Friday Temple Visit - Week # 96
9th December 2022
வாரம் ஒரு கோவில் தரிசனம்
by S. Subramaniam.
Shri Adhi Rathneswarar Temple, Thiruvadanai, Ramanathapuram, Tamilnadu India.
Location
Shri Adhi Rathneswarar Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located at Thiruvadanai Town in Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple is located at a distance of about 25 Kms from Devakottai, 41 Kms from Karaikudi, and 54 Kms from Ramanathapuram.
Uniqueness
The temple contains the idol of Vaaruni, son of Rain God Varuna, in a unique form with the head of a goat and body of an elephant called Aja-Gaja swaroopam.
Saliant Features:
The presiding Deity is called as Adhi Rathneswarar / Aja Gajeswarar (Adu-Yanai Nathar) and Devi Parvati is called Snehavalli / Ambayiravalli.
The Sthala Vriksham (holy tree of the temple) is Vilwam and there are as many as seven Theerthams (holy waters of the temple) associated with the temple namely, Surya Pushkarini, Varuna, Vaaruni, Markandeya, Agasthya and Kamadhenu Theerthams.
Name of the place / Lord:
Due to a curse of Durvasa muni, Varunan’s son Vaaruni got the body of an elephant with goat's head (ஆடு + ஆனை = ஆடானை ). Hence this place came to be known as Thiruaadanai (Thitu + Aadu + Aanai) and now it got Coruppted to Thiruvadanai and the Lord Aja-Gajeswarar Or Adu-Yanai Nathar.
In ancient times this place was called by 12 different names and some of them are Parijatha Vanam, Vannivanam, Vilvavanam, Adhirathneswaram, Markandeya puram, Gomuktheesam and Vijayecharam.
History
It is mentioned in the Sthala Puranam (Legends relating to the temple) that Thiruvadanai has been in existence during all the four Yugas. The present structure of the temple existed before the 7th Century and was later renovated by the Pandyas and Vijayanagara kings.
There are several inscriptions recorded in this temple and most of them belong to the Pandya kings Thirubhuvana Chakravarthy Konerimai Kondan and Maravarman Sundara Pandyan.
Legends
Legend 1 of 3 - Relating to Vaaruni
Legend has it that once Vaaruni disturbed the penance of the sage Durvasa. The angry sage cursed him to become a strange creature with the head of a goat (Aadu) and body of an elephant (Yanai). He regained his normal form after worshiping Lord Shiva at this temple. Lord Shiva came to be called Aadanai Nathar or Aja Gajeswarar after this incident.
It may be mentioned here that the Third part of Taittiriya Upanishad Bhrigu Valli makes a mention about Vaaruni in its opening few lines.
Legend 2 of 3: Relating to Adhi Rathneswarar:
The Sun God Lord Surya was very proud of his radiating power. When the brightness of the Sun fell on Lord Shiva, it rose up. Nandi, the bull vehicle of the Lord Shiva, was unimpressed and absorbed the brightness making the Sun lose his brightness. Sun then begged Nandi to show him the solution.
Nandi advised Sun to worship Lord of Thiruvadanai installing him on a seat made of sapphire gems for remedy. Sun did so and that's how the Lord came to be known as Adhi Rathneswarar. Even today when the abhishekam is performed on the Lord, he turns blue.
Legend 3 of 3 Relating to Pandava brother Arjuna
Arjuna, the third of the Pandava brothers, is believed to have offered his prayer to the Lord of this temple as a token of acknowledgement after receiving the Pashupatastra from Lord Shiva. Later, after the conclusion of the war, he also brought his other four brothers, wife Panchali and Krishna, to offer prayers again.
The Temple
The temple is built east facing with a huge nine tiered Rajagopuram which is about 130 feet in height. The temple covers an area of about 10 acres. Balipeedam, Dhwaja Stambha and Nandi can be seen immediately at the entrance after crossing the Rajagopuram.
The main Lingam is a self-manifested Swayambhu Moorthy of blue gem stone. The shrine Devi is located in a separate enclosure. Shrines of other deities are located in and around the Koshtam and in the Prakaram
Other Deities
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There are shrines for Lord Vinayaka, Murugan, Surya, the 63 Nayanmars, Varunalingam, Nataraja, Naalvar and Bhairava. Moon God Chandra can be seen in this temple with two of his consorts Karthika & Rohini.
Lord Muruga can be seen in this temple with a single face and four arms (Chathur Bhuja). His vehicle peacock is seen unusually facing south.
Literary Mentions
This temple is considered as the 253rd Devaram Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam and 9th sthalam in Pandya Nadu. Hymns on this temple have been composed by both Sundara Moorthy Nayanar and Thiru Gnana Sambhandar. Lord Muruga in the temple is praised in the Thirupugazh hymns by saint Arunagirinathar.
Disclaimer: All matters contained in this article are the property of www.templesofasia.com. The opinions expressed in this article are purely that of the author. The author alone is responsible for the accuracy, authenticity, completeness and validity of all the information in the article.
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