This is one of the Panchakrosha Sthalam located at Thirunageshwaram near Kumbhakonam on the Kumbhakonam-Karaikkal route. This is one of the Padal Pethra Sthalam revered by the Shaiva Saints - Shri Appar, Shri Sundarar and Shri Sambandhar. It is on the southern bank of river Kaveri. It is also one of the Navagraha sthala for the planet Shri Rahu.
Mulavar: Shri Nageshwarar, Shri Naganathaswamy, Shri ShenbagaAranyeshwarar
Devi: Shri Girigujambika, Shri Piraiyanivaal Nuthal Ammai
Sacred Teertha: SuryaTeertha
Kshetra Vruksha: Shenbaga Tree (in marathi Sonchafa)
Puranik Name: Shenbagavanam, GirikannikaiVana
This temple is about 1600 years old. And it was constructed by Cholas. This temple was later renovated by Nayakar.
About this temple: This is an east-facing temple with five tiered Rajagopuram. There are six other gopurams in the temple complex. It has three parikramas. There are sixteen stone inscriptions inside the temple. Mainly there are exclusive shrines - one for Shri Shiva, two for Shri Parvati Devi and one for Shri Rahu Deva. The Sun’s rays fall into the temple only in the month of Chitrai, hence it is known as Suryakotam. In the third parikrama, on the northern side there is a flower garden. On the eastern entrance, we come across Balipeeth, Nandi, Dhwajastambha, shrine of Shri Ganesha, the idol and yantra in this temple of Shri Ganesha was installed by the saint Shri Sadashiv Brahmendra. There are paintings on the walls of eastern side. There is a 100 pillared hall containing exotic sculptures. The hall is designed in such a way that we get the feeling that it is placed on a chariot. In second parikrama, we come across the Rahu shrine on the Northeast corner. The path leading to the main shrine has sculptured pillars. All the halls have pillars with beautiful sculptures of Yaali and horses. On the pathway to the ninth shrine there are paintings on the wall depicting Vedanayakas, King Sambhumali and Devi doing penance.
About the shrines:
Main shrine: The shiva linga is a swayambhu linga, Sanctum Sanctorum consists of artha mandap, antarala and sanctum. There are Dwarpals at the entrance of the Sanctum.
Koshta Murti: The kostha murtis are Shri Narthan Ganapati, Shri Nataraja, Sage Agastya, Shri Dakshinamurti, Shri Lingodbhavar, Shri Brahma, Shri Vishnu, and Shri Durga Devi. The shrine of Shri Chandikeshwarar is in its usual position. Behind the sanctums, we find the idols of Shri Lingodbhavar with Shri Mahavishnu and Shri Brahma worshiping him.
Devi Shrine: There are two separate shrines of Shri Parvati Devi. One shrine houses idol of Shri Piraiyanivaal Nuthal Ammai ("Pirai" means crescent moon, "Anival" means wearing, "Nuthal" means forehead, Ammai means Ambika i.e. Mother). It is adjacent to the sanctum on the left hand side. On the full moon day of the Tamil month of Karthigai, rays of the moon fall on the idol of Ambika. There is a shrine of Shri Muruga in between the shrines of Shri Shiva and Shri Parvati Devi (known as KundramamulaiAmman). This arrangement of the shrines is similar to the Somaskanda murti. The other shrine of Devi is of Girigujambika, it is on the northern side opposite to the temple tank. This shrine faces the east. Devi in this shrine is in yogic posture. As the idol is made of special clay, no abhishek is done on the idol. Once in a while only civet (Punugu in Tamil) is applied. In this shrine we have the idols of Shri Lakshmi Devi and Shri Saraswati Devi on either side of Shri Parvati Devi. Shri Saraswati Devi is with Veena in her hand and Shri Lakshmi Devi has a lotus flower on her hand. In this Devi’s shrine we come across the idols of Shri Ganesha, Shri Balamuruga, Shri Navashakti, Shri Sanganidhi, Shri Tatpurushashakti, Shri Padmanidhi, Shri Ganga Devi, Shri Vaishanavi Devi along with Sanakadi rishis, Shri Kriyashakti, Shri Dyanambika, Shri Bhairav, Shri Balashasta (In Tamil Ayyanar) and Shri Durga Devi. In a small shrine inside this shrine we have an idol of Shri Vinayaka and Shri YogaRahu. There are lots of paintings in this shrine.
Rahu’s shrine: It is in the northeast corner of the second parikrama, and we find that the Rahu’s idol has a human face instead of a serpent (hood) face. He is with his consorts Simhi and Chitralekha. Special pujas are performed on Sundays between 4.30 pm and 6 pm (Rahu kaal) with Milk. This milk turns blue during a abhishek. This place is a parihara sthala for Rahu.
Shrines of Shri Nrutya Ganapati, Shri ShenbagaVinayaka, Shri Nandi, Shri Adi Vinayaka, Shri Muruga along with his consorts, Shri Nataraja, Shri Somaskanda, The shaiva saints Shri Nalwar, Shri Sapta Matrika, Shri Mahalakshmi Devi, Shri Saraswati Devi, Shri Navagrahas, Shri Chandra, Shri Surya and Shri MahaBhairav are found in the main hall of parikrama.
There are shiva lingas worshiped by sages Agastya, Parashar, Gautama, Vyaghrapada, Patanjali, Markandeya, along with the idols of sixty three Nayanmars. There is a shrine for Shri Ganesha near the sacred teertha, known as Shri Mazhuporutha (The lord who forgives mistakes) Vinayaka. In the Navagraha, all the planets are facing Shri Surya.
Sacred Teerthas: There were 12 sacred teerthas, of which three are rivers namely Nattaru, Arisilaru, and KirtiManaru which were believed to be created by Shri Shiva with his trident. There is a teertha known as Surya Teertha which is present in the temple. Excepting this teertha all other teerthas are extinct.
Salient features:
- Rahu Kaal puja
- Somaskanda arrangement
- Lingodhbhavar with Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma
- 100 pillared hall which is perceived to be placed on a chariot
- Presence of Goddess Parvati, Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati in one shrine
- Worshiping Lord Shiva at Nageshwara temple at Kumbhakonam in the morning, at noon in Thirunageshwram and in the evening Thiruppampuram is auspicious
- Saint Arunagirinathar has sung a hymn on Lord Muruga at this place.
- It's believed that no one can bless like Rahu or no one creates obstacles like Ketu.
- In this temple Shri Parvati Devi is depicted as a child in the morning, a young girl at noon and in the evening as a fully grown woman with the knowledge of sixteen arts.
Sthala Puran:
All the eight Mahaserpents - Ananta, Vasuki, Takshaka, Karkokata, Sankalpan, Kulikal, Padman and Mahapadman along with AdiShesha worshiped Shri Shiva in this place. Hence, Shri Shiva is addressed as Naganathar and the place is known as ThiruNageshwaram.
Rahu came to this place along with his wives and worshiped Shri Shiva. Shri Shiva was pleased by his worship and gave him the boon that at this place he will be worshiped for the parihara of sarpa dosha. He made him stay with his wives in human form and grace the people. Rahu graces at this place along with his wives with abhaya and varada mudra to ward off the fear of devotees.
Since Shri Indra misbehaved with Sage Gautama’s wife, he was cursed by the sage. As an atonement and to get rid of the curse, he did penance at this place. He worshiped Shri Girigujambika Devi and got rid of the curse.
Nagaraja Thakkan was once cursed by Sage Sushil as he had beaten his son. In order to get rid of the curse, he prayed to Shri Shiva at four places in the four quarters of one night as per the advice of the Sage Kashyap. The four places are Kumbhakonam Keezhkottam (Bilva forest), Thiru Nageshwaram (Hibuscus forest), Thirupampuram (Shami forest) and at Nagapattinam. At this place he was absolved of the curse.
After Samudra Manthan, Rahu prayed to Shri Shiva at this place along with his wives and got the human head and snake body.
Shri Parvati Devi did penance here along with Shri Lakshmi Devi and Shri Saraswati Devi. Sage Bhrungi was punished by Shri Parvati Devi as the Sage was a great devotee of Shri Shiva and he ignored Shri Parvati Devi. Due to this Shri Parvati Devi was asked to do the penance at this place as an atonement. She was told that Shri Lakshmi Devi and Shri Saraswati Devi will accompany her. She came here along with Shri Lakshmi Devi and Shri Saraswati Devi and did penance, Shri Shiva gave her darshan and took her back to Mount Kailash. She is worshiped as Shri Girigujambika Devi. Her idol is in a separate shrine.
King Sambhumali: Sage Kaalangiri was once angered to such an extent by the act of King Sambhumali and he cursed him. As an atonement King Sambhumali was asked to worship Shri Shiva and Shri Parvati Devi, at this place, after taking bath in the sacred teertha. By doing this worship he attained salvation.
Sage Gautama worshiped Shri Shiva at this place and was reunited with his wife Ahilya Devi.
Emperor Nala: He worshiped Lord Shiva at this place and got his wealth back.
King Chandravarma: He was cursed to be a dog. He worshiped Shri Shiva at this place and got human form again
Shri Vinayaka got the status of the head of Ganas by worshiping Shri Shiva at this place.
Sage Bhringi got darshan of all the Devis.
Shri Shiva told Shri Uma Devi that this is best kshetra on earth.
Pandavas got their kingdom again by worshiping Shri Shiva at this place.
Prayers:
This is a parihara sthala for Rahu Ketu sarpadosha, kalathra dosha, pitru dosha, kalasarpadosha.
Marriage obstacles are removed
People pray here for child boon and education.
Festivals:
Masi (Feb-Mar) - Mahashivaratri, Mahamagham festival
Vaikashi (Mar - June) - On Pushya Nakshatra, festival for the shaiva saint - Sekkizhar.
Avani (August-Sept) - Ganesh chaturthi
Karthigai (Nov-Dec) - 10 day brahmostava, Karthigai deepam
Margazhi (Dec-Jan) - Thiruvarudurai in Margazhi
Panguni (Mar-April) - Panguni uttaram in Panguni.
Special worship is done during Rahu transition
Daily pujas and pradosha pujas are performed.
Those who worshiped: Pandavas, Sage Vashishtha, AdiShehsha, Daksha, Karkotaga, Sage Shaunaka and Shri Rahu, Shri Nandi, Shri Chandra, Shri Surya, King Nala, Sage Gautama, Sage Parashara, Sage Bhagiratha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Indra, Sage Bhringi.
Temple timing: 6 to 12, 4 to 8.30
Address: Shri Nageshwar Swamy Temple, ThiruNageshwaram, Kumbhakonam Taluka, TamilNadu 612 204
Phone: 91-4352463354, 9443489839
Courtesy: Various websites and blogs
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