failed to respond. Sage Urdhvapada cursed her and the foetus slipped out of her womb. She prayed to the Goddess here who appeared and protected it, keeping it in a pot till it developed into a full-grown male child Naidhruvan (test tube baby at that time).
The Temple:
- The temple occupies an area of 3 acres with east facing 5 tier Rajagopuram and 2 praharams.
- The main deity is a huge self-manifested lingam made of ant-hill mud and one can see the mark of the mullai (jasmine) creeper around it. Therefore, there is no abhisekam for the moolavar and worship is offered only with “Punuhu”. This Punuhu Chattam is offered by devotees who want to be cured from skin diseases.
- Bhagwan Shiva, Sri Murugar and Sri Amabal are in a line in Somaskandhar form and so is considered as a good child boon granting sthalam.
- Sri Vinayagar, Sri Dakshinamoorthy, Sri Ardhanareeswarar, Sri Brahmma and Sri Durgai are in the koshtam and all the koshta moorthies are very beautiful.
- The shrines of Sri Nirudhi Vinayagar, Sri Gajalakshmi, Sri Murugar are in the praharam.
- Twin Nandhi is present in front of the main shrine.
- This is an all-in-one prayaer sthalam for ladies – Unmarried ladies pray for early marriage; Childless couples pray for child boon; Pregnant ladies pray for safe and easy delivery of the child (abortion or death due to pregnancy does not take place after worshipping here).
- The prayer procedures are different for different prayers.
- After successful fulfilment of the prayer, people offer different kinds of thanksgiving offerings like Tulabaram or circumambulating the child in a cart around the Ambal shrine etc.,
Sthala Vruksham: Mullai creeper
Theertham: Thirupparkulam, a big and beautiful temple tank just in front of the temple; Brahma, Ksheera Gundam; Sathya koopam; Vrudha Cauvery
Note:
For couples who visit this temple for child boon, it is suggested to visit the Karuvalarcheri temple near Kumbakonam also together on a single day to be more effective.
Links: Location Photos Weblink
After Thirukkarugavur temple, our next stop was Sri Ramalingeswarar Temple at Papanasam which is about 7.7 kms/ 20 mins drive and we reached the temple by about 6:30 PM.
20) Sri Ramalingeswarar Temple (108 Shivalayam) at Papanasam
Being a native of Papanasam, this is my favourite temple and I don’t miss to visit whenever I pass through this section.
It was raining heavily when we reached the temple and we had to enter with umbrellas only. Due to rain, there was no crowd and we had one-on-one dharshan as with most other temples in our trip. The archagar gave a special attention after knowing that I’m a native of this place. My sweet memories of visiting the temple on special occasions with my mother and sister always linger me when I’m here.
The speciality of this temple is the group of 108 Shivalingams in one mandapam which can’t be seen in any other place (at least I had not seen so far). You can see only banalingams in some temples and there are some new temples with 108 lingams but this is the only ancient temple with the rich legend of Sri Ramar worshipped lingams in full form – big lingams on big aavudaiyars.
When we went, all the Shivalingams were adorned beautifully with dhothis and flowers.
Moola Moorthies: Sri Ramalinga Swamy facing West with Sri Parvathavardhini Ambal facing South.
Significances:
- This is called Keezhai Rameswaram and possibly the only (ancient) temple in the world where 108 big lingams on big aavudaiyars are present in a single shrine
- One west facing Shivalingam is considered many folds powerful than one East facing Shivalingam. Consider having 108 West facing Shivalingams in one temple!
- This temple is the final destination to clear off all our Pithru dhosham, Brahmma Hathi dhosham and the dhoshams from previous births, even after Kasi and Rameswaram.
Legend:
- Sri Ramar worshipped at Rameswaram to ward off the Brahmma Hathi dosham of killing Ravana. While returning to Ayodhya from Rameswaram, Sri Rama found the Brahma Hathi dhosham was still following Him in the form of two black evils which were due to the killing of the brahmins Karan and Dhooshan in the Lankan war. So, Sri Ramar and Sita devi decided to do Shiva pooja here to ward off the evils. Sri Ramar instructed Sri Hanumar to bring one Shivalinga from Kasi to be installed as the moolavar of this temple. Since it got delayed, Sri Rama, Sri Sita devi and Sri Lakshmanar collected sand from the nearby Kudamurutty (a branch of Cauvery) river and made 106 Shiva lingams under a Vilva tree. Meanwhile Sri Hanumar saw so many lingams in Kasi and could not decide on which one to bring. So, he was doing Ramajapa seeking clarity. Here since it was already getting delayed, Sri Rama, Sri Lakshmanar and Sri Sita Devi made the moolavar Sri Ramalinga Swamy and completed the pooja. In Kasi, a crow on a tree informed Sri Hanumar about the completion of the pooja here and showed a specific lingam to Sri Hanumar to take away. When Sri Hanumar returned here with the lingam, he became angry on seeing the pooja already completed. He argued with Sri Rama (I can’t imagine) for his lingam to be installed as moolavar and Sri Rama agreed to it. Sri Hanumar tried to lift the already installed moola lingam with his tail two times but failed. On the third occasion, his tail got cut and fell at a place called Hanuman Nallur, 8 kms North from here (the place is now called as Arumanallur). Still today, pooja is taking place to the tail there. Sri Hanumar realised his mistake and agreed to install his lingam in an annexe to the main temple. So, worshipping the 106 shiva lingams, moolavar Sri Ramalinga Swamy and Sri Hanumantha lingam – all together only will complete the pooja procedure here.
- Since the tail of Sri Hanumar got cut here, it is said that the Brahmma Hathi dhosham of Sri Hanumar due to his Lankan war deeds also got cleared.
- In the meanwhile, at Kasi, the rishi worshipping lingams, on return found one lingam was missing in his pooja and the crow informed about Sri Hanumar taking away the lingam. The rishi got angry and cursed that no crow should be seen in Kasi. (Even today no crow can be seen in Kasi). As guided by the rishi as a remedy, the crow went to Thiruvaiyaru Sri Aiyarappan and lived there for some time eating the pithru pindams on the cauvery bank. Later, as instructed by Sri Aiyarappar, came to this temple and sat along with his father Sri Suryan and both got rid of their dhoshams. It is said that this is the only temple where the three dhosha parihara moorthies – Sri Bairavar, Sri Saneeswarar and Sri Suryan – are all present together in a single shrine.
- Many astrologers/ Naadi Jyothidars send people over to this temple for any dosha nivardhis.
- Since Sri Ramar got his dhosham cleared off, this place is called papa (bad karma) – vinasam (ward off) and became Papanasam.
- It is considered that Sri Agsthiyar himself is doing the pradhosha pooja on every pradhosham
- The sacredness of the temple can be understood with the following facts: Sri Ramar’s Brahmma Hathi dhosham did not clear off even after worshipping at Rameswaram. So, he had to come here to ward off His dhosham. This temple would not have existed had Sri Rama’s dhosham got cleared off at Rameswaram itself. Further, the crow at Kasi, came here to get his dosham cleared off which he got at Kasi itself. People go to Kasi to clear off their dhoshams but where will they go to clear off their sins if got at Kasi itself? So, this can be seen as the final destination for clearing off any dosham even after Kasi and Rameswaram.
- Worshipping one west facing Shivalingam itself is considered equivalent to worshipping many East facing lingams. Imagine the effect of worshipping 108 West facing lingams at one place!
- It is believed that the Surya of this temple is the force behind Sri Ramar getting the power by chanting Adhithya Hridhayam (Surya worship).
Note: It is better to hear this full video, understand the legend and sacredness of the temple in order to get the full benefit of worshipping at this very rare temple.
But according to my observation, a big surprise to this legend is the following:
For some people Ramayana is a myth but for us it is the actual happening. There are places all over Bharath and Lanka for every single action of Ramayana. It will be amazing to know how this Hanumantha lingam has a legend connection with another temple Sri Vaaleeswarar Temple at Ramagiri near Suruttappalli at the Tamilnadu – Andhra border. When Sri Hanumar was returning with the Shivalingam from Kasi, KalaBairavar in the disguise of a small boy made Hanumar to hand over the Shivalingam to him in order for Hanumar to quench his thirst. The small boy knowingly kept the Shivalingam on the ground with the reason of being too heavy for a small boy but when Hanumar returned and tried to lift back the lingam he couldn’t. So as per Bairavar’s wish the lingam was installed in that place, in Sri Vaaleeswarar Temple at Ramagiri. Possibly, this is the reason for Sri Hanumar for being late in bringing the lingam to Papanasam. See, how the legends of Papanasam and Ramagiri are matching each other. This is my own linking of legends and even neither the Papanasam nor the Ramagiri gurukkals may have known this legend connection.
Note: Many of the photos below are from my earlier trip
Temple:
- There are 106 Shivalingas arranged in three rows of 35, 35 and 36 in a separate mandapam and it is a wonderful sight to see so many lingams in one place.
- The presiding deity in the sanctum is Sri Ramalingaswany since it was installed and worshipped by Sri Ramar Himself.
- Hanumantha lingam, the huge lingam brought by Sri Hanumar from Kasi is kept in a separate annexe to the temple on the southern side.
- Sri Rama blissfully granted that all the devotees should worship the 106 lingams, the main deity Ramalingeswar, the Hanumanthalingam (the108th) and finally the Ambal Parvadavarthini in that order to make the worship complete and accomplish their prayers.
- We can see Sri Bairavar, a huge 6 feet Surya bhagawan and his son Sani bhagawan – together in a separate shrine. It is rare to see all these Dhosha Parihara moorthies together in a single shrine.
- It is believed that the Surya of this temple is the force behind Sri Ramar getting the power by chanting Adhithya Hridhayam (Surya worship). The 6 feet tall beautiful Surya Bhagwan is unique to this temple.
- Only Sri Vishnu durgai and Sri Dakshinamoorthy are present in the koshtam.
- It is believed that one’s desire will become true if one circumambulates the outer praharam 108 times.
- The vimanam of moolavar Sri Ramalingaswamy looks similar to that of Rameswaram and the vimanam of Sri Hanumantha lingam (brought from Kasi) looks similar to Kasi Sri Viswanathar temple. So, it is said that worshipping here is equivalent to visiting both Kasi and Rameswaram at the same time.
- In the praharam, the following deities are present in individual shines:
Sri Annapoorani and Kasi Visalakshi
Naalvar and Sekkizhar
Sri Anjaneyar and Sri Sugreevan (very rare to see together) - This is considered the final destination parihara sthalam for all Pithru dhosham, Brahmma Hathi Dosham and Previous birth dhoshams.
Timings: 6 am to 12 pm and 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm
Contact: 04374 221095
Sthala Vruksham: Villvam
Theertham: Surya theertham
Note: This is the birth place of famous Papanasam Sivan. Also, this is the birth place of Sri Sri Ravishankar of Art of Living and his house of birth is present in the South mada street of the Perumal temple.
Links: Location Photos Weblink1 Weblink2
From Papanasam we then went to another Saptha mathar temple at Chakrapalli, the 6th of the Saptha mathar temples in our visit which is around 7.5 kms/ 15 min drive from the Papanasam temple.
Note: Don’t miss Sri Matsyapureeswarar Temple at Thiruchelur (Pandaravadai / Kovil Devarayan pettai) between Papanasam and Chakrapalli. Sri Mahavishnu in Matsya avatar worshipped Bhagwan Shiva here. A temple special for Meena rasi people.
21) SCN017 – Sri Chakravagaeswarar Temple at Thiruchchakkarappalli (Ayyampet) (Chakra mangai)
Location: 15 kms from Thanjavur on the Thanjavur – Kumbakonam route near Ayyampettai. This can also be reached from Thirukkandiyur and is about 10 kms from there. The temple is on the right (south) side when you come from Thanjavur. There is an arch at the main road itself and the temple is just about 100 meters from the arch.
Significances:
- One of the 276 Thevara Paadal petra sthalams
- The first of the seven Saptha matrika temples and is associated with the Sapthamathar Sri Abhirami
- Just like Thiruvaiyaru, Chakrapalli is the focal point of the Sapthamathar Sapthasthana festival. On the Chithra star day of the Panguni month, the festival procession starts from here and ends here on the next day afternoon.
Temple name: Chakra Mangai
Saptha mathar associated with the temple: Sri Brahmi/ Sri Abhirami Devi
Moola moorthies: Sri Alanturaiyeesar/ Sri Chakravageswarar with Ambal Sri Alliyamkothai/ Sri Devanayaki
Shiva Dharshan: Mother Parvathi along with the Saptha mathar Sri Brahmi/ Abhirami Devi offered worship here and got the darshan of Bhagwan Shiva’s Third Eye – Shiva Netra Chakra (நெற்றிக் கண்) Darshan.
Devi’s Dharshan to Nadha Shanma – Anavidhya couple: Parvathi Devi showed Herself as a little girl of 5 to 7 years age (சிறுமி – பேதைப் பருவம்)
Legend:
Various legends are being told in connection with the name of the place ‘Chakrapalli’ as follows:
- The discus (Chakra) weapon of Sri Mahavishnu got the Brahmma Hathi dosham after killing demon Jalanthran at Thiruveezhimalai. Sri Mahavishnu worshipped Bhagwan Shiva here to get rid of the dhosham and got it back. Sri Thirumalper temple near Kanchipuram also has a legend connection with Sri Mahavishnu’s Chakra weapon.
- Worshipped by chakravaha bird:
Bhagwan Shiva challenged Sri Brahmma and Sri Vishnu to see the top and bottom tips of Him in His vishwaroopam. When Sri Brahmma took the form of a swan and tried to see Bhagwan Shiva’s head top, he couldn’t but told a lie of seeing it. Angered with this, Bhagwan Shiva snatched all the powers of Sri Brahmma. So, Brahmma, as swan could not go to the Brahmma lokam and so took the form of Chakravaha bird and worshipped Bhagwan Shiva and Ambal from the sky to pardon him. - Our life is a chakra of birth and death and almost all the pillars of the ardha mandapam in front of Bhagwan Shiva’s shrine has bas relief of Chakra engraved on them.
Guberan, Indhra and his son Jayanta prayed to Bhagwan Shiva here
Appar composed the Pathigam.
Arunagirinathar composed Thiruppugazh pathikam on this Sthala Murugan
The Temple:
- Bhagwan Shiva is East facing and the Mother is South facing
- Ambal is seen with Her right foot in front as if ready to come out for the devotees’ call of distress.
- Brahmi devi, the saptha mathar Sakthi from Sri Brahmma, created the Kungliya kundam in front of the Devi shrine and conducted Yagna to get Sri Brahmma relieved off his sins. As in the Aatkondar shrine of Thiruvaiyaru Aiyarappan temple, people pray here also by offering Kungliyam into the Kungliya kundam to get rid of death fear and get relieved of serious illness.
- Amazingly, the Ardhamandapa pillars in front of Bhagwan Shiva shrine have base reliefs of the different stages of fetus in mother’s womb
- Also, we can see chakras in almost all the pillars reminding the human life birth and death chakra nature.
- Sembian Madevi converted this brick temple into granite temple and the bas relief of her worshipping Bhagwan Shiva can be seen in the koshta wall near the Koshta Vinayagar.
- Sri Vinayagar, Sri Dakshinamoorthy, Sri Lingothbavar, Sri Brahmma and Sri Durga are in the koshtam
- Uniquely, Sri Dakshinamoorthy is seen as Shiva Roopam Himself with Nandhidevar in front of Him under His feet. 5 headed snake is above His head and above the snake the usual banyan tree is present.
- Sri Bairavar, Sri Suryan, Sri Chandran, Naalvar and Sri Chandikeswar are present in the praharam
- There is no Navagraha shrine
- Surya worship takes place in the morning on Sankada Hara Chathurthi day in the tamil month of Panguni
- The temple is under the control of Swamimalai Murugan Temple
Temple Opening: 8 to 9AM and 5 to 7 PM
Contact Sri Ganesh @ 97914 82102
Links: Location Photos Weblink
Our Trip:
When we reached the temple by about 7:15 PM, the once in a year Aadi Velli Kuthuvilakku pooja was taking place and it was raining heavily. We were completely wet in spite of having 4 umbrellas (one giant). Nether we could enter the main Shiva shrine because it was completely filled with ladies of Kuthuvilkku pooja nor we could stand outside because of the rain. Though the pooja was almost over, the gurukkal was in no mood to complete his speech since he thought of engaging them somehow until the rain stops but it was in no mood to stop. So, we were stranded in a mandapam for about half an hour and thought of going back and coming on the next day. Just then one devotee gave us a touching message “the Bhagwan and devi are very cool & happy in a festive mood now because of the rain, the kuthuvilakku pooja, being among the heavy crowd of their devotees and the 2 times abhishegam (morning and evening) and so don’t miss this dharshan. Tomorrow they may not be the same”. Then only we realised what an opportunity it was and so decided to stay, come what may. Finally, the pooja came to a close, we got some space inside the Shiva shrine and Ambal shrine and had a very satisfying dhrashan in beautiful alankarams.
We enquired and got the contact and direction for Ariyamangai temple which we missed in the morning, from one of the organisers there.
We were told that for 2 kms around not a single Hindu house is present and is completely engulfed by muslims. There were some interruptions in the long past but so far, the temple poojas and festivals are going on smoothly. We should definitely visit this temple as much as possible to keep this temple and tradition alive.
We could not go around and visit various shrines and this temple definitely needs another visit for us.
I could not take any photo other than this mobile photo.
We started from the temple by about 8:20 PM and reached our room by 8:50 PM. As usual, our cook was ready with a good dinner.
Tomorrow we will be seeing the left out Thiruvaiyaru Sapthasthana temples – Thiruvedhikkudi, Thiruchotruthurai and Thiruppoonthuruthi and the Chakrapalli Sapthamathar temples – Ariyamangai. See you in next post…
