THIRUVAYMUR

Thiruvaymur - the fourth Saptha Vidanga Sthalam revered in Thevaram hymns by saivaite saintsThirugnanasampandar and Appar - is at a distance of 24 Kilometers from Thiruvarur on the way toThiruthuraipundi. This temple is at a distance of about two Kilometers from Seeravattam Bridge onthe ECR road. This temple is approximately 5000 years old and has the maximum number of stoneinscriptions of all Tamil Nadu temples.Appellation of Lord Siva: VaaymurnadharAppellation of Devi: Paalin NanmoziyalSacred Tank: Surya TheerthamSacred Tree of the Temple: Jack (Pala)Saptha Vidanga Temples:Siva temples in Thiruvarur, Thirunallar, Vedaranyam, Thiruvaymur, Thirukkaravasal, Thirukkuvalai andNagapattinam are called Saptha Vidanga Temples. Once Indira sought Chola king Muchukunda’s helpto fight with the demons and with his valorous help the demons were defeated. Indra was very muchpleased and offered Muchukunda a gift of choice. Muchukunda, an ardent devotee of Lord Siva, askedfor the Sivamurtham that Indira worshipped. Reluctant to part with his cherished Sivamurtham, Indiramade six similar Sivamurthams and asked Muchukunda to take one. Muchukunda prayed to ‘VandamarPunguzali’, the Devi of Thirukkuvalai temple and identified the primordial one by Her grace. Indiraapplauded his devotion and gifted him all the seven Murthams. These seven Thyagarajamurthis aredivine and not chiseled out.Muchukunda installed the original one in Thiruvarur and selected six other places for other six lingams.The seven temples are collectively known as ‘Saptha Vidanga Temples’. It was in Thiruvaymur that Saivaite saint Appar had the holy vision of Lord Siva on Mount Kailash forthe first time. Here Nataraja’s dancing pose is unique and resembles Lord Dakshinamurthy’s sittingposture. The flag post is outside the Raja Gopuram and is quite different from other temples. Thistemple has two self-manifested (Swayambu) Lingams, Vaaymurnadhar and Vedaranyeswarar. Lighting oflamps in this temple brings prosperity. Gnanasampandhar has mentioned in his hymn that even the onewho kindles the lamp in this temple is blessed.The Sun’s rays fall on The Sivalingam once in a year and Surya Puja is performed on that day andhence this is a Bhaskara Sthalam. One young man, who was blind from birth, performed Puja forVaaymurnadhar with wax flowers for 48 days and kept those flowers on his eyes daily. He was blessedwith vision within three months. The Swayambu Lingam here is anointed as opposed to the six otherVidangas which are not anointed. The anointed water, sandalwood paste kept on the Lingam, and theVibuthi act as medicines for curing diseases. Indira attained his position as the celestial king, which isattained after conducting 1000 Aswamedha Yagnas. A visit to this temple confers the same benefits asconducting 1000 Aswamedha Yagnas.Worshiping in this temple removes the adverse effects of six planets. Lord Ganesha here removesthe adverse effect of Mars. He is called as ‘Sevvay Dosha Nivarthi Vinayakar’. The devotees observesilence on Tuesdays and Thursdays and break coconuts and Lord Ganesha fulfills their wishes. Wecan circum-ambulate Lord Ganesha’s shrine unlike other temples where Ganesha’s shrine is situatedin Kanni Moolai. ‘Viral Katti Vinayakar’ here guided Appar to Lord Siva. In Vedaranyam, the SaivaiteSaint Appar sang ten hymns and only after that the doors opened and the doors closed for ThirugnanaSampandhar’s one song. When Appar was upset with this, Lord ordained him to come to Thiruvaymurand gave darshan. Thirugnana Sampandhar was blessed with the holy vision of Lord Siva’s KamalaNatanam (Dance like a lotus swaying in breeze) here. The Sun and the Moon are adjacent to each other in this Temple which is another unique feature ofthis temple. There are three deities of Guru Bhagawan here. Apart from the Guru in the nine planetarydeities, there is a Guru on Mount Kailash mounted on a Nandhi and another Guru Bhagawan on fiveserpents.Lord Saneeswara got his position as a planetary deity here. His brother Yama cursed him that hewould not attain the position as a planetary deity. Chaya Devi, Lord Saneeswara’s mother prayed tolord Siva and asked Sani Bagawan to propitiate the Ashta Bairavas here. Sani Bagawan worshipped theAshta Bairavas here on the Ashtami day of the Tamil Month of ‘Karthigai’ and got his designation as aplanetary deity.Adisehan offered prayers here. The nine planetary deities are in a row here starting with Kethu, unlikethe 3x3 matrix in other temples. Kethu is in the human form here.Devi ‘Sathya Narayani’ deity is 5000 years old here. A female Goddess ‘Irusani’ resides in the sthalaviruksham, ‘Pala’. Every Friday Lakshmi Ashtothra Puja is performed for Goddess Mahalakshmi by thelocals.This place is next only to Kasi in Bairava worship. Worship of Ashta Bairavas here fulfills everyconscionable desire of the devotees. Agora Bairavar blesses with a good office and position. Indragot his celestial kingdom after propitiating Agora Bairavar here on the first Friday of the TamilMonth ‘Chithirai’. Ananda Bairavar removes any obstacles that prevent devotees from getting married.Pathala Bairava resolves land related quarrels. Worship of Kal Bairav ensures good health and removesthe fear of death. Swarna Akarshana Bairavar blesses us with opulence. Lord of Thirupathi borrowedfrom Kubera, the authority of wealth for His marriage and Kubera approaches Swarna Akarsha Bairavawhen he is in need. Ishwara Bairavar removes enemies. Uththanda Bairavar helps us win litigations. BalBairav blesses us with good progeny. Any written wishes that are placed near the Ashta Bairarvas, aresure to be granted. In return, we must express our gratitude by anointing the Bairava deities with milk.

Posted By,

Malathi Jayaraman,Kumbakonam.