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| Thruvarur Thyagaraja Swamy temple, TN upload.wikimedia.org |
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| Thygaraja Swamy temple, Thruvarur, TN, wikiwand.com |
Occupying a huge land with the largest temple tank in India ''Kamalalayam tank'' (covering 16 acres) to its west, Sri Thygaraja Swamy (Shiva) temple (total area more than 33 acres) is not only a popular one in the delta district but also a massive one with countless sub shrines. The shrine in the middle of the vast tank is dedicated to Naganathar.
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| Location Thruvarur, TN weather-forecast.com |
This temple has the rare distinction of having maximum number of shrines (called sannithis in Tamil) in the whole of India, not even the largest functional temple in the world - Sri Ranganathar temple at Srirangam does not possess that many shrines. Aananthiswarar, Neelothmbal, Asaleswarar, Adageswarar, Varuneswarar, Annamalieswarar and Kamalambal (goddess - Parvati) are some of the major shrines here. The most prominent shrines, are those with Veedhi Vidangar (Thiyagarajar) and goddess Alliyankothai (Neelothbalambal) being the most prominent.
In the midst of heavy rains on 8 November 2015 the Mahasamprokshanam (Kumbhabhishekam/ consecration) of the temple was held; countless devotees turned up despite heavy downpour.
The present ''masonry structure'' was built during the Chola dynasty in the 9th century, Vijayanagar rulers of the Sangama Dynasty (1336–1485 CE), the Saluva Dynasty and the Tuluva Dynasty (1491–1570 CE) made additions in the later periods.
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| Temple tank Kamalayam, Thiruvarur, TN. tnhrce.in/ |
The two main shrines are dedicated to God Shiva - one is called Vanmikinathar and the other one is Thyagarajar. Vanmikinathar shrine is older than the other and the deity in the form of a linga swayambumurthi/ self-manifested) is believed to have grown from an ancient anthill (molehill; in Tamil Puttru). Hence no abhishekam is done to him.
The primary idol of worship is Lord Veedhi Vidangar (Thiyagarajar), depicted as a Somaskanda form. Here lord's Parvathi is depicted as Kondi with her child Subramanim (Khander/Muruga).
The glory of this temple complex is sung in more number of devotional hymns from Thiruvachgam (353) written by a number of Nayanmars - Tamil Shiva saints of 7th century and later periods
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| Emerald Lingam, Thygaraja temple, Thiruvarur. newindianexpress.com |
The main deity of the temple is Vanmika Nathar with his consort Kamalambikai. As no Abhishekam is performed to Valmika Natharand instead it is done to the Marakatha Lingam (Emerald lingam) kept in this temple. As part of puja ritual Maragatha Linga (known as Veedhi Vidanga Linga) believed to have been worshipped earlier by Indira) worship takes place at 8.30 a.m., 11.00 a.m. and at 7.00 p.m. each day. After abishekam the precious Linga will be kept in a silver box with flowers and covered by a silver vessel. This will be then locked in the presence of officials and placed under lock and key on the right side of Lord Thiyagaraja. For security reason, the authorities might follow different tradition now. This Maragatha linga was stolen a decade ago and later it war recovered by the state police.
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| Thygaraja Swamy & his consort, rajathathablog.blogspot.com |
A rare feature of the Kamalambal temple is the presence of a stone called Akshara Peetam where the formless Akshara Devi is supposed to reside. Goddess Kamalambal is seen sitting in a stylish posture (see the image above) with a crossed leg - unusual among the Amman/ Thaayar shrines. The deity is seen wearing a crescent moon jewel and symbolic of goddesses Saraswathi, Parvathi and Lakshmi.
A unique feature of this temple is the location of two nine Navagraha idols (planetary deities) one toward the south in straight line and also in northwest corner of 1st prakaram- prathakshana path. Legend has it here all planetary deities are free from curses and they came here to worship him.
There are 84 Vinayaka images within this great temple and one of them is Vatapi Ganapathi . Budding musicians worship him.
Lord Dakshinamurthy in this temple has six disciples instead of the usual four as in other temples.
The temple has a lot of mantaps - halls, among them six halls assume importance. Bhaktha Katchi hall: Here the processional deity (utchavar) Thyagaraja is brought to this hall after the Panguni Uthiram festival; Oonjal hall: During the Thiruvadhirai festival the utchava moorthies of Chandrasekarar and Sekari Amman are kept here. Thulapara hall: According to the legend king Mucundaka Cholan placed the image of God Thyagaraja on one side of the balance and on the other side he placed the stuff he received from demigod Indra (the king of celestial deities). Purana hall is in the northern part of the temple. Rajanarayana hall is a public hall; Rajendra Chola hall (also known as Sababathi hall): It houses the museum of the temple. displaying various features of this temple, chariots drawn by elephants, horses, etc.
The main deity Sri Thyagaraja Swamy is enshrined in the sanctum - garbagriha. An unusual part of puja protocol of this temple is the devotees can not see the entire image of the God.. Lord's foot is shown (Padha Darsan) only twice a year and rest of the year it is covered with flowers. The right leg of the deity and left leg of the goddess named Kondi are shown during "panguniuthram" festival and "thiruvathirai".
Unlike other Shiva temples in which his mount Nandi (bull0 is seen in the sitting posture, in this temple Nandi is in a standing posture facing the sanctum..
Yet another feature is the a sculptural representation of a stone chariot, Manuneethi Chozan (legendary king), the cow and the calf under the chariot in Vittavasal, - northeast direction of the gopuram The legendary king's capital was Thiruvarur.
Once this temple conducted countless temple functions. Being great builders of Hindu temple a descendant of Chola ruler Kulothunga Chola II (1133–50 CE) was the one who expanded the number of temple festivals to as many as whooping fifty six festivals. It is said some of them are being followed even today.
Here, Lord Shiva (Thyagaraja) whose cosmic dance is popular at Chidambaram temple is famous for the ajapa thanam (dance without chanting); god himself executes this move. When the deity is taken in a procession the bearers do the dancing which comes in 7 different styles, each depicting a particular movement. This dance is unique to this temple.
The inscriptions from Rajaraja Chola suggest this temple's association with a large group of dancers who were dedicated to the temple.
This temple is the only place where panchamuga vadyam, a rare musical instrument with each of its five ends with different ornamentation is used in the temple. Yet another unique musical instrument nadaswaram (wind instrument) called Barinayanam is also found only in Thiruvarur
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| Largest Thygaraja Swamy temple chariot, TN.tnhrce.in/ |
The annual chariot festival April – May (Tamil month of Chithirai) of this temple is a popular one. It is the largest temple car (Azhi Ther) of its kind in India weighing as much as 300 plus tons, height 96 ft (29 m). It is provided with special Hydraulic breaks to stop it and is pulled by lots of devotees and pushed forward from the back by heavy-duty bulldozer. The chariot comes round the four main streets surrounding the temple during the festival. You need a whole day to take a look around the vast temple complex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyagaraja_Temple,_Tiruvarur
https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2016/07/thiruvarur-azhi-ther-big-ratha-tamil.html
https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2020/05/azhi-ther-chariot-of-tiruvarur-and-1926.html
http://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2015/09/exciting-hindu-idols-made-of-emerald.html
