Brahmapurishwarar Temple at Thirukkuvalai

This Shiva temple is one of the Sapta Vidanga Sthala. This Padal Pethra Sthalam is located on the southern bank of Kaveri. This temple was revered by the hymns of Appar, Sundarar and Sambandhar. It is about 35 kms to the west of Thiruvarur. On the road from Thiruvarur to Thiruthuraipoondi. The vidanga at this temple is known as Avani Vidangar. The dance is known as Bhrunga Nadanam i.e. dancing like a bee hovering over a flower.

Mulavar: Brahmapurishwarar, Kolilinadar, Sri Kolilnatheshwarar 

Devi: Brahmagujambika

Kshetra Vruksha: Teakwood tree (sagwan), Thetta (Hazelnut)

Puranik Name: Thirukolili,Thirukuvalai

Present Name: Thirukkuvalai

District: Nagapattinam, Tamilnadu

The temple is about 1500 years old. This is an east facing temple that has 5 tier Rajagopuram with 1 parikrama. 

Sthala purana is depicted in a stucco image on the Rajagopuram. We come across flagstaff, balipeeth and Nandi in the main mandap at their usual positions. The viman (gopuram) on the sanctum is a single tiered stucco vesara viman. Lord Shiva is a swayambhoo linga of white sand. It is always kept covered with a metal kavach (kuvalai in Tamil). Hence the place is known as Thirukkuvalai.

In the koshta, we come across ArdhaNarishwarar, Lord Brahma, Nataraja, Narthana Ganapati, Lord Dakshinamurti, Bhikshadanar, Lord MahaVishnu.

Both Lord Shiva and Devi face east. 

Other Shrines in the temple complex:

In the prakara, we come across shrine of Sundarar along with his wife Paravai. We have shrines of Tyagavinayaka, Vishwanadar and Vishalakshi. Besides this we come across the shiva linga namely Indrapurishwarar, Chokkalingar, Annamalayar. There is a shrine for Nalavar and Gajalakshmi. In a shrine, we come across all the navagrahas in a line facing the south. Tyagaraja shrine is on the right side of Sanctum Sanctorum where Brahmapurishwarar is a main deity. In the temple complex there are a lot of stone inscriptions referring to the work of Chola and Pandya kings. 

Special features:

As the shiva linga is of white sand, it is always kept covered by a kavach. There is no abhisheka of shiva linga. On new moon day a special oil (Thailam in Tamil) is applied on the shiva linga and on other days puja is performed on the kavach. 

Kshetra Purana:

According to Purana, Lord Brahma incurred a curse for telling a lie to Lord Shiva. Due to this, he could not continue with his work of creation resulting in the obstruction of duty of the Navagrahas. Hence Lord Brahma came to this place, created the sacred tirtha, made a shiva linga out of white sand and worshiped Lord Shiva. He got rid of his curse by the grace of Lord Shiva. Navagrahas started performing their duties once brahma got rid of curse. Hence Lord Shiva at this place is known as Brahmapurishwarar.

The place got the name Kolili as Navagrahas got rid of their curse. Bhima had incurred a curse by killing Bakasur. He worshiped Lord Shiva at this place and got rid of the curse.

Shaiva saint Sundarar used to feed devotees at Thiruvarur. For this purpose he used to pray to Lord Shiva and obtain gold for purchasing paddy. During his travel he went to Thirukkuvalai and prayed to Lord Shiva for help in his noble work. There was another Shiva devotee namely Kundaiyur who was also involved in feeding the devotees. Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and told him that he is blessing him with a mountain load of paddy to be handed over to Sundarar. Though Sundarar was delighted to receive the paddy he could not understand how to shift such a huge load of paddy. Sundarar sang a padigam (a sacred hymn) in praise of Lord Shiva and asked for help. A miracle took place and the Shiva gana shifted the entire paddy overnight and placed them in front of each house at Thiruvarur.

The river chandranadi is as sacred as river ganga. 

Those who worshiped here: Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, Valari, Sage Agastya, Mukund Chakravarti, Pandavas, Navagrahas, and Omakantha.

Festivals:

• Avani (Aug-Sept) Vinayagar Chaturthi
• Purattasi (Sept-Oct) Navaratri 
• Aippasi (Oct-Nov) Annabhishekam 
• Thiru Karthigai (Nov-Dec)
• Margazhi (Dec-Jan) & Sundays - Thiruvadharai
• Thai (Jan-Feb) Pongal & Thaipoosam 
• Masi (Feb-Mar) Mahashivaratri  

Muchukunta Archana, Vasanta Utsavam and monthly pradoshams are also observed

Courtesy:

https://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.com/ 

https://temple.dinamalar.com/en/

Kannayariamudayar Temple at Thirukkarayil

This shiva temple is one of the Sapta vidanga temples. The vidanga at this place is known as Adi Vidangar. The dance performed by Lord Shiva is known as Kukkut nrutya. The temple is located at Thirukkarayil in Thiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu. This Padal Petra Sthalam is located on the southern bank of river Kaveri.

Shaiva saints Sambandhar and Appar have sung sacred hymns about this temple. 

Mulavar: Kannayaranadar

Devi: Kailashnayaki

Kshetra Vruksha: Jackfruit tree

Sacred Tirtha: Brahma Tirtha, Shesha tirtha

Puranik Name: Thirukkarayyil, Thirukkaraivasal

Present Name: Thirukkaravasal

District: Thiruvarur, Tamilnadu

Kann -eye, ayariam - thousand eyed, udayar - Lord or possessor. Meaning the lord of this temple i.e. Lord Shiva, is thousand eyed.

The temple is about 114 kms from Thiruvarur on Thiruthuraipoondi road and 30 kms from Mannargudi. The temple is in a place where there are dense Karahil trees. This is an east facing temple spread in about 1 acre area. There is no Rajagopuram or flagstaff. The balipeeth has a metal covering and the Nandi is slightly on a higher pedestal. There is a gopuram which is 3 tiered. The shiva linga is a swayambhu linga. When we enter the temple on the right side we have a stone inscription which describes the kshetra. The temple is about 1700 years old. 

Other shrines and idols in a temple:

Shrines of Lord Mahavishnu, Shanmukha, Bhairava, Goddess Saraswati and Gajalakshmi are on parikrama. There are a number of shiva lingas in the corridor. Shrine of utsavar (known as sundarar) is found in this corridor.

There is a mandap known as Tyagaraja sabha. The Vinayaka is known as Pramoda Vinayaka (Pramoda means great happiness or joy). It is believed that by worshiping Pramoda Vinayaka one’s wishes are fulfilled and he gets extreme happiness. The Tyagaraja is known here as Adi Vidangar. The teertha located to the north of the temple is known as Indra Teertha. Lord Brahma created a teertha to get rid of his curse and to worship Lord Shiva and it is known as Brahma Teertha. According to Purana, the serpent king Adishesha used to come to this temple through a well to worship Lord Shiva, hence the well is known as Sarpateertha. Lord Dakshinamurti is addressed as Dnyana Dakshinamurti. Lord Bhairava is known as SwarnaAkarshana Bhairava. By worshiping him, it is believed that one can recover the losses made by him. There is a shrine of Vinayaka known as Kadukkai (Harda Vinayaka).

Those who worshiped at this place: Lord Mahavishnu, Mahalakshmi, Lord Indra, Sage Patanjali and Sage Vyaghrapada.

Kshetra Puran:

When powdered harda is put in water, it makes water crystal clear and it has high medicinal value. A merchant came to this temple with bags of jaay-phal (jathikai in Tamil) which also has high medicinal value. It used to attract higher taxes. Lord Vinayaka came to the merchant in the disguise of a boy. He enquired about the content in the bag. The merchant who did not wish to pay more tax stated that he had harda in these bags. The boy went away. Later when the merchant opened the bags, he found there were harda instead of jaay-phal. Realizing that the boy was none other than the Lord Ganesha, the merchant begged for pardon. Soon the harda in the bag became jaay-phal. Since that day, Lord Ganesha in this place is known as Karakkai Vinayaka. Lord Indra worshiped Lord Shiva on the full moon day in the month of Kanya. 

Festivals:

1. Special pujas are held on the first day of every Tamil month. The abhisheka of Tyagaraja, Nataraja and Guru puja are held on that day.

2. Pujas are held in the month of Karthigai on Karthigai Deepam. 

3. Bhairav puja is held on every Kalashtami day.

4. Special worships are held on new moon and full moon day.

5. Special prayers

1. People pray to swarna akarshana bhairava for recovering lost articles

2. People worship Pramoda Vinayaka for fulfillment of desires

3. Worshiping Lord Shiva after taking bath in the Teertha eradicates curse and sin.

4. People believe that praying to Pramoda Vinayaka helps in curing eye related problems.

Address of the temple:

Arulmigu Kailashnayaki Samed Kannayaranadar Thiru Kovil

Thirukkaravasal, Thiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu, 610202

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Kayarohaneshwarar Temple at Nagapattinam

This is one of the Sapta Vidanga. Vidanga at this place is known as Sundar Vidangar. This is one of the Padal Pethra Sthalams revered by Nayanmars. The place was revered by Thiru Dnyanasambandhar, Appar and Sundarar. The present temple is about 2000 years old which was built by Cholas and Pallavas.

Mulavar: Kayarohaneshwarar 

Utsavar: Chandrashekharar 

Devi: Neelaydakshi 

Sacred Tirtha: Pundarikaksha tirtha 

Kshetra Vruksha: Mango tree 

Puranik Name: Nagaykaronam 

Present Name: Nagapattinam 

District: Nagapattinam TamilNadu 

Though this is a shiva temple, it is popularly known as Neelaydakshi Amman Kovil. This temple was originally constructed by Lakolica cult. The only other temple constructed by them in Tamil Nadu is at Kanchipuram. The temple is also a shakti peeth. The temple is also called as Shivarajadhani as Lord Shiva rules as a king. And is located near sea shore. The shiva linga is a swayambhu. The present lingam is not the original as original was stolen long back. The present lingam is made of gomed (topaz). The temple is located in the city of Nagapattinam. The temple rajagopuram is five tier. There is a balipith, flagstaff and nandanvan inside corridor. 

About other shrines and special features. 

Sundar Vidangar: The vidangar in this temple is very beautiful and is known as Sundar Vidangar. To the right side of Lord Shiva's sanctum sanctorum, we come across the shrine of Lord Tyagaraja. In most of the temples we can have darshan of the face of Lord Tyagaraja’s only. In this place during Vaikasi (Vishaskha nakshatra) and Margazhi (Thiruvathira nakshatra) alankar of Lord Shiva is done in such a way so that we can have darshan of right hand and feet of Lord Tyagaraja. During the festival, the procession dances back and forth like a wave and is known as paravar nrutya (nadana).

Devi Neelaydakshi: It is believed that she bestows boons to the devotees like ocean. To indicate this, her eyes are blue (like ocean) in color. She has a separate shrine with a flagstaff. She is depicted as a virgin girl before marriage i.e. Yuva stage. Hence the Adipuram festival is celebrated on a grand scale. She is taken in procession in chariot of china clay. The Ambal sanctum sanctorum is constructed like a chariot. As Ambika is a virgin, Lord Shiva sent Nandi dev to guard her. But Nandi was reluctant to leave Lord Shiva. Lord advised Nandi Dev to have his darshan also by staying with Ambika. Hence we find that Nandi is facing the Ambal, but his face is toward Lord Shiva. His left eye is towards Lord Shiva and right eye is towards Ambika. People worship this Nandi to get rid of eye related problems. 

Lord Vinayaka: He graces from another shrine. He has one serpent coiled around his body and another one above his head like an umbrella. Hence he is known as Nagaabharan Vinayaka (Nagabhushan Vinayaka). People worship him for relief from Rahu and Ketu effects. They perform special pujas during Rahu Kaal and Rahu-Ketu transit. Lord Bhairav has a lion as a mount instead of a dog. It is believed that when Sage Pundarikaksha worshiped Lord Shiva at this place, Ganges sprang up along with Lord Bhairvav. So Bhairava graces here as a Kaala Bhairav. He is facing south with a furious face. To calm him down we have two Vinayakas standing in front of him. It is customary in South India to close the temple doors when the procession of a dead person passes near it. But in this place, the dead body is garlanded, with a garland and vastra from the Shiva temple. This is done in honour of a great devotee of Lord Shiva from the fisherman community. Generally during the festival the Lord is taken in procession along the four streets surrounding the temple. But at this place the processional deity is taken through seven villages surrounding Nagapattinam. This is in honour of SalisaMaharaja who has darshan of Lord Shiva in bridal form when he came to this place after performing Shiva puja at the village. 

Mohini procession: Generally Lord Shiva goes in procession on a rishabha vahan during pradosha puja in shiva temples, but in this temple Lord Vishnu also joins in the procession in Mohini avatar. After the samudra manthan, Mohini avatar took place just before pradosha when Lord Shiva danced to forgive the devas for their mistake of not worshiping him before taking the amrut. Hence we can have darshan of Mohini during the pradosha puja. At other times Mohini is kept in sanctum sanctorum of Lord Shiva. There is a shrine of Kali (Ashtabhuja Ambika). We come across idols of Ashta Bhairav and Gajalakshmi in this temple. Behind the Shiva linga we have the idol of somaskanda and Lord Muruga with weapons in twelve hands. We have shrine of Chandikeshewarar on the corridor. The mango tree (kshetra vruksha) fruits are sweet, bitter and sour. When we look at the tree from southeast parikrama, it looks like a Nandi. 

Kshetra Puran: 

Emperor Dasharath came to know that Shani will be aspecting star Rohini which will cause famine. He decided to fight Shani and was advised by Surya not to fight Shani and please him by worshiping. Shani was pleased by the worship of Dasharath and accepted the desire of Dasharath by which he troubled to a lesser extent. Hence all the Navagrahas in this temple are facing the west.

There was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva who was a fisherman. When he used to fish in the ocean he had the habit of throwing away the first fish back into sea as an offering to Lord Shiva. In order to test him, Lord Shiva made him to catch only one fish on a particular day. But the fisherman (Athipathar) threw the first fish into the sea and did not bother about starving. Once, Lord Shiva gave him a golden fish. The other fisherman advised him to keep it. But, Athipathar threw it back into the sea as a routine. Pleased by his devotion Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati gave darshan and gave him mukti. He attained the status of Nayanmar. He has a separate shrine inside the temple complex.

Azhuguni Siddhar: Like children cry to their mother to get their desire fulfilled, this siddha used to cry in mother Parvati’s shrine begging the divine mother to grant him salvation. She gave him salvation with the consent of Lord Shiva. There is a jiva samadhi at this place for Azhuguni siddhar. Special worship is done on Vishakha nakshatra in the month of Vaikasi and on full moon day with kheer (payasam) as the naivedya. 

Sage Pundarikaksha did penance at this place for attaining mukti. Lord Shiva gave darshan to the sage, embraced him and gave him mukti. Generally mukti is attained only for atma but not for the body, but in this case Lord Shiva gave mukti to Sage Pundarikaksha by embracing him (arohan) with human body (kaya). Hence the lord is known as Kayarohanarar. 

Once the king of serpents worshiped Lord Shiva and got a female child. The child had three breasts. Shiva assured the king that the third breast will disappear when a king from Surya dynasty visited him. When king Shalisuhan came to this place the third breast vanished. The naga king gave his daughter in marriage to king Shalisuhan. Since Naga king worshiped here, the place came to be known as Nagaikaronan. 

In the mandap of sanctum sanctorum ceiling, we have the twelve zodiacs sculptured. 

By worshiping Lord Shiva in this mandap, people believe that they get relief from grahadosha. 

Two elephants, with four tusks each, are depicted doing puja to Gajalakshmi who has her legs hanging down. 

Koshta murti of Lord Dakshinamurti, in a separate shrine outside the koshta, is with eight disciples instead of four. 

Sundarar obtained a garland of pearls, garland of diamonds, kasturi and a horse etc from Lord Shiva by praying him with sacred hymns. 

Sages who worshiped here: Sapta rishi, Markendeya, Pundarikasksha 

Festivals: 

1. Ani (Ayilyam nakshatra, Ashlesha in Marathi). On this day Sage Pundarikaksha entering Lord Shiva’s shrine and attaining mukti is held by ArdhaJama puja, last puja before closing the temple. 

2. Vaikasi (May-June) Wedding festival 

3. Aadi (July-Aug) Adipuram festival, 

4. Maasi (Feb-Mar) Shivatratri festival

5. Aippasi (Oct-Nov) Annabhisheka

6. Karthigai (Nov-Dec) Deepam 

Daily abhishek at 9 pm and 8 pm

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https://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.com/ 
https://temple.dinamalar.com/en/

Darbharanyeshwarar at Thirunallar

This Shiva temple is located at Thirunallar in Karikal district in Pondicherry. This temple is one of the seven temples from Sapta Vidanga Sthalam. The vidanga here is known as Nagara Vidanga and the dance performed by Lord Shiva here is known as Unmatha Pada Natanam (i.e. dancing like an intoxicated person). This is also one of the Padal Petra Sthalam revered by Nayanmars. Though this is a Shiva temple, it is more famous as Navagraha sthala for the planet Saturn. 

Moolavar (Main deity): Darbharanyeshwarar, Thirunallar-ishwarar

Devi (Consort): Pranambika, Bhogamarta - Poonmulaiyal, Praneshwari

Kshetra Vruksha (Sacred tree): Darbha grass

Sacred teertha: Nala teertha, Brahma teertha, Vani teertha. Anna teertha and Ganga teertha are in a well near Nalavinayaka temple. Besides these there are eight ashta dikpal teertha.

Speciality: On the shiva linga we observe markings of Darbha grass as it is stated in Purana that the Shiva linga was found among darbha grass. This is a swayambhu linga.

This kshetra is one of the sapta vidanga sthalas. This place is also considered as one of the Shakti Pithas and is known as Praneshwari peetha. The temple is facing the east. 

Legends:

There are a number of legends associated with this place which are mentioned in the puranas.

According to the scriptures, Brahma, after having created the world, went around to tour it. When he came to this forest (Aranya) full of Darbha, he was enchanted by its beauty and performed a penance and worshiped a SwayamBhu¹ Shiva Lingam².

The Lord appeared and explained to Brahma the inner meaning of Vedas and taught him other shastras. Brahma stayed in this place for a long time worshiping Shiva-Parvati and built temples for them. Brahma created Brahma Teerth and Saraswati created Vani Teerth. Indra, Ashta Dikpal (eight directions) and the sacred swan (Hansa) established their own Shiva Lingam and worshipped.

Nomenclature: Because Brahma worshipped at this place long ago, the place is known as AadiPuri (Aadi = Beginning, Puri = City). As the sacred grass Darbha (not Durva used in Ganesh Puja) was abundant, this place was called DarbhaAranyam. Because Nala had also worshipped here, the place used to be called Nallar and Shiva here called Nalleshwara.

According to Puran, Lord Vishnu worshiped Lord Shiva and Parvati at this place and got Manmatha (kamadeva) as his son. Hence as a token, Lord Vishnu created the Somaskanda form ie. with Lord Muruga seated in between Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Later on Vishnu gave this to Indra and by worshiping this form he obtained Jayant and Jayanti as children. Later on he created six more forms of the same somaskanda and gave all of them to Muchaganda.

The king placed them at seven places which are known as Sapta Vidanga sthala. One such form of Somaskanda is in this temple and people worship it for obtaining offspring. This vidanga is known as Thyagaraja vidanga. 

Other shrines in this temple:

To the south of the main temple there is a shrine which houses the idols of a shepherd, his wife and an accountant of the temple. The legend says that the shepherd was cheated by the accountant while paying for the milk supplied to the temple. Lord Shiva in order to save the shepherd from the wrath of the king and at the same time to punish the accountant threw his trishul at the accountant in the presence of the king. In order to make way for the trishul the nandi and bali peeth shifted slightly. This we can observe even today. The trishul severed the head of the accountant and Lord Shiva gave darshan to the shepherd. This explains why we find the nandi and bali peeth not in a straight line with the shiva linga. 

Legend says that Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma, Indra, Goddess Saraswati, Ashta Dikpal, Sage Agasti, Sage Pulasti, Hansa and Arjun worshiped Lord Shiva at this place. 

Special features: 

After bowing to the rajagopuram, as we enter the temple we have to touch and pray the entrance step. It is presumed that the Lord Shani resided in the upper portion of this entrance. According to legend Lord Shani hid himself at the top in order to escape from the wrath of Lord Shiva for having punished King Nala. 

Other shrines at this place: Lord Swarna Ganapati, Muruga, Nataraja, Somaskanda, The idols of Adi Shesha, Nayanmars, Mahalakshmi, Surya and Bhairava are also found. We come across the idol of King Nala and the Linga worshiped by him. Besides this just like any other Shiva temple we come across the koshta murtis. A separate shrine is there for emerald vidang ie. Thyagaraja vidang. 

Festivals:

1) Saturn transit - Saturday special worship of Shani

2) On full moon day, in the tamil month of Purattasi (Sept-Oct) a special worship for emerald lingam

3) In May-JUne (Vaikashi) brahmotsavam is held for 10 days

1 SwayamBhu: Not created by human hand or touched by chisel; Swayam = Self and Bhu = Be, SwayamBhu = Be by self.

2 Shiva Lingam Worship: 

Shiva = Cosmic Reality (Form) created by AadiParaShakti (Aadi = Beginning, Para = Beyond and Shakti = Energy) ie Parvati. AadiParaShakti = Energy beyond beginning (of matter), The Essence/ Truth (state of no matter, only energy). Energy, in and of itself cannot be perceived without a Form. Therefore AadiParaShakti created Cosmic Reality to manifest itself. 

Lingam = Leen (Become One With) + Gamya (navigable), Lingam = To navigate and become one with. Thus Shiva/ Shiva Lingam worship is a way of becoming one with the Cosmic Reality/ AadiParaShakti (Truth). Shiva, by Himself cannot do anything without AadiParaShakti. Same is true for AadiParaShakti. Therefore, The ArdhaNarishwara manifestation (Advaita in the Dwaita) is THE (fundamental/ eternal) TRUTH.

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Kshetra Puran of Sapta Vidanga Sthalam

Kshetra puranas, also known as sthala puranas, are stories associated with a particular place i.e. kshetra. These stories are considered puranas as they are as authentic as main puranas in conveying dharmic principles. 

Sapta Vidanga sthalams also have kshetra purana associated with them. We covered kshetra purana in previous article. In this article we are covering it again to bring out its significance.

Once Lord Vishnu was asked to perform worship to obtain the male child. To perform worship, Lord Vishnu asked sculptor Vishwakarma to make an idol in which Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were seated with their son Skanda (Muruga) in between them. This is known as Somaskanda murti i.e. Sa (means shiva), Uma (means chit) and Skanda (means anand) murti. Meaning it is Sat-chit-ananda murti.

Pleased by the penance undertaken by Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva granted him a boon of a male child. The male child was none other than Manmada. Later on Lord Brahma got the Somaskanda moorthy along with Vidanga from Lord Vishnu who in turn gave it to Lord Indra.

At other time, a demon named Vallan (Vaalasur) invaded the Indrapuri (heaven). Indra sought the help of Lord Shiva to defeat the demon. 

Indra was directed by Lord Shiva to seek the help of King Muchukunda. King Muchukunda was a male monkey in the previous birth. He was born with a monkey face due to the grace of Lord Shiva. He ruled the Chola kingdom with Karuvarai as his capital.

Muchukunda defeated the demon and saved the Lord Indra. As a token of gratitude Lord Indra asked Muchukunda to take anything that he wanted from him. Lord Shiva conveyed secretly to Muchukunda to ask for Somaskanda murti which was in the possession of Lord Indra. Lord Indra was not ready to part with the idol and he prepared six more similar idols and asked the king to choose one from seven. Lord Shiva indicated to the king the real Somaskanda murti. Lord Indra had no other alternative but to part with original hence he gave all seven to the king. King Muchukunda took all the seven vidanga and placed them at seven places. All these lingas are only handful in size. The term vidanga represents the image of Lord Shiva as Thyagaraja. It is maragada (emerald) linga. And is placed generally in silver casket. Thyagaraja is taken in procession in the palanquin with the people performing special dance steps. Every vidanga is associated with special type of steps during the dance.

In upcoming articles we will attempt to provide introduction to each of the seven temples of Sapta Vidanga Sthalam.

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Introduction to Sapta Vidanga Sthalams

The word Vidangam means something which is not chiseled or created by hand. The whole Lingam i.e the base and the top elliptical portion are in one piece i.e. Swayambhoo. There are 7 temples in South India around Thanjavur which are together known as Saptha Vidanga Sthalam. In all these places the Linga is made of either Emerald or Jade. The main deity in all these temples is Lord Shiva known as Thyagaraja.

Vidanga is a Sa-Uma-Skanda murti known as Somaskanda murti or Thyagaraja murti. Originally it was also known as Thyagaraja murti. It is also represented by a linga. The top portion of the linga which is elliptical in shape is believed to be a swayambhu while the base (avudayar in Tamil) is made by hand. In sapta vidangam represented by seven lingas, the base as well as top are in the single piece. They are made of same material (emerald or jade) but are of different sizes. The biggest is at Thirunallar whereas medium sized one is at Thiruvalur. It is believed that Lord Indra performs evening worship of the vidanga at Thiruvarur. Hence it is considered to be more auspicious. The murtis are generally kept in a separate shrine. The abhishek of these sapta lingas are done twice a day. After the rituals the lingams are kept in a safe place under lock and key as they are most valuable and priceless. Generally we observe Nandi to be in a seated position in front of Shiva linga in shiva temples. But in the sapta vidanga sthala we will find that the Nandis are in standing position in front of the shiva lingas.

Details of Sapta Vidanga from Puran:

According to Puran, once a monkey on a tree was plucking the leaves and dropping it to the ground where Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were relaxing under the tree. At that time Goddess Parvati who was disturbed asked Lord Shiva to drive the monkey away. As it happened to be a shiva ratri day, Lord told Parvati that the money has worshiped him with bilva leaves, hence he was pleased by his worship. He manifested before the monkey and asked him to ask for a boon. The monkey which did not desire anything worldly requested that it wishes to be born as a king with a monkey face and conquer the world (wanted to become famous). Later on this boon was granted by Lord Shiva. So the monkey was born as a Chola king named Muchukunda chakravarti with a monkey face.

As legend goes, to beget a son, Lord Vishnu prayed on an idol (moorthy) of Somaskanda (Shiva, Parvati and Skanda together). As a result He got Manmada (Kaama) as his son. During this period he also prayed on a Vidanga. Later on Lord Brahma got the Somaskanda moorthy along with Vidanga from Lord Vishnu who in turn gave it to Lord Indra. King Muchukunda (who has a face of monkey) helped Indra in defeating the asura Vaalasur in indraloka. Extremely pleased with Muchukunda’s help and full of gratitude, Indra wished to give a gift to Muchukunda for the help rendered by him. Being a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva, Muchukunda knew about the Thyagaraja moorthy (Vidanga Lingam) and asked for the same from Indra. Indra did not want to part with the same. So he made 6 more identical Vidangas and placed them before King Muchukunda and asked him to choose the real one from the lot. The King prayed to Lord Shiva and identified the correct one. So Indra gave all the 7 Vidangas to King Muchukunda. King decided to install them in and around Thiruvarur. Though Muchukunda was from Kongu region, he decided to install them around Thiruvarur because he knew spiritual greatness of Kaveri region. So he installed the original vidanga at Thiruvarur. The maragada (emerald) linga installed at Thiruvarur is known as Thyagaraja or maragada Nataraja. The place where these seven lingas were installed are together known as Sapta Vidanga. Thyagaraja is name given to the manifestation of Shiva at Thiruvarur and six other places is called as Somaskanda.

Temple	Vidangar Temple	Name of Lord	Name of Goddess	Location	Dance Pose	Meaning
Thyagarajar Temple	Vidhividangar	Valmikinadar	Kamalambikai	Thiruvarur	Ajaba Natanam	Dance without chanting, resembling the dance of Sri Thyagaraja resting on Lord Vishnu’s chest
Dharbarany- eswarar Temple	Nagara- vidangar	Dharbarany- eswarar	Pranaambikai	Thirunallar	Unmatha Natanam	Dance of an intoxicated person
Kayarohana- swamy Temple	Sundara- vidangar	Kayarohana- swamy	Neelayadhakshi	Nagapattinam	Vilathi natanam	Dancing like waves of sea
Kannayaria- mudayar	Adhi- vidangar	Sahastra- netranaada- swamy (Kannayira -nadar)	Kailashnayaki	Thirukkaravasal	Kukuda natanam	Dancing like a cock
Brahmapur- eeswarar Temple	Avani- vidangar	Brahmapur- eeswarar	Brahmakujal- ambigai	Thirukuvalai	Brunga natanam	Dancing like a bee that hovers over a flower
Vaimoor- naathar Temple	Nalla- vidangar	Vaimoor- naathar	Paalinum-nan- mozhi-ammai	Thiruvaimur	Kamala natanam	Dance like lotus that moves in a breeze
Vedarany- eswarar Temple	Bhuvanivi- vidangar	Vedarany- eswarar	Vedanayaki	Thirumaraikkadu (Vedaranyam)	Hamsapatha natanam	Dancing with the gait of a swan

Courtesy: Following sites 

https://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.com/ and

https://temple.dinamalar.com/en/