Friday Temple Visit - Week # 100
27th January 2023
வாரம் ஒரு கோவில் தரிசனம்
by S. Subramaniam
BEFORE WE START TODAY:
With the divine blessings of Lord Maha Ganapati and Devi Saraswati the Friday Temple Visit has reached its 100th Episode today. I thank the readers for their constant encouragement, patronage and support.
Shri Palaivananathar Temple, Thiru Palaithurai, Papanasam, Thanjavur, Tamilnadu.
Location
Shri Palaivananathar Temple, a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is located in village Thiru Palaithurai, on the banks of River Kudamurutti. It lies very close to Papanasam (1 km) which is at the confluence point of three rivers Cauvery, Kudamurutti and Thirumalairayan. It is about 15 Kms from Kumbakonam and 25 Kms from Thanjavur.
Uniqueness
As per Sthala puranam (Legend relating to the temple) Sage Vasishta was awarded Brahmarishi title at this temple. The temple also has connection with both Ramayana and Mahabharata - while Rama installed a Shiva Lingam and offered prayers, the Pandava brother Arjuna went down from this temple to Nagaloka to marry Ulupi.
Most importantly the temple houses Asia's largest paddy storage Nel Kalanjiyam.
Salient features:
Name of the presiding deity of the temple is Shri Palai Vaneswarar and name of Devi is Dhavala Vennagai Amman. The Sthala Vriksham (Holy trees of the temple) are the Palm tree and the Shammi tree (Vanni maram). Strangely the Palai tree (black board tree in English), after which the holy place got it's name, is no more in existence. The Sthala Theerthams are three in number, namely, Vasishta Theertham, Indra Theertham and Yama Theertham. In the books only River Cauvery is mentioned as Sthala Theertham.
Name of the place & the Lord
As per the inscriptions available in the temple, the presiding deity of the temple is referred to as Thiru Palaithurai Makarathevar and the place was known as Nitta Vinoda Valanattu Nallur.
This is one of the few sacred temples named after a tree - Palai. Some of the others (named after a tree) include Thillai Vanam, Thiru Nellikka, Thiru Pananthaal and Thiru Idai Maruthur.
The name of the main deity at Palaivananathar temple is also called Rama Lingam as it was worshipped by Lord Rama.
History
From the fact that the main Lingam in the temple was installed by sage Vasishta and the idol of Devi was sculpted by Visvakarma as directed by Lord Shiva, the age of the temple can be gauged.
From the Thevaram hymns composed by Appar it is a certainty that the temple was in existence during the 7th Century.
However, the present structure, built of granite stones, was erected by Kulothunga Chozhan I (1070-1122 CE) , maternal grandson of Rajendra Chozhan. Additions to structure and improvements were later carried on by the Vijayanagara and Nayaka rulers.
Legends
Legend 1 of 5: Sage Vashista installs Shiva lingam:
Seeking the title of Brahma Rishi, Sage Vashista installed a Shiva Lingam and undertook severe penance. Pleased with his prayers, Lord Shiva appeared before him and anointed him. He also directed Sculptor Vishwakarma to install a beautiful smiling idol of Ambal south of this Sannidhi.
Legend 2 of 5 : Lord provides darshan in Tiger’s skin
A group of sages (Rishis) did severe penance on Lord Shiva at this temple seeking Mukti. Lord Shiva and Parvathi appeared before them in the form of Bhikshandar and Mohini. Without realizing this, the rishis created a Tiger from the Yagna and directed the fierce animal to attack them. It was here at Thiru Palathurai that Lord Shiva killed the Tiger and appeared before the rishis with the Tiger’s skin as his dress. He later granted them Mukti.
Legend 3 of 5 : Lord Rama worships Lord Shiva
It is generally believed that Sri Rama installed 107 Shiva Lingams (the 108th was installed by Hanuman) in the nearby Papanasam temple to get rid of all the sins (hence the name Papa-Nasam). He also visited Palaivananathar temple, placed his bow and arrows at the Vanni tree, worshipped Lord Shiva. Hence the deity is alst known as Rama lingam.
Legend 4 of 5: Arjuna worships Lord Shiva
The Pandava brothers, as directed by Sage Daumya, visited this temple and offered prayers to Lord Shiva. Arjuna, like Sri Rama, also kept his Bow and arrow in the Vanni tree here and descended to Nagaloka and married Uloopi.
Legend 5 of 5 : Pandya King liberated from curse
Malaiathuvacha Pandya, known for his arrogance, was cursed to become a bear by the rishis. The king’s wife invoked the blessings of sage Agastya who advised the king to go to the Chozha Kingdom and offer prayers to Lord Shiva at Thiru Palaithurai.
The bear was chased down by a hunter and it jumped into the Cauvery Instantly the king was liberated from his curse and he regained his original form. Delighted at this he built the Mandapa and initiated the practice of Kalyana Utsavam for Lord Shiva and the Devi at this temple.
The temple:
The temple is spread over an area of three acres and has two prakarams and is coronated by a five tiered Rajagopuram. In the inner prakara, on the upper wall on the western side, one can finds beautiful paintings and several different sculptures depicting ancient stories.
Several ancient inscriptions of the Chola Dynasty and Vijayanagar Empire have been engraved on the walls of the temple.
Lord and Devi in Wedding Pose - Kalyana Kolam:
This is one of the 8 temples in Chozha Kingdom where Lord Shiva and Ambal are seen in their wedding pose or Kalyana Kolam. The others are Thiru Vidaimaruthur, Thiru Kanjanur, Thiru Maan Thurai, Thiru Ambarmaakaalam, Thiru Chottruthurai, Thiru Valanchuzhi and Thirukkara Veeram.
Other deities:
As is the practice in any Shiva temple in Southern India, this temple also has separate shrines for Lord Vinayaka, Muruga (seen here with six faces), Dakshinamoorthy, Devi Durga, Sage Vasishta, the Navagrahas and Bhairava. Instead of Nataraja Lord Shiva is depicted here performing the Urdhva Thandava.
Grannery
This 400 year old Granary is on the Northern side of the Raja Gopuram. This was built by Raghunatha Nayakar (1600-1634 CE) of Thanjavur. It is shaped circular at the bottom and conical at the top with dimensions 36 feet in height and 86 feet diameter. The granary has the capacity to hold 3000 kalams of grains.
Literary Mentions
The temple is one of the famous Padal Petra Sthalam with Thiru Navukarasar (Appar) praising the Lord in 11 verses with each of the verse ending with ‘Palai Thuraiyarey’.
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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