Other items offered with temple details

1. Vastram for the following were offered at Papanasam, Kumbakonam, at 108 Shivalaya temple :
    - 106 shiva lingam installed by Lord Rama (4 Muzham dhoti)
   - 1 shiva lingam installed by Lord  Rama called Ramalingaswamy ( 10*6 dhoti)
   - 1 shiva lingam installed by Lord Hanuman called  Hanumantha lingam ( 10*6 dhoti)
   -  a set of 2 to Lord Ganesha (4 muzham dhoti)
   - a set of 2 to Lord Subramaniar ( 4 muzham dhoti) and
  - a golden colour saree to Goddess Parvathavardhini.
totalling 112 dhotis and a saree .

Daily Pooja - List of temples adopted (contd.)

Uthramerur
33 Kaavan Thandalam - Vinayagar temple - Sankadahara chaturthi                Sept 15

Tirunelveli
34 Therkukarungulam -  Karpaga Vinayagar                                                     Sept 15

Chingleput
35  Karumbakkam                                                                                               Oct 15
36  Thandarai 103                                                                                                Oct 15
37 Seethapuram                                                                                                   Oct 15
38  Pinayur                                                                                                           Oct 15

Kanchipuram
39 Athiyur                                                                                                            Oct 15
40 Vedamangalam                                                                                                Oct 15

Mayilandavar & Apparswamy Thirukoil - Thiruvottiyur - Ananadhanam

Mayilandavar Thirukovil

This temple is 2 buildings away from  Ellai Amman Koil in Thiruvottiyur high road.

This temple has land area in which there is a corporation water tank with a stone compound wall all round and a board in the front stating that there is a dispute pending in the high court on the land belonging to the temple.

This land also houses the samadhi of Roma Rishi and an idol of the Rishi is installed in it.This rishi is supposed to have 10.5 crore romam (hair) in his body. He is said to be responsible for building of Thiruvottiyur temple, Tiruchendur temple and nava kailasam temples in Tirunelveli.

There is also a ghosala with around 10 cows and the milk is used for daily abhishekam of the main deity Mayilandavar (siva lingam) and the balance milk is sold and the sale proceeds used for  maintaining the temple.

Damodar Swamy , a sivan adiyar resides there and takes care of the temple, temple land and the cows.

Annadhanam cooking is centrally done here and nearly 25 people are fed here daily. Infrastructure and initial supply of provisions, sufficient to last for a month, was supplied out of funds given by one of the donors. Also cooked food for 25 people is supplied  to the neighbouring Apparswamy temple which is located closer to the beach. One item,either lemon rice,tamarind rice, curd rice, coconut rice or sambar rice is prepared and served along with pickles to the neighbouring slums.

Apparswamy Thirukovil

This temple is located in a fisherman village just  opposite the Bay of Bengal. The sea is hardly 100 mts away and the temple  is fully surrounded by houses with hardly one feet around.

This temple is supposed to be more than 2000 years old and has many interesting facts to its credit. This temple was worshipped by Appar swamy and there is a statute of Appar along with his sister Thilagavathiar who got him back to Saivism from Jainism.

The goddess is Thirupurasundari with the face of Vadivudai amman, the middle portion like Kodiedai amman and the limbs like Thiruvudai amman. The goddess is facing south in a standing position with one foot forward.

There is a Valamburi Vinayagar and also an Edamburi Vinayagar at the right entrance of the Shiva lingam sannidhi.

On the left is Lord Murugan in a sitting pose on a peacock with 2 snakes clinching to the peacock and Valli , Deivanai on the sides. This is a rare sitting pose of Lord Muruga found only  in this temple.

There is also an idol of lord Krishna with flute in his hand touching his shoulder which is a rare one.

The temple stone structure has lot of inscriptions on it which has now been erased.

There is also a picture of lord Palani Andavar which has eyes looking at you from wherever you look at it.

Balaguru, a sivan adiyar,stays in the temple and takes care of it full time. Several political leaders and celebrities like Lawrence Raghavendra visit this temple often as they have immense faith in this god.
With the cooked food from Mylandavar kovil 25 people are fed daily under the Annadhanam scheme started in August 2015.

A stone Marvel for you

Darasuram is a place which is about 10 km from Kumbakonam and has an ancient shiva temple which is a heritage site. This temple has story of 63 Nayanmars depicted in stone sculptures carved all around the temple.

Sure, it would be a treat to see The Marvel in stone in our ancient temples as  can be seen from pictures below:

Grand Entrance to the Darasuram temple, Kumbakonam

The Nandi before the temple entrance

The lawn before the temple premises

The Moat around the temple wall

The stone chariot with horses forming the base of the mandapam entrance

The main Mandapam housing the lord

The stone elephants at the entrance to the mandapam

The stone lian - front side

The Lion tail behind the pillar

Intricately carved stone structure with stories of 63 Nayanmars

View of the corridor along the perimeter wall

Lady with the musical instrument with Ganesha in the top

Same Ganesa in coin size on pillar

Sarabeswarar in stone

various yoga poses around the temple

Single person in different yoga poses

Pregnant woman in standing delivery pose - advanced medical sciences of yesteryears  depicted 

Advanced yoga poses of olden times beautifully depicted in stone

Fighting scenes with weapons in hand

3 persons with 4 legs but appearing as 3 full fledged  individuals

Temple Gopuram with Dhakshinamurthy Sannidhi

A Monkey removing lice

A combination of a cow and an elephant in stone

A cow showering milk on Shiva Lingam

Roof paintings which is more than 1000 years old

Sculpture of the Chola King who built this temple

Mother with the baby

Stone door with carvings

stone window in different  designs

picture depicting goat fight of olden times

Legs with intricately carved  nails 

We dedicate this post to the Great Sculptors and the Chola Kings who patronised them for their great works which is both realistic and ahead of times .Long Live our Rich Heritage and let us atleast see, enjoy and preserve them.

Nelvoy - Uthramerur - Daily Pooja Scheme

This is ancient temple presently in a shed built by Mr Venkatesh of Chennai,

Nelvoy temple with Swamy, Ambal and Nandi

The  temple is being taken care of by Mr Shankar, who is a Sivan Adiyar and by profession is a trader in salt. Inspite of Sandhai, on pradosham days he physically presents himself here and arranges for special abhishekam and prasadham. Nearly 100 people attend the pradosham pooja.

Mr Shankar with Sakthi Kulam in the backdrop

This temple has once upon a time had 2 temple tanks (Kulams) - one Shiva kulam and the other Sakthi Kulam. The Shiva kulam is presently dry and the sakthi kulam has some water in  it.

The Shiva Kulam which is dry . The bund and the stone steps can be seen.

As requested by Mr Shankar who manages the daily pooja with his personal resources, we have for the last 2 months giving special abhishekam materials like Rose water, Vasanai podi, Sandal paste, Viboothi, honey, dates,sugarcandy etc for panchamritam, vilva podi, arugambil podi, nellikai podi, chembaruthi podi, arisi podi, oil, manja podi, etc  for each Pradosham which is celebrated in a grand manner twice a month. 

There is electrical connection to this temple and also a borewell for supply of water

Kummbakonam - Melakaveri - Daily Pooja Scheme

Renovation Work in progress

This is an ancient temple which was recovered by the effort of the locals.

 The government in lieu of the Mahamagam ( celebrated once every 12 years)  which falls next year has identified about 25 temples in and around Kumbakaonam which require renovation  and has sanctioned funds about Rs 40 lacs per temple. The Brahmapureeswarar temple in Melakaveri , Kumbakonam is one such temple and the pictures below show the current status of the work in progress:

The entrance Rajagopuram with exposed bricks

The Mandapam pillars

Scaffolding put for plastering work

The idols kept out during renovation

This temple has a huge water tank which is full of weeds now.  The picture below shows the tank view from the temple.

Tank view from the temple

The main diety is Lord Brahmapureeswarar and the Goddess is Periyanayagi Amman. Other idols include Lord Ganesa, Lord Muruga and Kasi Viswanathar with Nandi, Chandikeswarar etc.

The Lingams with Rudraksha Malais given by us

We spoke to Balu Gurukkal who does regular pooja and to supplement his present paltry income he has agreed for a monthly remittance of Rs 300 to be credited to his bank account directly. Since the idols are kept outside the sanctum sanctorum and no additional collection is forthcoming this supplemental income would encourage him to perform pooja with greater devotion.

Kaavan Thandalam -Twin temples - Uthramerur - Daily Pooja Scheme

Kaavan Thandalam is a village about 15km from Uthramerur on the banks of River Cheyyar.The twin  temples are more than 1500 years old and has been renovated a few years back.

In this village there are 2 shivan temples opposite each other. One on the banks and the other opposite this temple with a road in between.

First let us know about the riverside Kasi Viswanathar temple in which Rishi Kaseebar meditated and prayed to this Lord.  Visiting this temple  is equivalent to visiting Kasi/ Rameswaram. It is also a Pithru Parihara Sthalam.

Benefits of visiting this temple

Entrance Arch to the Cheyyar riverside temple

Banner showing Old pic of the temple at the time of Kumbabhishekam

Riverside view from the temple

Kasi Viswanatha Swamy Sannidhi

Visalakshi Amman Sannidhi

Koteeswara Swamy Sannidhi

Rishaba Vahana Dharisanam on Pradosham days

This temple is being taken care of Palani Siva who has no vision and is devoting his full time and energy for restoration of old Shiva temples and ensuring daily pooja in all these temples. He is well versed in Thevaram songs and recites them regularly. He has renovated and consecrated atleast 4 temples as a one man army.

His request for resources was accepted and Rs 500 per month for each temple has been accepted and is being paid from May 2015.

The other temple across the road in Kaavan thandalam is also a Shiva temple whose pictures are given below:

The Bali Peedam, Kodimaram and the Nandi

The Navagraha Sannidhi

The Swamy

The Amman

The couple who maintain the temple with Palani Siva

The Nandavanam in the northern side 

The front mandapam with Swamy & Amman Gopuram

The upkeep of this temple is good and the local couple seen above, clean the place and do all things necessary for the daily pooja under directions of Palani Siva.

 In June they have also launched Daily Annadhanam Scheme and nearly 40 deserving people gain by this scheme.

This village has not much resources and hence they depend on donors to support their cause. Recognising their intentions and effort, it has been decided to pay monthly a sum of Rs 500 for each temple to uninterruptedly perform daily pooja in both the temples.