Shri Naganathnadarswami Temple at Thirunageshwaram

This is the fourth temple in Sapta Sthana temples around Thiruneelakudi. In addition it is also associated with other groups of temples such as Panchakrosha Sthalam, Padal Pethra Sthalam revered by the Shaiva Saints, Navagraha sthala (temple of planet Rahu). It is located at Thirunageshwaram near Kumbhakonam on the Kumbhakonam-Karaikkal route on the southern bank of river Kaveri. Shri Appar, Shri Sundarar and Shri Sambandhar have sung praise of Shri Shiva in this temple.   

Mulavar: Shri Nageshwarar, Shri Naganathaswamy, Shri ShenbagaAranyeshwarar

Devi: Shri Girigujambika, Shri PiraianivaalnuthalAmmai

Sacred Teertha: Surya Teertha

Kshetra Vruksha: Shenbaga Tree (in marathi Sonchafa)

Puranik Name: Shenbagavanam, GirikannikaiVana

Kshetra 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. 

Shri Indra misbehaved with sage Gautama’s wife. As a result 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 Nagesham (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, Parvati was asked to do the penance as an atonement at this place 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 by the act of King Sambhumali and he cursed him. As an atonement he was asked to worship Shri Shiva and Shri Parvati Devi at this place after taking bath in the sacred teertha. He also attained salvation.

Sage Gautama worshiped Shri Shiva at this place and was reunited with his wife Ahilya. 

Emperor Nala: He worshiped Shri Shiva at this place and got his wealth back. 

King Chandravarma: He was  cursed to be a dog. He woshiped 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. 

About temple:

This temple is about 1600 years old. It was constructed by Chola kings. This temple was later renovated by Nayakar kings.

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 Rahu. 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, Dhawajastambha, shrine of Shri Ganesha. The idol and yantra of Shri Ganesha in this temple was installed by the saint 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 Dwarapalakas 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 Chandikeshwar 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 Shri Piraianivalnuthal Ammai - Pirai (crescent moon), Anival (wearing), Nuthal (forehead), Ammai (Ambika). 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 Murugan in between the shrines of Shri Shiva and Shri Parvati Devi (known as Shri KundramamulaiAmman). This arrangement of the shrines is similar to the Shri Somaskanda murti. The other shrine of Devi is of Shri Girigujambika Devi. It is on the northern side opposite 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 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 Vaishnavi 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 Shri Simhi and Shri 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. 

#	Navagraha Aspect	Rahu
1	Consort	Nagavalli and Nagakanni
2	Cloth color	Black/ Blue
3	Gender
4	Element	Air
5	God	Nirrati
6	Mounts	Blue/ Black Lion
7	Presiding Deity	Durga
8	Metal	Blue Metal (Basalt, broken pieces of black rock)
9	Gemstone	Gomedha (Gomed)/ Honey- Colored Hessonit e
10	Body Part	Head
11	Taste	-
12	Grain	Black Gram
13	Season	-
14	Graha deities face this direction	South
15	Flower	White Mandara-Rui
16	Kshetra vruksha (tree)	1. Bel/ Bilwa/ Aegle Marmelos/ Wood Apple 2. Champak 3. Shami (Vanni) 4. Punnai Temple Tree (Alexandrian Laurel Tree)
17	Week day	-
18	Sound	-

Shrines of Shri Nrutya Ganapati, Shri ShenbagaVinayaka, Shri Nandi, Shri Adi Vinayaka, Shri Murugan along with his consorts, Shri Nataraja, Shri Somaskanda, The shaiva saints Nalwar, Sapta Matrika, Shri Mahalakshmi Devi, Shri Saraswati Devi, 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: 

1. Rahu Kaal puja

2. Somaskanda arrangement

3. Shri Lingodhbhavar with Shri Vishnu and Shri Brahma.

4. 100 pillared hall which is perceived to be placed on a chariot.

5. Presence of Shri Parvati Devi, Shri Lakshmi Devi and Shri Saraswati Devi in one shrine

6. Worshiping Shri Shiva at Nageshwara temple at Kumbhakonam in the morning, at noon in Thirunageshwram and in the evening Thiruppampuram is considered auspicious.

7. Saint Arunagirinathar has sung a hymn on Shri Muruga at this place. 

8. It's believed that no one can bless like Rahu or no one create obstacles like Ketu.

9. 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. 

Those who worshiped here: Pandavas, Sage Vashishtha, AdiShehsha, Daksha, Karkotaga, Sage Shaunaka and Shri Rahu, Shri Nandi, Shri Chandra, Shri Surya, Shri Nala, Sage Gautama, Sage Parashara, King Bhagiratha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Indra, Sage Bhringi.

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:

Vaikasi (May-June): On Pushya Nakshatra, festival for the shaiva saint - Sekkizhar.

Avani (Aug-Sept): Ganaesh Chaturthi 

Karthigai (Nov-Dec): 10 day brahmostava, Karthigai deepam

Margazhi (Dec-Jan): Thiruvarudurai 

Masi (Feb-Mar): Mahamagham festival and Shivaratri 

Panguni (Mar-April): Panguni uttaram

Special worship is done during Rahu transition

Daily pujas and pradosha pujas are performed.

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