Chandikeshwara

Chandikeshwara is a form of Lord Shiva. There are 63 Nayanmars who attained liberation through their devotion to Lord Shiva. Chandikeshwara is one of them. In south india in every Shiva temple there is a shrine of Chandikeshwara. He is considered as guardian of not only temple's wealth but also of Lord Shiva.

The legend of Chandikeshwara is as follows.

Chandikeshwara was a boy born to a Brahmin. As a child boy he used to be always in daydreams and worshiped Lord Shiva all the time. Every day he used to make a shiva lingam from sand and then worship it. Since his family did not support him and did not give him anything for his puja, he used to milk the cow and use that milk to perform abhisheka on lingam. One day when his father saw this he got raged and kicked lingam made by the boy. Boy was interrupted in meditation and when he realized that his father has destroyed the lingam that he made, he became furious and cut his father's leg with axe. His mother came rushing to the incident. Boy was emanating so much anger that she could not even recognize him. She prayed to Lord Shiva to save her family. At that time Lord Shiva appeared at the incident. Pleased by boy's devotion to him Lord Shiva restored leg of boy's father and permanently employed Chandikeshwara as a guard not only of him but also his wealth. From that time in all Shiva temples there is always a shrine of Chandikeshwara. Chandikeshwara guards not only Lord Shiva but also all wealth of the temple. It is a custom that after taking darshan of Lord Shiva and other deities, at the end devotees take darshan of Chandikeshwara and clap or scrub their hands in front of him to indicate that they are not taking anything from temple except prasadam.

Bhairavar

He is the manifestation of Lord Shiva who oversees the march of time (काळ). He is also the guardian of the temple (Khestrapal क्षेत्रपाल).  In honor of his position, as chief of temple guards, the keys to the temple are ceremonially submitted to him, at the closing time of temple. They are received ceremonially at the time of opening of temple. As he is the person who oversees the march of time, many pray to him for help in effectively using the time in spiritual path. He is also considered as guardian of travelers. The Siddhas (Shaiva munis) advise us to light a lamp in his name before starting a journey especially if it is a night journey. Lord Kalabhairav has the dog as his mount (वाहन), hence feeding of dog is recommended in puranas. In almost all the temples in south india, we come across the idol of kalabhairav. The notable ones are at arunachala temple in Thiruvannamalai and Kalabhairav temple at Kashi.

There are eight manifestations of bhairav. They guard and control eight directions and are known as Ashta-bhairav. These ashtabhairav have eight more sub-bhairavas under them to assist. Following table gives the names of ashtabhairavas.

Sr No	Name of the Bhairav	Name of his consort	Vahan (mount)	Direction	Temple location	Birth star whom they favor	Gems stone
1	Asithaanga-bhairav	Bhrami	Swan	East	Sarkazi, Thirukandiyur	Punarvasu, Vishakha, Purva-bhadrapada	Yellow Sapphire
2	RuRu-bhairav	Maheshwari	Rishabh	South east	Thiru-marugal	Krithika, Uttar-falguni, Uttar-ashadha	Ruby
3	Chand-bhairav	Koumari	Peacock	South	Vaitheeshwaran-koil	Mruga, Chitra, Dhanishtha	Coral
4	Krodhana-bhairav	Vaishnavi	Eagle (garud)	South-west	Thiru-naraiyur	Rohini, Hasta, Sharavan	Pearl
5	Unmatha-bhairav	Varahi	Horse	West	Thiru-veezimizalar	Pushya, Anuradha, Uttar-bhadrapada
6	Kapaal-bhairav	Indrani	Elephant	North-west	Thiru-panthuruthi, Thiruvirkudi	Bharani, Purva falguni, Purva-shadha	Diamond
7	Bheeshana- bhairav	Chamundi	Lion	North	Rameshwar, Piranmalai	Ardra, Swati, Shata-taraka, Ashvini, Magha, Mul
8	Samhar bhairav	Chandi	Dog	North-east		Ashlesha, Jyeshtha, Revati