This Shiva temple is the first in sapta-sthana temples. The temple is located at Thiruvaiyaru and Tanjavur district of TamilNadu on the banks of the river Kaveri. The temple is also known as Pancha-nadishwarar temple as this place is surrounded by 5 rivers namely – Arisilaru, Venna-aru, Vetta-aru, Kudumurrutti-aru and river Kaveri. In Tamil, “ai” means five (i.e. Pancha). “Aru” means river that is “nadi”. So Pancha-nadishwarar means Lord of 5 rivers. This temple is about 2000 years old.
Moolavar: Aiyarappar, Pancha-nadishwarar
Devi: Dharma-samwardhini
Tirtha: Surya pushkarini
Old name: Thiruvaiyaru
This place is as holy as Varanasi for taking holy dip. This is one of the 6 most sacred places (Shiva sthalas) on the bank of river Kaveri. The other 5 places are – Thiruvenkadu, Thiruchakkau (Chaya vanam), Mayil-adu-thurai, Thiruvidai-maruthur and Thiruvanchiam. The place is considered as Dakshin Kailash. The Shiva linga is swayambhoo.
The Dhyan mandap in the temple is built with lime and palm jaggery known as Kuruppai in Tamil. We can still come across the four pits in which above material was stored and gold, silver coins were kept as wages for the workers when the temple was being built. The temple has about 5 corridors (prakarams) and the raja-gopuram is seven tiered. The temple spans about 14-15 acres land. We come across the shrine of Somaskandha and Japesa (Kuki) mandap in the 2nd corridor. The idol of Lord Dakshinamurti in this temple is known as Shiva-yoga-dakshina-murti. He has special significance as he is only guru, worshipped by Lord Vishnu (known as Perumal in Tamil) in TamilNadu. So, Lord Dakshinamurti is also known as Hari-ooru -Shiva-yoga-Dakshina-murti. At the feet of Lord Dakshinamurti, we find a tortoise instead of the usual demon – Muyalagan (symbol of ignorance).
It is believed that when Dharma is followed by women, the benefits are double than those done by men. To indicate this fact, the Godmother here is known as Dharma Samwardhini. There is no shrine for Maha Vishnu at this place (in this area) as mother Dharma Samwardhini is praised as Lord Maha Vishnu. There is a general belief in south that ashtami tithi of new moon are not auspicious. In order to indicate that all days are auspicious and same, wedding festival of Ambika is performed on the night of Ashtami in this temple. This place is also considered as shakti peetha of Ambika.
One cannot do pradakshina around sanctum sanctorum of Lord Shiva. It is believed that Lord Shiva has his hair spread on the floor of (at the back of) sanctum sanctorum. As one cannot tread over this, the pradakshina is prohibited.
The sacred tirtha Surya Pushkarini has also a special significance. It is because, this is considered as a Surya sthala where Surya has worshipped Lord Shiva. He is facing the West.
There is a separate shrine for Kala-samhara-murti known as Aalkondar. Outside this shrine, we have a homa-kunda (sacred fire pit) installed by Adi-Shankaracharya.
There are spots in the temple which produce echos of primordial (nada-bramha) sound notes. In the 3rd prakara, if one stands in the southwest corner facing North and calls Aiyarappar loudly, the sound reverberates. The west facing temple has beautiful sculptures of deities of Ardha-narishwarar and Lord Dakshinamurti besides other koshta murtis. We also come across the shrines of Lord Ganesha, Lord Subramania, Lord Nandikeshwar and saint Tyagaraja.
Kshetra puran: Shaiva saint Tirunavukarasar when on a pilgrimage to mount Kailash, encountered lot of difficulties on the way. Lord Shiva made him to take a dip in a pond by submerging himself. When Tirunavukarasar emerged from the tank, he found himself at Thiruvaiyarur and Lord gave him darshana of Mount Kailash at this place (Thiruvaiyarur).
A devotee named as Sucharitan was saved by Lord Shiva from untimely death like sage Markendeya by appearing as a column of light at this place. He killed Yama in the process. So Lord Shiva is known as Aalkondeshwarar. People burn benzoin (Kungiliyam in Tamil) outside the shrine under the belief that they can get rid of the fear of Yama. It is believed that the sage Agastya got his dwarf structure at this place.
Ambika is believed to have worshipped Lord Shiva with 2 measures of grains.
According to kshetra puran the chariot of the King who ruled this place got stuck while passing through this place. While excavating the land around the wheels of chariot, the workers found Shiva Linga. When they continued excavating further, they came across idols of Lord Ganesha, Lord Subramanya, Goddess Dharma samwardhini and Lord Nandi-deva. They also came across a sage who was sitting in deep meditation. When the saint came out of meditation, he ordered the king to build the temple and utilize the wealth under Nandi-dev’s hoof.
According to another kshetra puran, a priest was unable to be present for performing pooja at a particular time as he was away on a pilgrimage. It was reported to the king, who came personally to check the fact. He was surprised to find the priest performing the pooja. The priest returned to the temple next day and everyone including king were astonished. They realized that, Lord himself had come to perform the pooja as the priest for Himself.
Near this Shiva temple is one room house of saint Tyagaraja where he composed some great works of Karnatik music. On the bank of the river his samadhi was built. A number of people converge on a particular day (samadhi) at this place and perform the music festival of the Karnatik music composed by the great saint. Nearby this samadhi, there are the samadhis of saint Shiva Prakash swamigal and Naga-ratna-amma. She was responsible for locating and renovating the samadhi of saint Tyagaraja.
Festivals & worships at this place:
1. Daily six pujas
2. New moon festival – On every new moon the utsav murti of Aiyarappar is taken to the bank of river Kaveri for worship
3. Nandi’s marriage known as Thirukalyanam in the Tamil month of Panguni is performed at Tirumazappadi
4. In the Tamil month of Chitrai (April-May) Bramhotsav is held
5. In the Tamil month of Chitrai (April-May) sapta sthana utsav is held
6. In the Tamil month of Aavani (Sept-Oct) on mula nakshatra float festival is held
7. In the Tamil month of Aadi (Aug-Sept) Appar festival is held
8. Mahashivaratri festival is held in the Tamil month of Masi (Feb-Mar)
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