Wednesday 1 June 2011

Arulmigu Swarnambigai Sametha, Sugavaneswarar Temple, Salem, Salem District, Tamil Nadu.

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, which 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 temple is a padal petra Vaipu sthalam by Sundarar Nayanar, but that particular song is not known.
 
Entrance Rajagopuram on the east side 

LEGENDS
The Sthala puranam 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. Every body 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 has a Parrot face. When Brahma known 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 worshiping Lord Shiva  in the form of parrot, a hunter Vachirakanthan  killed sugar along with other parrots, who tried to save Lord Shiva statue. The weapon also hits Shiva statue and blood was oozing 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 face is installed in the temple. Some of the photographs taken through my X10 Mini mobile are uploaded below.

Suga munivar whose nose is like parrot nose 

HOW TO REACH
:
The temple is heart of Salem City.
Frequent buses are available from various parts of Tamil Nadu 
The temple is very near to old Town bus stand  
CONTACT DETAILS :
LOCATION OF THE TEMPLECLICK HERE

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 :---

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