13th
October 2019.
கொங்கிற் குறும்பிற் குரக்குத் தளியாய் குழகா குற்றாலா
மங்குல் திரிவாய் வானோர் தலைவா வாய்மூர் மணவாளா
சங்கக் குழையார் செவியா அழகா அவியா அனல்ஏந்திக்
கங்குல் புறங்காட்(டு)ஆடிஅடியார் கவலை களையாயே
----சுந்தரர் தேவாரம்
This
second visit to this Sarkar Periyapalayam Sri Sugreeswarar Temple was a part of
Kongu Heritage walk scheduled on 12th and 13th October
2019.
Sundarar has mentioned this temple’s Iraivan
in his Tiruvarur hymn and hence this is one of the Thevara vaipu Sthalam of Kongu Nadu.
This temple is also called as Kurakkuthali Aludaya Nayanar Temple.
Moolavar : Sri Sugreeswarar
Consort : Sri Aavudai Nayaki.
Some
of the important features of this temple are...
The
temple is facing east with an entrance on the south side. Nandhi balipeedam
are in the east side. Dwajasthambam and Garuda thoon / Deepa sthambam / Vilakkuthoon are
missing, which are found in most of the Kongu Nadu Temples.
There
are two Rishabams kept in a mandapam and one of the Rishabam's ears in broken
condition. In the outer prakaram Sannadhi for Vinayagar, Ambal, Subramaniyar, Chandikeswarar, Vayu Lingam, Kubera Lingam, Bhairavar, Esanya Lingam,
Bathrakaliamman and Suryan.
In
the inner mandapam, No shrines and no Dwarapalakas. At the entrance of the
artha mandapam, Ganesha on the left and Anjaneyar on the right. There is a Navakanda statue in the artha
mandapam and the history is not known.
Ambal
is in a separate temple facing east (
instead of South ) with Nandhi under a mandapam in front. In the mandapam, old
statues of Saptamatrikas, Subramaniyar, Vishnu, Vishnu Durgai ( Poojas are not
conducted to these statues).
ARCHITECTURE
The
temple consists of sanctum sanctorum, antarala and artha mandapam. The sanctum
sanctorum is on upana, and pratibandha adhisthana with virutha kumuda. Sugreeva and a Cow worshiping Lord Shiva is in the upana. A
kabotham with karnakood is shown on the adhistanam and prastaram. A yazhivari
is shown above the prastaram. Koshtam / niches are on the walls of sanctum
sanctorum. The koshtas are empty now. Koshtas are also shown in the salai of
the vimanam.
HISTORY AND
INSCRIPTION
The moolavar
Lingam was claimed as 5th century. Since this temple was
mentioned in Sundarar’s thevara hymn, the original temple might have existed
before 7 to 8th Century. The oldest inscription
found belongs to 1220 CE. There are about 11 inscriptions in the
temple, of which one belongs to Kongu Chozha, 9 belongs to Kongu Pandyas and
one belongs to Mysore Umathur King Veerananjarayar.
As per the
inscriptions this place was called as Mugunthanur which belongs to
Veerachozhavalanadu and Lord Shiva was called as Kurakkuthali Aludaiya Nayanar.
Veerarajendran’s
period (1220 AD ) inscription mentions about donation of 30 kazhanju gold by a Shivabrahmanan to
participate in the festival, pooja and Abhishekam,
without expecting a credit.
During
Sundara Pandya’s period ( 1289 AD ) inscription mentions that an order has been
issued to cultivate a donated / devathana land at Sithakuruchi village and dig
wells, pond / eri and channels for
the requirement of water and 50% of the yield has to be given to this Temple.
The 15th
Century Mysore Wodeyar king Nanjaraya Wodeyar ( 1499 AD ) created a 200 coconut
farm in a purchased land for 4 gold. The
income for the coconut trees was utilized for pooja of this temple.
A
Sundara Pandya’s ( 1289 AD ) period inscription mentions that an order has been
issued to regulate the water from the Noyyal
river, the down stream side Eri and Noyyal Dam for cultivation at Sooralur village,
donated to this temple authorizing Perur
Nattu Vetralur Sembadavan Pillaiyan.
Above all, to
meet the expenses for the Vaikasi ( a Tamil Month ) festival of this
Sukreeswarar Temple, an agreement was signed by the 64 merchant guilds ( and some
signed in vattezhuthu, one of the oldest Tamil script) to pay taxes for the
materials, like minerals, Cotton clothes, wood (
Sandal ), Elephant, Goat, Horse, etc., carried by them for sale through this Village.
This Kongu Chozha Sundara Pandya’s ( 1289 CE ) inscription is the biggest and
important one with 24 lines and each line consists of 130 to 140
letters. The merchant guilds are from
various parts of ancient Tamil Nadu and Kerala ( Ernakulam ). From this we may conclude
that the place Sarkar Periyapalayam was on one of the 20 trade Trade Routes
passed through Kongu Nadu.
The temple is
being maintained by Archaeological Survey Of India.
The inscriptions mentions the temple as KurakkuthaLi
Merchants agreement inscription
LEGENDS
As
per the legend, when the Rishabam grazed in a farm, the farm owner cut both ears.
Next day the devotees observed blood was coming from the ears. From then
on wards his decedents family will born as dump. It continued for generations.
To get rid of this sin, the farmers family installed a new Rishabam keeping the
old on the back. As per Lord Shiva’s wish the old Rishabam came to front and New Rishabam moved back. After seeing this miracle the devotees installed both in the
mandapam.
It
was believed that, Sugreevan worshiped Lord Shiva of this temple, hence Lord Shiva is called as Sugreeswarar. The bas-relief is on the south side of the main
sanctum sanctorum adhistanam.
Sugreeva and Cow worshiping Lord Shiva in Upanam
TEMPLE
TIMINGS:
The
temple will be kept open between 07.00 Hrs to 11.00 Hrs and 17.00 Hrs to 20.00
Hrs.
CONTACT
DETAILS:
Gurukkal
Nagaraja Iyyar 9442373455 and Moorthi Iyyar 9489551237 who are doing pooja on rotational basis may be contacted for further details.
HOW TO REACH:
The
place Sarkar Periyapalayam is on the way to Erode to Tiruppur through Uthukuli, which is famous for butter.
About 6 KM before Tiruppur.
Nearest
Railway station is Tiruppur
LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE : CLICK HERE
---OM
SHIVAYA NAMA---
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