Vaitheeswaran Koil – Angarakan(Mars)
Vaitheeswaran Kovil or Pullirukkuvelur is a temple dedicated to the Lord Shiva, located in Vaideeswaran kovil town in Nagai district. Shiva is worshipped as Vaidyanathar or Vaitheeswaran meaning the "God of healing" and it is believed that prayers to Vaitheeswaran can cure diseases.
Vaitheeswaran is a Tamil derivative from vaidya (Doctor) and Ishvara (God/Master). The presiding deity is Sri vaidyanathan. He is the God of Healing. When pronouncing in Tamil, it sounds like "vaideeswaran". It is one of the nine Navagraha (nine planets) temples and is associated with the planet Mars (Angarakan).
The holy waters of the Siddhamirtham tank within the temple complex contains nectar, and a holy dip is believed to cure all diseases.
One of the nine planets, Angaraka (Mars), suffered from leprosy and was cured by Vaidhyanathaswamy and from then on it is treated as one of the Navagraha Temple for planet Angaraka.
Parvathi, the consort of Shiva, asked her son, Subramanya to appear with one face instead of his regular six faces. She was pleased and presented him with a Vel (a weapon) to slay the demons. Subramanya overcame the asura Surapadman (a demon) in the war, but his army suffered severe injuries. Shiva came out as the healer Vaitheeswaran and cured the wounded. As per another legend, Shiva came as Vaidya, a doctor, and cured the leprosy of a staunch devotee named Angahara.
The temple received contributions from various rulers of the region like Vikrama Chola, Vira Pandya, Achuthappa Nayak (1560 - 1614 AD) and Maratha prince Thulaja. The temple has five inscriptions mainly belonging to the period of Kulothunga Chola I (1070-1120 CE).
The temple has a five-tiered Rajagopuram (temple tower), two inner gopurams and large precincts. The central shrine is that of Vaitheeswaran present as Lingam in the inner most sanctum. The first precinct around the sanctum has the metal image of Subramanya, worhsipped here as Muthukumara Swamy. The other metal images in the sanctum are of Nataraja, Somaskanda, Angaraka and stone sculptures of
Durga, Dakshinamoorthy, Surya (Sun god), Jatayu, Vedas, Sampati. Thaiyalnayagi the consort of Shiva sported in standing posture with the medicinal oil to cure diseases. The large precinct also has a small shrine to Dhanavantri and shrine of Angaraka in stone sculpture. The southern gateway from this precinct leads to the temple tank and directly faces the Thaiyalnayaki shrine. The Sthala Vriksha (temple tree) is margosa(neem tree), believed to possesses medicinal properties, is present near the eastern gateway. The eastern gateway also has the shrine of Adi (original) temple that has a smaller replica of the main shrines. There is a fine metal image of Gangavisarjanar inside the temple.[4] The shrine of Angaragan (Venus) is present near the Eastern gateway in the third precinct.
The very old Sthala Vriksham before the Rajagopuram has fallen down, due to the Gaja cyclone.
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