Vaimoornathar Shiva Temple, Thiruvaimur

This temple located in Tiruvaimur, Tamil Nadu is one of the saptha vidangam (seven forms of dance of Siva) temples. The temple is famous for the dance pose Kamala Natanam – Dance like lotus that moves in a breeze- Nallavidangar. Lord Surya (Sun God) is believed to have worshipped in this temple. This is also a Paadal Petra Sthalam, both Appar and Thiru Gnanasambandar have sung about the Lord in this temple.

The temple priest was very good and he explained about the temple with sincere devotion, he also beautifully sang the Devaram hymn pertaining to this temple. Temple history - when Appar was staying at Vedaranyam, Lord Siva appeared to him in his dream and prompted to visit this temple. Appar followed the route indication as appeared in the dream and was able to reach this temple, when he reached the temple he could not find the Siva Linga and Lord Ganesha led him to the correct place inside the temple. There is an idol of Ganesh with His trunk pointing to the direction of the Lord Siva. Sambandar who was also staying at Vedaranyam eventually followed Appar to this temple. Both Appar and Sambandar were blessed by Lord Shiva by revealing his resplendent divine form in this temple. Also the Bhairavar worship here is a significant one, there is a separate Bhaivar temple inside the temple (currently there are 4 Bhairavar statues). Another significant feature of this temple is that Navaragrahas are lined up in a row as against the usual form of square layout.

Ettukudi Murugan temple is a very popular Lord Murugan temple which is at about 2 kms from here. Another Paadal Petra Sthalam - Thirukuvalai can also be reached within 3 kms from this temple.

Lord Siva:  Vaimoornathar

Ambal (Goddess): Paalinum nanmozhiammai

How to reach

This temple is located at about 25 kms from Thiruvarur on the Thiruvarur-Thalaignayiru-Vedaranyam road.It can also be accessed from Nagapattinam-Thiruthuraipoondi road, we need to reach Ettukudi and from there is about 2 kms. I travelled by car from Vedaranyam, took the ThalaiGnayiru road and crossed the Nagapattinam ECR

Temple Legend

Muchukunda Chakravarthi was a great and valorous Chola king. He was once approached by Indra for help during the war between Devas and Asuras. Muchukunda gladly agreed to help the lord of the Devas, and joined in the war. Finally, with Muchukunda’s aid, the Devas succeeded in routing the Asuras, and Indra was extremely grateful to the king. He offered the king a gift of his choice, and Muchukunda, a devout man, asked for the Thyagarajar moorthi worshipped by Indra. Indra was perplexed by this request as  He did not want to part off with his precious moorthi, but the king wouldn’t accept anything else. He finally decided on a deception, so he ordered to make six similar moorthis and asked Muchukunda to find out the one he wanted. Muchukunda was a smart king, and prayed to Shiva to identify the correct one and found the original moorthi. So Indra gave him all the seven moorthis to Muchukunda. Muchukunda kept those moorthis in seven temples which are called Saptha (seven) Vidanga temples.

Muchukunda returned to earth with the seven Thyagarajar moorthis and installed them at various places in his kingdom. The original one he kept at the temple at Thiruvarur, and the others at Thirunallar, Vedaranyam, Thiruvaimur, Thrirukaravasal, Thirukkuvalai and Nagapattinam. These seven temples are collectively known as Saptha Vidanga Sthalams. Vidanga means something that has not been chiseled out. These seven Thyagarajar moorthi are believed to be divine – not made by chisels.