Skip to main content

ULUNDANDAR (MASHAPUREESHWARAR) TEMPLE - ULUNDURPET

 ULUNDANDAR(MASHAPUREESHWARAR) TEMPLE - ULUNDURPET - TAMILNADU



LEGEND A merchant was passing through this place He was carrying Pepper (Milagu in Tamil) to be sold in the markets near the Mariamman temple in Keeranur. He found a Shivalingam in a temple in this place and as it was getting dark, decided to stay the night there and worshipped the lord. Lord Shiva wanted to test the merchants Bhakti, presented himself as an old man and ask the merchant to give him some milage to cure his headache. The merchant lied to the lord saying he was carrying Ulundu( Black gram). So be it said the lord.


On reaching Keeranur market the next day near the Mariamman temple , when the merchant opened the bags, to his shock he found his Milagu had become Ulundu.( Hence the name Ulundu Mariamman). Lord Shiva asked him to come back to the temple and worship him.As instructed by the lord and in order to attain for his sin, he went back to the temple and worshipped the lord and "Lo" the Black gram again turned to pepper. Hence Lord Shiva is known as "ULUNDANDAR" and the place is known as ULUNDURPET.


The other story is that of failing crops, because of arid lands. A Siddha yogi seeing the plight of the farmers gave them a hand full of " Ulundu" Black gram and asked them to cultivate Ulundu crop. Hence the area came to be known as ULUNDURPET and Bhagavan is known as ULUNDANDAR ( Black gram lord). HISTORY The temple record shows that it was built during the period of Maladaar Koman, who must have been a local chieftain. However the temple architecture points to the hands of the Chola's, which should date it around 1000 years. There is enough evidence of the influence of the Vijayanagara empire, with their insignia of the sitting lion found in many places and pillars amid the temple. The Nayakas also seem to have put their mark, with their horse riding pillars in the front of the Mukhamandapam. The Shiva lingam in itself predates the temple by many centuries and is very difficult to asses a time frame for it.

TEMPLE The temple is facing west the major santcum of Shiva (Ulandadar) and Parvati (Logambika) face each other in an 8 formation though not in a straight line. The pushkarni(Pond) is on the right side of the Lord. The entrance is through a Mukhadwaram with a small gopuram which seems to be a very late construction and leads to a rectangular compound. The 1st compound has pillars Mandapam on the left, through which is the entrance to the Pushkarni. It also has the Dhwajasthambam 1st of the three Nandis and Bali Peedham.This compound leads to a three tiered Gopuram, which leads to the Mukhamandapam. A two steps leads to the pedestal which is connected to three Ardhamandapams leading to the Garbhgriha of Lord ULUNDANDAR.



In the praharam one can find the sannadhi for Bairavar, Vishnu with his consort, Gajalakshmi, Valli Devasena Subramaniyar, Maha Ganapathy, Saba mandapam and Naalvar. On circumambulation, one reaches the east facing entrance to a seperate Temple structure of the Goddess Parvati as Lokambika. The Devakoshtha of the Parvati shrine is currently devoid of blank shrines and seem to have been vandalised.



UNIQUE FEATURES 1. Lord Shiva facing west, with the Avudayar or Pindika towards his right. 2. Goddess Parvati is generally found adjascent to the lord on either sides or perpendicularly placed facing south. Here Parvathi is facing her consort and that too facing east which is a rare feature. 3. The Devakoshtha of the Lord generally has a sequence of shrines starting from Ganesha, Dakshinamurthy, Mahavishnu, Lingothbhavar, Brahma and Vishnu Durga in an order of Pradakshina. However, in this temple the order is reverse starting from Vishnu Durga and ending with Ganesha. Surya & Sage Agastya have prayed to Shiva in this Temple. The temple requires patronage.



https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10218211897064851&id=1112401419 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10218211852583739&id=1112401419 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10218211843663516&id=1112401419 For more photos see link below https://photos.app.goo.gl/kep1ZDkE9cGAcJBh7 Check out this review of HSC Ulundhandarkoil E.Kottai on Google Maps https://goo.gl/maps/iwz3BJVV8LtU7goY6

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

VAIKUNTHA PERUMAL TEMPLE OR THIRU PARAMESHWARA VINNAGARAM KANCHIPURAM

  THIRU PARAMESHWARA VINNAGARAM OR VAIKUNTHA PERUMAL TEMPLE KANCHIPURAM Thiru Parameswara (The greatest Lord) Vinnagaram (temple) or Vaikunta Perumal Temple is a temple dedicated to Vishnu & his concert Vaikundavalli located in Kanchipuram. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple finds mention in the Divya Prabhanda the early medieval tamil literature of the Azhwar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. It is one among the 108 temples dedicated to Vishnu. The temple is considered the second oldest extant temples in Kanchipuram after the Kailasanathar temple & is in a straight line facing each other, though seperated by 3.5 KMs. The temple is believed to have been built by the Pallava king Nandivarman (720-796 CE), with later contributions from Chola's and Vijayanagara Kings. The temple is surrounded by a granite wall enclosing all the shrines and a pond of the temple. The outer walls of the inner praharam is full of Kalakrithis related to the lord....

KAILASANATHAR TEMPLE PART 1 - TARAMANGALAM

SRI KAILASANATHAR TEMPLE- TARAMANGALAM - SALEM DISTRICT - TAMILNADU.- PART 1 Seven tiered Rajagopuram Shaped like a chariot. Mahavishnu gave his sister Parvathi in marriage to Shiva. This process of handing over the bride, is known as "Thaaram vaththu koduppadhu" in Tamil, hence the name of the town THARAI MANGALAM now known as Tharamangalam. MAHAVISHNU giving his sister MEENAKSHI in marriage to SHIVA. In the centre of this Town is an exotic Temple of Lord Shiva as Shri Kailasanathar with his consort Sivakami Devi. One of the rarest of temples with a treasure of exotic Sculpture and the many stories attached with them. ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL U NKNOWN TEMPLES IN TAMILNADU. The first precinct on entering from the Rajagopuram. The temple had an existence before the 10th Century CE. However the same was rebuilt by the Getti Muthaliar Clan who ruled the Kongu Part of Tamilnadu from the 13th to the 17th century. The temple seems to have b...

AMRITHAGHATESHWAR TEMPLE - MELAKADAMBUR - CUDDALORE - TAMILNADU

  AmrithaGhateshwar Temple – Melakadambur – Cuddalore - Tamilnadu     ABSTRACT   The town of Kadambur or Thirukadambur was an important metropolis of the later Chola’s (848 -1279 CE) and reminds us of the historical Tamil Novel “PONNIYIN SELVAN” “Son of Ponni or River Kaveri” which talks about the early life of Arulmozhivarman or Raja Raja Chola l (947-1014CE),   by Shri kalki Krishnamurthy. The town is about 31 Km’s from Chidambaram, 6Km’s from kattumannarkoil and 7 kms from Veeranarayana lake or Veeranam lake built by Rajaditya Chola (907-955CE).The fort of Kadmabur is the place, where the Chieftains of the Cholas hatched a conspiracy to overthrow the rule of Sundara Chola and took an oath to make prince Maduranataka Chola the next King. It is here that Karikal Chola was assassinated. In this historical town is the twin temple of Amrithaghateshwarar   “God of the pot of Amritha or Nectar” in Mela kadambur known as the Indra Vimanam or Aeroplane...