Whenever someone thinks of India’s spirituality, the first
name to strike the memory is Kashi. It is such a holy city in Varanasi to be
called as Spiritual Capital of India. I was pleasantly surprised when I came to
know of the Lord Siva Temple at Virudhachalam which is a Mukthi (salvation)
temple and considered as holy as Kashi. This temple is called as Virudha Kasi
and worshipping here is regarded to give the same benefits of worshipping Kasi
Viswanathar.
Virudhachalam is about 215 kms from Chennai and well
connected by bus and train. The temple is at a distance of 2 km from the
railway station.
This is a large temple with 5 temple towers and each of them
are seven tiered. Upon entering the main tower, there is a view point on the
left side from which I could see the magnificient view of all the gopurams
(towers). Lord Vinayaka’s temple inside the campus is unique by its location 18
feet down the ground level. Hence He is referred as Pathala Vinayagar. After
having Darshan of Lord Vinayaga, I entered the main tower which is named as
Gandaraditya tower after the Chola King Gandaraditya who is the forefather of
Raja Raja chola. Gandaraditya himself was a staunch devotee of Lord Siva and
sung hymns in praise of the Lord which is part of Panniru Thirumurai (Saivism
literature). Another significant feature I could see is things which were in
multiple of 5 – five Nandis, five Praharam and five Kodimaram (flagstaff). After
having the Darshan of Pazhamalainathar in the sanctum, I went to
circumambulation of temple premise admiring the beauty of the sculptures in the
temple tower.
On the southwest inside the temple premise, there is a Lord
Muruga temple with 28 Siva Lingas installed in it. As per the legend, each of
these Lingas represent the 28 Saiva agamas and praised by Arunagirinathar in
his literary work Thirupugazh on Lord Muruga. There is an amazing 3000 year old
Vanni Tree ( Botanical name -Prosopis cineraria) which is considered as the
Sthala Viruksham.
This Paadal Petra Sthalam has been praised by Sundarar (3
pathigams), Gnanasambandar (7 pathigams) and Appar (1 pathigam). It is said
that when Sundarar visited this temple he had 12000 gold coins and felt
uncomfortable to travel along with this, hence he left the coins in Lord Siva’s
custody here and collected back in Tiruvarur. Thus the lord acted as the
treasurer for his devotee Sundarar!
Lord Siva: Pazhamalainathar,
Virudhachalesar
Ambal (Goddess): Periyanayaki,
Virudhagambikai, Balambikai
Sthala Vriksham : Vanni
Theertham : Manimuthar
Temple is open from 6 am to 12 noon and from 4 pm to 9 pm
every day.
