01,
June 2011
This is one of
the five Shiva temples built along the river Manimuthar. These five
temple's main Shiva Lingas are of swayambhu. There is a belief that
worshiping the 5 temples in a single day will remove all the sins. This temple was built by
the Chozha king Koparakesari and is more than 1000 years old. But there is no
sign of Chozhas / Cheras period architecture. There are about 15 inscriptions available in the temple. The sthala Puranam claims that the temple is a Paadal Petra Vaipu Sthalam by
Sundarar Nayanar, but that particular song is not known.
Entrance Rajagopuram on the east side
LEGENDS
The Sthala Purana was told by Nandi Devar to Sanatha Munivar, which has 672 songs. Once, Brahma was sitting on the lotus among the Devars, Munis, Asuras, and 4
Vedas in the form of cows/pasus. Everybody appreciated the
unique creation power of Brahma. After hearing all these happenings the Muni
SUGAR, ( The voice of the muni is similar to that of Parrot’s voice ) who is a
Lord Shiva devotee, went and told everything to Devi Saraswathi. This muni was
born to Muni Vyasar and Thilothamai, who have a Parrot face. When Brahma knew
this he cursed the Muni Sugar to become a Parrot ( King of Parrot) and the
curse will disappear at Salem after
worshiping Lord Shiva.
While Muni
Sugar worshiped Lord Shiva in the form of a Parrot, a hunter
Vachirakanthan killed Sugar along with other parrots,
who tried to save Lord Shiva's statue. The weapon also hits the Shiva statue and
blood oozes from the lingam. On seeing this the hunter also
killed himself. Lord Shiva appeared and blessed the parrots and the hunter.
Muni Sugar also got the original appearance. To show
this there is Urchavar and Moolavar of Muni Sugar with Parrot's face installed
in the temple. Some of the photographs taken through my X10
Mini mobile are uploaded below.
Suga Munivar whose nose is like Parrot's nose
Frequent buses are available from various parts of Tamil Nadu
The temple is very near to old Town bus stand
Bas-reliefs of Subramaniyar with Valli Devasena
Bas-relief of Shiva with Murugan
Stucco Rishabaroodar
Subramaniyar sannadhi
Temple complex view with Subramaniyar Sannadhi
--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA :---
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJust got to know that the well in this temple is a step well. i am from salem but got to see it only today. infront of the subramanyar shrine we have a huge nandhi on the right near the mukhamandapa. it has a entry below the face of the nandhi but neglected and almost closed due to the new navagraha shrine in there. i could see the stair opening inside the well in abt 10 feet depth and the vimanam behind nandhi for it. but no one knows. if you wish we can do a little more research about it along with some historians. i can help you with the architectural part. iam an architect and i do quite few research on heritage structures.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information.. please let me know further.. Since I am in Chennai, I can refer one of my friend at Salem, If you wish to dig further... on this..
Delete