Thiruppaasoor Sri Vaaseeswarar

Thiruppaasoor (திருப்பாசூர்) village is located about 50 kms from Chennai on the road going from Thiruvallur to Thiruthani and is about 7 kms from Thiruvallur Railway Station.

Thiruppaasoor has a vast and beautiful temple for Lord Shiva. The main deity here is called Sri Vaaseeswarar and Goddess Sri Thankaadhali (தன்காதலி) Ambaal.

It is believed that the Goddess worshipped Lord Shiva here and joined him to bless the devotees at this temple.

Thiruppaasoor got its name from the ancient Thamizh word ‘Paasu’ (பாசு) which means Bamboo. It is said that the entire place was a bamboo forest during ancient days. Once the local hunters saw a cow pouring its milk on its own in the bamboo forest and they dug up the place to find this beautiful Shiva Lingam.

On hearing this, Karikaal Chozha, the then ruler of this place, had visited Thiruppaasoor and built a temple for the Lord here.

While people dug up the place, an axe like tool which was used to dig the ground hit on the Shiva Lingam and created a scar on Him. The axe like tool was called ‘Vaasi’ in Thamizh and hence the Lord here is called as Sri Vaaseeswarar.

There were about 16 ancient stone inscriptions found in this temple. According to the inscriptions, this place is referred in ancient days as Thondai Mandalathu, Eekkaadu Kottathu, Kaakkalur Naattu Thiruppaasoor.

It is also said that, Karikaal Chozha, who was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva had to wage a war against Kurumbars who were troubling him. Some Jain saints, who were supporting Kurumbars, made a serpent attack the king. Karikaalan surrendered the Lord here and prayed for rescue. Pleased with his prayers, Lord Shiva tamed the serpent and saved Karikaalan.

The Lord is said to have accepted the Goddess here as ‘His love’ and hence the Goddess got her name Thankaadhali (தன்காதலி). Usually in most of the Shiva temples, we can see the Goddess shrine at the left side of the sanctum of Lord Shiva. But here, the Goddess is seen on the right side of the Lord and also facing east, which is unusual and rare.

Even today, the poojas and rituals are performed are first performed to the Goddess and then to Lord Shiva.

Upon entering the temple, one can find a group of Vinayagar (Lord Ganesha) statues. This is another rare feature of this temple. There are about 11 Ganeshas in a group at the same place and of various sizes. Here Vinayagar is called Ekadasa Vinayagar (Ekadasa means 11 in Sanskrit).

It is said that Lord Vishnu took bath here in Soma Theertham and worshipped Lord Shiva to get relieved of His Dhosham. There is another shrine for Lord Shiva called ‘Vinai Theertha Easwarar’ (வினை தீர்த்த ஈஸ்வரர்), who was worshipped by Lord Vishnu.

There is a Sri Chakram in front of the sanctum, which was installed by Sri Aadhi Sankaraachaarya, for which poojas are performed regularly. Sri Subramanyar, Sri Somaskandhar & Navagrahas are found in the praakaaram. Sri Dhakshinamurthy has a small separate mandapam facing South. Sri Lingothbavar is found behind the sanctum.

Sri Vishnu Durgai, Sri Veerabadhrar and Sorna Bhairavar are found at the northern side of the praakaaram.

Thirunaavukkarasar, Thirugnaana Sambandar & Ramalinga Vallalaar have visited this temple and have sung praises on the Lord here.

There is a beautiful 4 pillared Urchava Mandapam at the outer praakaaram used for rituals during festivals.

It is said that, apart from Sri Ambaal, many sages and saints like Maarkandeyar, Brighu, Roma Rishi, Bharadhwajar, Kaasyapar, Vashishtar, Naaradhar, Sugar, Abhimanyu, Viswamithrar and Vyaasar have worshipped Sri Vaaseeswarar here.

The Sthala Viruksham for this temple is Bamboo and there are two Theerthams for this temple; Soma Theertham and Mangala Theertham.

The wonderful scenic view of the temple from the roadside itself is sure to attract anyone to visit and have the Dharshan of the Lord.

Thiru Idaichuram Sri Gnanapureeswarar

Thiru Idaichuram (திரு இடைச்சுரம்) is located about 60 kms from Chennai. It lies on the road connecting Chengalpattu and Thirupporur. Thiru Idaichuram can either be accessed from Thirupporur at about 18 kms or from Chengalpattu about 9 kms. There is an arch on the main road indicating the path to the temple. This village is presently called as Thiruvadisoolam.

Thiru Idaichuram (Thiruvadisoolam) is a small village surrounded by many hills. This village has an ancient temple for Lord Shiva. The main deity here is Sri Gnanapureeswarar, also called as Idaichura Naadhar. Goddess here is Sri Govardhanaambigai.

As per the legend, Goddess Parvathi took the form of Kaamadhenu (cow) and came to this village. One day villagers here saw the cow pouring its milk by its own, on an ant hill. They dissolved the ant hill to find a beautiful Shiva Lingam inside. They installed the deity in the same place and formed this temple.

As the cow poured milk by itself on God, the place came to be known as Thiru Idaichuram, and Goddess is called as Govardhanaambigai (In Sanskrit ‘Go’ means cow).

It is also said that this place got its name as this village is surrounded by hills. In Thamizh, the place between hills is called “Churam”.

This temple is one among the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams. Thiru Gnana Sambandhar has sung praise on the Lord here. It is said that Thiru Gnana Sambandhar visited this village during morning hours. He took bath in a pond here and was resting on the banks of the pond. Lord Shiva appeared as a Yadhava (shepherd) and went to Him carrying food in a mud pot. Lord Shiva offered food to Sambandhar. Sambandhar politely refused and said that he will never take food before having dharshan of Lord Shiva, which was his everyday practice.

The Yadhava man told Sambandhar that there is a Shiva temple nearby and took him to this temple. Sambandhar followed the Yadhava and went inside the temple where the Yadhava vanished near the sanctum. Sambandhar overwhelmed by the mercy of God, sung in praise of Lord Shiva here. The pond in which Sambandhar took bath (pic above) is still seen in this village, a little away from the temple. The Lord here is also said to have been worshipped by an ancient sage called Gowthama Rishi.

The temple looks too ancient amidst serene atmosphere surrounded by paddy fields. There is no Rajagopuram for this temple. The praakaarams are vast and have concrete pathways. The structure of this temple is unusual, looking like an old village house when viewed from outside. The temple is facing south.

There are beautiful stone pillared mandapams inside the temple. The ceiling is a bit lower and the whole mandapam allows limited sunlight. The interior structures are too good making us forget the present materialistic world.

The main deity Sri Gnanapureeswarar is seen facing east from a small, beautiful sanctum. The deity is made of Maragatha (dark green) stone and hence called as Maragatha Lingam, which is not too visible to make out while having dharshan. It is said that the actual color and the glow of this Maragatha Lingam will clearly be visible when ‘Then Abishegam’ (Honey Abishegam) is performed to the deity.

The Goddess Sri Govardhanaambigai is seen facing south. One can have dharshan of both the God and Goddess by standing in the same place.

Sri Vinayagar, Sri Dhakshinamurthy, Sri Sandigeswarar, Sri Durgai and Sri Brahma are seen around the sanctum.

The outer Praakaaram is spread on a vast space having a small shrine for Vinayagar. Sri Valli Devasena Samedha Subramanyar has a shrine on the outer praakaaram. On the northern side there is a small shrine where another Shiva Lingam is seen in the name of Sri Brahmaandeswarar facing west.

The Ambaal for Sri Brahmaandeswarar is called Sri Brahmaandeeswari located on the eastern side facing south.

The Nandhi is seen on the eastern praakaaram facing west toward the Lord.

The Sthala Viruksham here is Vilvam, which is on the eastern part of the temple. There is also a shrine for Sri Surya Bhagavan. There is an ant hill and a Nandhi on the southern praakaaram.

Outside the compound, on the eastern side there is the temple pond with ‘Alli flowers’ grown beautifully in it. This pond looks very natural without any steps or bathing ghat built to it.

Thiru Idaichuram is surely a ‘feast to soul’ for temple lovers.

Thiruvaanaikkaa Sri Jambugeswarar

Thiruvaanaikkaa is located about 15 minutes drive from Trichiraappalli (Trichy) city on the way to Sri Rangam, situated near the banks of Cauvery.

This is one among the five Pancha Boodha (Five Elements) Sthalams for Lord Shiva. This temple is called as Appu Sthalam meant for Water among five elements. Whenever the water level rises in river Cauvery, the Shiva Linga here gets submerged in waters in the sanctum. This place was known as Gajaaranyam in ancient days.

The God here is Sri Jambugeswarar and Goddess Sri Akilaandeswari.

This ancient temple has a peculiar background with an interesting story behind it.

According to legend, there lived a saint called Jambu Rishi, who was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. He once found a very rare fruit called “Venn Naaval Pazham” (white Naaval fruit) and he offered it to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva ate the fruit and spitted out the seed of the fruit.

Out of his overwhelming Bhakthi, Jambu Rishi ate the seed, because of its sacred nature as it came out of Lord Shiva’s mouth. The seed which he ate started growing as a Naaval tree from the Rishi’s head. The Rishi prayed Lord Shiva to take abode and settle under the tree. The Lord agreed to him and said that, a time will come when I would come and settle under this Naaval Tree. This place then came to be known as Jambugeswaram.

Parvathi Devi once playfully disturbed the penance of Lord Shiva. The God got angry with her and asked her to go to earth and perform penance. Parvathi Devi came down to earth as Akilaandeswari and found this place Jambugeswaram most suitable for her prayers. She took water from river Cauvery and made a Shiva Linga out of it, erected it under the same “Venn Naaval” tree which evolved out of Jambu Maharishi’s head and started worshipping. As She made the Shiva Lingam out of water, this came to be known as Appu Lingam (Water Lingam) among Pancha Boodha Lingams.


Lord Shiva was pleased with Devi’s worship and gave Dharshan to her here. He also taught her Siva Gnana to her in this place. She faced east and took Upadesam from Lord Shiva who was facing west. Similarly, the Sri Jambugeswarar and Sri Akilaandeswari idols in this temple also face the same directions.

In Kailaash, there were 2 Siva Ganas (Shiva’s Parivaar) called Maalyavaan & Pushpadhantha, who have been very devoted Shiva Bhakthas. They had a habit of fighting with each other very often. One day out of the anger during the fight, Maalyavaan cursed Pushpadhantha to be born as an elephant and in return Pushpadhantha cursed Maalyavaan to be born as a spider on earth. Both their curses came true.

Pushpadhantha, as an elephant was wandering in Jambugeswaram. He found the Shiva Linga under the Venn Naaval tree. Out of his devotion, he went and brought water from Cauvery in his trunk and bathed the Lord, cleaned up the place and offered flowers to Lord Shiva.

Maalyavaan who was born as the Spider saw Lord Shiva at this place and weaved a web above God’s head providing Him the Shelter from the falling dry leaves and the hot sun.

Next day the elephant came and saw the web near Lord Shiva and got angry with the spider as the web is made of spider’s saliva which is believed to be unclean in the God’s premises. The elephant blew away the web woven by the spider and again cleaned the place with water and decorated with flowers.

This act continued for few days repeatedly by both of them. One day out of anger, the spider wanted to stop the elephant from spoiling his offering to God. The spider entered into the trunk of the elephant and bit it to death. The Elephant with much pain squeezed the trunk and the spider too died. After their death, they again reached Kailash, where God advised them that each one has got a form of worship and none is superior to the other. God also relieved both from their curses and blessed them.

As the elephant worshipped the God here, this place got its name as “Thiruvaanaikkaa”. (Thiru means God, Aanai means Elephant and Kaa means Forest) which later got corrupted through times as Thiruvaanaikkaaval and Thiruvaanaikkovil.

It is also believed that Maalyavaan took his next birth as a Chola King called Ko Chengannan (means King with red eyes). He was highly victorious as a king, but wanted to serve the Lord for rest of his life and has built around 70 Shiva Temples and Thiruvaanaikkaa is the first among them, built during 1st Century B.C. Ko Chengannan is also one among the 63 Nayanmars.

Out of his experience with an elephant in his earlier birth, he made the sanctum of Thiruvaanaikkaa temple with its entrance too small so that even a smallest of elephants cannot enter inside. The entrance of the sanctum measures just 4 ft height and 2.5 ft width.

All the Naalvars, Appar, Sundarar, Gnaana Sambandar and Manicka Vaasagar have sung in hymns here. Arunagirinaathar in his Thiruppugazh has sung praise on Lord Muruga here. Muthuswamy Dheekshidhar, the one among three Sangeetha Mummurthys has composed few great and rare compositions on the God and Goddess here.

Jagadguru Aadhi Sankaraachaarya has visited this temple and worshipped Goddess Akilaandeswari here. He also reduced the Ugram (fierce) of the Goddess here by offering her a pair of “Thadagams” (ear rings) made of Sri Chakra, which is not found anywhere else. Also he installed Prasanna Vinayagar in front of the Goddess’s Shrine to bring down her ferocity, so that the Goddess looks on with a graceful sight.

As Goddess Akilaandeswari worshipped Lord Shiva here, the Uchi Kaala Pooja (during noon) is performed to Lord Shiva by the priest, who dresses up himself in a Saree, like a female.

As Akilaandeswari took Upadesam as a student from the Lord here, this place is an Upadesa Sthalam and hence, no wedding is performed here for the God and Goddess.

Sthala Viruksham is “Venn Naaval” Tree and Theertham is Brahma Theertham.

Beautiful, vast temple with its unique history combined with stunning architecture all over.

Trichy is well connected by trains and buses. Buses and taxis are available in plenty from Trichy Chathram Bus Stand to Thiruvanaikkaa Temple itself.