SHIVA - THE COSMIC DANCER

  ARDHANAAREESHWARA TEMPLE – TIRUCHENGODU- TAMILNADU Very rare is a temple dedicated to UMAMAHESHWARA in the form of ARDHANAAREESHWARA (Half Male – Half Female) as the main deity in a Temple. In fact Tiruchengodu is the only town in Asia where the Temple has supreme MAHADEV as the principal deity in the form of a combination of Prakriti and Purusha in the same Idol. This is one of the 64 manifestations of Lord SHIVA, where he gives half of his body to his Consort PARVATHI. The temple has a shrine of ADI KESAVA PERUMAL, (MAHAVISHNU) who instructed his sister PARVATHI as GAURI, the KEDARA GAURI VRATAM to become united with her consort as ARDHANAAREESHWARA. Known as “Madaorubagam” or Ammaiappan in Tamil. The temple is referred to in the “THEVARAM”, a treatise in Tamil written by Saivite Saints called Nayanars around the 7th Century. This means the Temple was in existence before the 7th century. In fact according to inscriptions on the wall of the Temple, it exists From the Sangam