This shiva temple which is one of the pancha mayanam temples is located at Sirkazhi in Nagapattinam District of Tamil Nadu. This is about 20 kilometers of Mailaduthurai on Chidambaram - Kumbhakonam route. This temple is very huge. It is spread over a large area. It houses 3 shrines of Lord Shiva, namely Brahmapurishwarar, Thoniappar and SattaiNathar. It is one of the 275 Paadal Pethra Sthalam. Lord Shiva of this temple was revered by the three shaiva saints namely Appar, Sundarar and Sambandhar. Present temple structure is 1500 years old and was originally built by Chola kings.
Mulavar: Sri Brahmapurishwarar, Sri Umamaheshwarar, Sri Thoniappar, Sri SattaiNathar and Vatukanathar
Devi: PeriyaNayaki, ThiruNilaiNayaki, Sthirasundari
Sacred Teertha: Brahma Teertha and 22 other teerthas
Kshetra Vruksha: Parijat (PavazhaMalli in Tamil)
Puranik Name: Brahmapuram, Sirkazhi, Venupuram, Thonipuram, Sirapuram, Poontharai, Venguru
The first temple is that of Sri Brahmapurishwarar. The main temple consists of three tiers. Shiva Linga is a swayambhu and devi is known as ThirumalNayaki. The temple in the second tier is that of Thoni Appar and devi is known as PeriyaNayaki. Here we find the Lord in a boat (Thoni in Tamil) along with Goddess Parvati. He is depicted as a teacher in temple. In the third tier the Shiva is known as SattaiNathar and he is present as Lord Bhairavar.
Sirkazhi is the birth place of ThiruDnyanaSambandhar. Sri Kali is worshiped at this place, hence the name was Sri Kali which got changed with time to Sirkazhi. The three shiva saints have together sung seventy one sacred hymns. The main shrine of Brahmapurishwarar faces the east on the bank of temple tank. The shrine of Thoniappar is on an elevated place to the west of main shrine. SattaiNathar shrine can be seen from the southern side pathway.
The shrine of Sambandhar is located on the outer prakaram. Adjacent to this shrine we have the shrine of devi ThiruNilaiNayaki. Outside the shrine of ThiruDnyanaSambandhar, we have idols of Appar, Sundarar and ManikVachigar. As ThiruDnyanaSambandhar is considered to be Lord Muruga we find his shrine in between Shiva and Parvati. This arrangement is known as Somaskanda arrangement. There are twentytwo sacred teerthas of which BrahmaTeertha, Kali Teertha, Parashar Teertha are considered more sacred. It is believed that Lord Shiva manifested as a bambu in reponse to the prayer of Lord Indra. Bambu is considered as Kshetra Vruksha. In the sanctum we have idols of Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati, Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati. In this kshetra Lord Vinayak is addressed as Runa Teertha Vinayaka. In the prakaram we have the shrines of Lord Muruga, Somaskanda, 63 Nayanmars. There is a separate shrine for Ashtabhairavas. In the corridor of the shrine of Devi ThiruNilaiNayaki we find idols of ShyamalaDevi, Sri Icchashakti, Sri Dnyanashakti and Sri Kriyashakti.
Salient features:
After the great deluge, Lord Shiva wearing sixtyfour kalas with the pranav mantra Om as a boat (Thoni) manifested as UmaMaheshwar along with Goddess Parvati. He saw this place which was not destroyed during the pralay. He stayed in this kshetra as Thoni Appar and Parvati as Devi ThiruNilaiNayaki.
Lord Brahma worshiped Lord Shiva as a shiva linga (known as Brahmapurishwarar) as one who destroys ego (SattaiNathar) at this kshetra.
Lord Vishnu got afflicted due to Brahmahatya dosha after killing King Mahabali. As Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu were considered as one and the same Lord Shiva wore the skin of Lord Vishnu as his garment. Goddess Mahalakshmi felt that Lord Vishnu was killed by Lord Shiva. As per the custom she stopped wearing flowers and sacred signs and was in deep sorrow. Hence even now when the women come to this temple they do not wear flowers and men do not wear shirt. This is the place where Lord Brahma got rid of his ego by Lord Shiva.
Goddess Parvati got dnyana-upadesh from Lord Shiva at this place after pralay. At this place Goddess Parvati graces as Goddess Mahalakshmi. This is considered as the eleventh shakti peeth.
This kshetra is considered as a Bhairav sthala greater than Kashi.
There is a jiva samadhi of ChattaiMuniSiddhar who is one of the great 19 siddhas. It is located on a high pedestal in the sanctum of Lord Shiva. From here one can have darshan of SattaiNathar. Abhishek is done on the pedestal at 10 pm. At 12 midnight, naivedya is offered after alankar.
Sage Urasana did penance at Kailash requesting Lord Shiva to come to south along with Goddess Parvati to grace the devotees in the south. Once during an argument between Adishesha and Vayu, Adishesha with his 1000 heads engulfed Mount Kailash. Hidding to the request of Devas, Adishesha just moved one of his heads. Due to Vayu’s force (strength) a small portion of Mount Kailash broke. It was carried by 20 birds and was brought to Sirkazhi by the grace of Lord Shiva. The hillock is known as ThoniMalai (hill). Lord Brahma once became egoistic. In order to remove his ego, Lord Shiva made him forget Pranava Mantra. Realizing his mistake, Lord Brahma worshiped Lord Shiva by establishing a Shiva Linga at this place. Hence Lord Shiva is known as Brahmapurishwarar. In the temple in the first tier, six times abhishek and puja are done. In the ThoniAppar temple the puja is done four times a day.
On a Friday night Lord Shiva as SattaiNathar is believed to have removed the arrogance of Lord Thiruvikrama (known as Ulaganada Perumal). This was due to the fact that Lord Vishnu had destroyed Mahabali and hence got arrogance.
Special worship for SattaiNathar is held on Friday night and is considered to be very auspicious.
According to Kshetra Puran, ThiruDnyanaSambandhar was born at this place in a Brahmin family in seventh century. When he was three years old, he went to the Shiva Temple along with his father. He was left on the bank of temple tank as his father went for holy dip in the tank. Sambandhar started crying as he was hungry. Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati appeared before the child and gave him the milk of wisdom (dnyanapal, pal is milk in Tamil). When his father returned he was astonished to find droplets of milk around the child’s mouth. On enquiry, the child pointed to the sky and sang the first sacred verse of Thevaram. Hence Sambandhar is regarded as incarnation of Lord Muruga.
Those who worshiped at this splace:
Lord Brahma, Lord Mahavishnu, Lord Muruga, Lord Indra, Brihaspati, Surya, Chandra, Rahu, Ketu, Adi Shesha, Goddess Kali, Sages Parashar, Romesh, Vedavyas and a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva known as Chakravarti Shibi.
Festivals:
Chitrai (Apr-May) - 10 days brahmotsav
Adi (July-August) - Adi Puram
Purattasi (Sept) - Navaratri
Karthigai (Nov-dec) - Deepam and Skandashasthi
Margazhi (Dec-Jan) - Ardra Darshan
Masi (Feb) - Mahashivaratri, Pradosha Puja
For UmaMaheshwara murti (ThoniAppar). On the first day of Tamil month Chitrai, Adi, Aipassi, Thai, oil (taila) abhishek is performed.
Special worship is held on new moon of Thai, on Mula nakshatra in Vaikasi, on Rohini nakshatra in Aani and on Shatabhishaka nakshatra in the month of Aipassi
People pray here for child boon and also for settling their litigation cases.
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