Vyagharapureeshwarar Temple – Thirupulivanam - Kanchipuram
ABSTRACT
About 6 Kms before Uthiramerur, on the route from
Kanchipuram is the village Called ThiruPuliVanam, which majestically boasts of
a temple, the Garbhagriha of which enshrines a Shiva Linga, which has been
worshipped by the Great Saint Vyagharapada.
The term Thirupulivanam is derived from the Tamil words
Thiru = Shri, Puli – Tiger and Vanam = Forest.
Rishi Vyagharapada (Limbs of a tiger) is also known as Pulikal Muni in
Tamil.The place was also known as Vyagharapuravanam of the “forest of Tiger”.
Vyaghara in Sanskrit is also Tiger.
One of the inscriptions in the temple names the place as Jayamkonda
Chozhamandalathu Kazhiyur kottathu thaniyur Sri Rajendra Chozha Chaturvedi
Mangalam.
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KEYWORDS
Pallava’s,
Chola’s, Vyagharapada, Thirupulivanam, Nandin, Ananda Tandava, Thillai forest,
Chidambaram, Nayanar’s, Raja Yoga Simha Dakshinamurthy, Devakoshtha,
Ardhanaareeshwara.
INTRODUCTION
The Temple of Vyagharapureeshwarar in
Thirupulivanam is a Dravidian style of architectural temple, with Rajagopuram,
Mukhamandapam, Ardhamandapam, Garbhagriha and the unique Vimana of Gaja
Prishtha ( Back of an elephant) or Tunganai in Tamil or Apsidal. The original
temple would be of bricks and would date to the period of the Pallava’s around
the 6th century, with later additions till the 15th
century by Chola’s, Vijayanagara kings & the Nayaka’s of Madurai.
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Unique is the feature of the idol of Raja yoga
Simha Dakshinamurthy, explained in details and a temple with two Vishnu Durga,
one commonly in the Devakoshtha and the other in a sub-shrine in the inner
prahara. The Jeeva Samadhi of Rishi Vyagharapada is also in this temple.
LEGEND
Rishi Vyagharapada belonged to the Nandinatha Sampradaya
sect in Shaivism and is one amongst the eight desciples of Nandishwar. Rishi
Madhyandina was one amongst the fifteen desciples of Rishi Yajnavalkya and a
sage proficient in Vajasaneyi Samhita of Yajurveda, as mentioned in Vayu
Purana.
Rishi Vyagharapada was the son of Rishi Madhyandina and
became proficient in Vedic studies and religious scriptures. He asked his
father as to how to gain Moksha and get relieved from the cycle of Birth, to
which, Rishi Madhyandina adviced him to worship and do penance at the feet of
Mahadev Shiva in the Thillai tree (Excoecaria agallocha) forest, also known as
milky mangrove near Chidambaram. The ocean must have been nearer to Chidambaram
in the past to have a mangrove forest, which is now about 61 kms away.
Rishi Vyagharapada moved in to the south and set up a
hermitage near the Shivaganga Pond in Chidambaram and worshipped the Shiva
Linga under a banyan tree offering flowers every day.
One day while collecting the flowers he saw, the honey
bees drinking nectar from the flowers, before they could be offered to the God.
Saddened by this, he started picking flowers before sunrise, untouched even by
the honey bees. Because of the darkness, he could not see the flowers or climb
trees and was bruised by the rugged branches of trees, thick dense forest, and
pricking thorns.
Unable to collect the flowers in such harsh conditions,
he invoked God Shiva, who granted him the boon of having the limbs of Tiger
with nocturnal eyes on them, for seeing in the dark and climbing trees to pluck
flowers. As God Shiva gave him the limbs of a tiger he is known as PULI-KAAL
MUNIVAR & VYAGHARA-PADA in Tamil and Sanskrit respectively.
Vyagharapada continued his worship of Shiva with the untouched flowers
for many years, until Shiva gave Moksha to him, his friend Patanjali and
Jayamini by performing the Ananda-tandava
in the Kanaka Sabha at Chidambaram as Nataraja
the Cosmic Dancer.
After receiving the boon of the tiger limbs at Chidambaram,
Vyagharapada prayed to Shiva in this temple with his newly aquired tiger limbs.
In his ecstacy, he embraced the Lingam and seems to have left the tiger claw
mark on the Lingam. Since he prayed to Shiva in this temple going around the
Shiva Linga, Mahadev is also known as Thirupulivalamudaiya
Nayanar and Aaludaiyar Thirupulivalamudaiyar and the place is known as
Thirupuli-valam now corrupted to Thirupuli-Vanam.
HISTORY
The edifice of
Kulothunga Chola 1 – Vyagharapureeshwarar Temple
The temple in its current form seems to have been
renovated by Kulothunga Chozha 1 (1070 –1125 CE) who built about 108 Gaja
Prishtha (Apsidal) vimana temples in the Thondai mandalam region, in and around
Chennai including this temple. The earlier existence of the temple would have
been from the period of the Pallavas, in all probability a brick temple with
additions of stone structure from the 6th or 7th century
CE. In the first praharam, two Pillars with the Simha or Lion murals point in
the direction of the work of the pallava’s. 
Out of the many
Inscriptions, the oldest one is that of the Chola King Kulothunga Chozha-I.
From this it can be assessed that the current structure of the temple is about
800 years old. Most of the inscriptions talk about donation of lands or cows
for the upkeep of the temple.
On the pillars of the
inner praharam, inscriptions pertaining to the 10th century describe
the names of the Chola Kings, their titles and the names of the 63 Nayanar’s
“Shivite Saints”.
TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE
Before the entrance to the temple on the right hand side
is the Temple Pond, a Mandapam with Chariot wheels, straight on to the gopuram
is a set of Balipeedams and a Nandi in a small Mandapam. The Rajagopuram is a
cute three tiered one, which leads one to the outer Praharam or the compound of
the temple. The temple in its entirity is a rectangular structure.
There is an extended mandapam before the entrance into
the inner praharam, the entrance to which is through a door, the outer walls of
which is engraved with the idols of Bhairava & Ashthabhuja Durga or
Mahishasuramardini on both sides of the door. Entering through the door one is
inside the inner Praharam, moving straight one has to climb a few steps to
reach the Mukhamandapam, ardhamandapam (flanked by Dwarapalakas) an antarala
and the Garbhagriha. In the Garbhagriha facing east, is Shiva as Shri Pulivaneshwar
or Vyagharapureeshwar in the form of a Lingam, which has an elongated Shiva or
Rudra bhaga and a square Vishnu bhaga or Yoni or Pindika or peetham. The
ardhamandapam seems to have either a Chamber or tunnel below its floor and is
supposed to take one to the Varadaraja perumal Temple at uthiramerur. 
The inner prahara contains of the Devakoshta idols of
Ganesha, Vishnu, Brahma, Chandikeshwara and Vishnu Durga apart from a unique
form of Dakshinamurthy known as Raja Yoga Dakshinamurthy personifying the
supreme or the ocean of knowledge or the ultimate Guru. The Devakoshtha
torana’s contain graphics of Mahishasuramardini, Mahavishnu with Shridevi and
Bhudevi, Nataraja.
RAJA YOGA SIMHA DAKSHINAMURTHY
– ARDHANAAREESHWARA.
The idol of Raja Yoga Dakshinamurthy is in an aeudicule
which is inside a chamber in the southern side of the Garbhagriha. Instead of
the usual iconography of sitting cross legged, here he sits with the right leg
placed on Apasmara or muyalagan and the left leg is placed on a Simha, the
vahana of Shakthi, Thus signifying the Prakriti and Purusha roopam of
Ardhanaareeshwara. He has Chaturbhuja carrying the Akshamala and the trident of
Agni or fire on his top hands, the lower right hand is in Chin Mudra and the
lower left in bhumisparsha mudra. The Banyan tree above his jatamukuta seems to
be in a three dimensional canopy form which dangles an akshmala and Pokanam
(bag of Vibhuti). Apart from the general features of the four kumara rishi’s,
uniquely, Rishi’s Vyagharapada and Patanjali along with their rishi patni’s are
praying to God Dakshinamurthy. On both sides on the top, Surya and Chandra can
be seen riding on Simha’s.
The inner Prahara also contains sub shrines of Ganesha,
Bala murugan, Arumugam, Bhairava, Surya, Nabagraha’s, on its outer wall and
uniquely a second shrine for Vishnu durga.
The outer Praharam has the Jeeva Samadhi of Rishi
Vyagharapada. It also contains the sanctum of Devi parvathi, facing south known
as Amrithakujambal. Both these sanctums are like separate temples with
Garbhagriha, ardhamandapa in the Main temple compound.
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