VATAMOOLANATHAR – ALANTHURAIYAR TEMPLE – KEEZHPAZHUVUR – ARIYALUR – TAMILNADU.
Mahadev as Sundara the Householder was living happily with his consort Parvathi and his Ganas in Kailash. One day in a play full mood, Parvathi covered both the eyes of Shiva with her hands from his back. The world descended into darkness. The Rishis and Devas, worried for the solution to this problem and prayed to Shiva. Mahadev opened up his third eye and brought light to the world.
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| CREDIT ACK |
In order to absolve Parvathi, of the sin of bringing darkness to the world, Shiva admonished her to be born on earth and pray to him to attain moksha He also promised her to join her in the Yogavanam made out of Banyan trees. (Pazhu – Alamaram - Vata = Tamil) hence the place is called Kizhpazhuvur.
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| Five tiered Rajagopuram |
The temple is also renowned for Lord Parashuram praying here to Mahadev in repentance of the sin of killing his own mother Renuka as ordered by his father Sage Jamadagni. The temple tank is known as Parasuram Teerth.
Mahadev is known as Alanthuraiyar and Vatamoolanathar after the banyan trees. Because of the Penance (Arum – Severe,Thavam – Tamil) of Parvathi to her lord, she is known as Arumthavanayaki.
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| Shri Vadamoolanathar |
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| Devi Arumthavanayaki |
Legend says that Sage Parasurama established the temple and brought priests from Parashurama Kshetam in Kerala. The “THEVARAM” “DEVOTIONAL POETRY TO SHIVA” written by Tamil saints Sambandar, Thirunavukarasar & Sundarar (7th century CE) list this fact, which is inscribed on the walls of this temple.
The “Thevaram” is the seven volumes of the collection of the twelve volumes of Tirumurai in tamil praising lord Shiva( 796 songs with 8200 stanzas). Primarily contributed by the three saints. The same was canonized during the reign of Raja Raja Chola 1in the 10th century CE when he found these scripts in lying idle in the Chidambaram Temple with other manuscripts. The same was collated by Nambiyandaar Nambi. The Thevaram speaks about 276 Shiva temples and calls them Paadal Petra Sthalam ( Temples that are found in the songs of the Thevaram) and Alandurayar Temple is the 109th in the list.
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| Entrance precinct |
Pazhuvettarayars originally hailed from Kerala and might have brought the priests from there. They were feudatories of the medieval Chola’s. They were also related to the Cholas by way of marriage. The temple was in existence in the 7th century, however the original brick temple was rebuilt in rock during the reign of Paranthaka Chola 1 (907 -955 CE).
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| Nandi, balipeetham and Dhwajasthambam |
The entrance to the temple is through a five tiered Rajagopuram,which leads to the two precinct.The temple has a chaturanga garbhagriha of 14 ft, with a chaturanga vimana, has an ardhamandapam of 6 ft and a Mukhamandapam of 30 ft. The mukhamandapam consists of images of Bhagawan Shiva as Kalasamhara, Ardhanareeshwara, Kankalamurthy, Kalyanasundara, Gajasamharamurthy, Nataraja & Bhairava. Mahadev is in the form of a swaymbhu lingam facing east and Devi Parvathi known as Arumthavanayaki has a separate shrine.
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| Gajasamharamurthy |
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| Nataraja |
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| Ardhanarishwara |
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| Kankalamurthy |
In many of the Shiva temples, the entrance to the main shrine contains of a Gajalakshmi panel; here it shows Sage Parusuramar in Sayana (sleeping or lying) position.
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