Shri Swetavinayaka temple

This Ganesha temple is situated in the village Thiruvalanchuzhi near Swami Malay in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu. The Shiva temple at this place is among the 276 shiva temples revered by Nayanmars. The present temple is about 2000 years old. 

Mulavar: Shri Thiruvalanchuzhinadar

Devi (Parvati): Shri Periyanayaki

Kshetra Vruksha: Bilva

Kshetra Purana: 

The Sage Yayarava had 100 sons. He prayed to Shri Parvati Devi for a daughter. Shri Parvati Devi decided to take birth as his daughter as she wanted to see herself getting married to Shri Shiva with matted hair. At very early age she told her father about her wish and started doing penance. With her divine power, she made a shiva linga out of sand. In order to make the Shiva linga she prayed and requested Shri Shiva to fetch water from Ganges. Shri Shiva obliged and created sacred tank known as Jatatirtha with Ganges water from his matted hair. Since Shri Parvati Devi wished to marry Shri Shiva with matted hair the name of Shri Shiva is Shri Kabardeeshwarar (kabar in Urdu also means jata). Shri Shiva appeared according to Shri Parvati Devi’s wish and married with her at this place. As per Shri Parvati Devi’s wish Shri Shiva stayed at this place in the form of a Shiva Linga which is worshiped as Shri Kabardeeshwarar.

The following legend explains why the name is Thiruvalanchuzhi. The detail is obtained from a grantha known as Abhidana chintamani. During Samudra manthan they started the churning the ocean of milk with Vasuki (snake) as churning rope. She started splitting venom which became unbearable. When devas approached Shri Shiva for a remedy, he reminded them that they forgot to worship Shri Ganesha first. So they made an idol of Shri Ganesha from the foam of ocean of milk. And after worshiping they got relief from venom. This idol of Shri Ganesha is known as Shri SwetaVinayaka. 

Shri Indra desired to have Shri SwetaVinayaka for his worship. At the same time the the devas were also interested in same. Finally it was decided to worship Shri Swetavinayaka at everyone’s place for some time. Shri Swetavinayaka was worshiped by Shri Shiva and Shri Parvati Devi for some time at Kailash, by Shri Maha Vishnu and Shri Mahalakshmi Devi at Shri Vaikuntha, by Shri Brahma and Shri Saraswati Devi at Satyaloka and then finally it came to Shri Indrani and Shri Indra at Indralok. When Shri Indra had to leave Indralok due to curse of Ahalya as an atonement he started on a pilgrimage. He took Shri Swetavinayaka along with him. Shri Indra reached this place and decided to have a bath at Jatatirtha. Shri Shiva felt that Shri Swetavinayaka should be installed at this place. So he appeared as a small brahmin boy. Shri Indra handed over the idol to small brahmin for a safe keeping while taking bath. He left the instructions that the idol should not be kept on the ground. When Shri Indra took dip in the water the boy kept the idol on the ground and disappeared. Shri Indra tried to uproot it from the place but could not do so. A celestial voice instructed him to leave the idol in the same place and worship the idol on Mondays in the shukla paksha in the month of August (second fortnight August) to first fortnight of September. But still Shri Indra tried to move the idol with the help of chariot, horses and elephants and he failed miserably. The celestial voice of Shri Shiva again instructed him to stop his attempts. Shri Shiva told him that Shri SwetaVinayaka will grace and fulfill desires of one and all by staying in Kailash in Krutayuga, at Vaikuntha in Tretayuga, at Satyaloka in Dwaparyuga, and at earth in Kaliyuga.

There is also Kshetra puran associated with this place. With Shri Swetavinayaka’s blessing Kaveri river started flowing from Sage Agastya’s kamandalu. When she was entering this place the king to received her with full honor and this place was known as shaktivan. She went around Shri Shiva and entered through a hole (called Piladavara in sanskrit) in the northeast direction. The king failed in his attempt to get her out of hole. He sought the help Sage Heranda. The Sage came to this place and prayed to Shri Shiva. Under the instruction of Shri Shiva the sage entered the hole. After worshiping Kaveri he brought her out of the hole near Kumbhakonam. This place is known as mela (upper) kaveri. Since Kaveri went around Shri Shiva at this place, the place is known as Thiruvalanchuzhi.

There is a separate temple for Shri Shani facing the Sun. The shiv linga is a swayambhu linga. The idol of Shri Ganesha is believed to have been made of foam from the ocean of milk. Hence he is known as Shri Sweta-vinayaka (Vellaivinayaka in Tamil). The main shiva temple is facing the east. Shri Ambika is to the right of Shri Shiva as she is in her wedding posture. Generally the consort is always to the left of Shri Shiva in temples. There is an idol of Ashtabhuja Mahakali with a slight (minute) damage. It is believed that this was done to calm down her anger several years ago. 

Gabhara of Shri SwetaVinayaka at this place is known as Gayatri Mandap. There are nine small windows and big balcony made of single block of rock with intricate sculpture and design. There are 24 special stone columns, with inscription of all 24 words of Gayatri mantra, that support the mandap. It is believed that this was constructed by celestial sculptor Vishwakarma. This Gayatri mandap is facing the south. Shri Ganesha is seated in this mandap with his shakti known as Shri Veni and Shri Kamala (Riddhi and Siddhi). He has four hands which hold a tusk, paash (noose), ankush and sweet meal (modak). The idol is relatively small. It is stated that Shri Bhairav got rid of Brahmahatya dosh by doing penance. 

It is stated that one should take darshana of Shri Swetavinayaka before proceeding to Shri Murugan temple at Swami Malay. Shri Vinayaka married Riddhi and Siddhi at this place. 

Festivals at this place:

Masi (Feb-Mar): Mahashivaratri

Karthigai (Nov-Dec): Thirukarthigai (second fortnight of November and first fortnight of December)

Avani (Aug-Sept): Vinayak Chaturthi

Courtesy: Various websites and blogs