Friday, October 7, 2016

Agastheeswarar Temple, Agathiyampalli – Legends

Agastheeswarar Temple, Agathiyampalli – Legends

Agastheeswarar:

As per the legend, as all the celestial beings were assembled in Kailash to witness the sacred marriage of Shiva and Parvati and on account of it, the earth was tilted towards North. To balance the earth, Lord Shiva asked the sage Agastya to travel towards the southern direction. Due to greatness of this sage, he was equivalent to all the celestial beings and as soon as he moved to the southern direction, the earth was balanced back.

Agastya did not want to miss the wedding. Hence he sought a boon from Lord Shiva that whenever he wants the darshan of divine marriage, Lord Shiva has to give his marriage darshan. Lord Shiva accepted his request. Due to his boon, he got the darshan of divine marriage in many sites in South India. This temple is considered as one such site where he got the darshan of divine marriage.

It is said that the Shiva Linga in this temple was installed by Sage Agastya. Hence, Lord Shiva came to be called as Agastheeswarar. It is also believed that Sage Agasthya built his hermitage here and trekked up to Vedaranyam each day. As Sage Agastya stayed here, the place came to be called as Agathiyampalli.

People worshipped Lord Shiva here:

Yama, Kuzhaga Munivar, Kulasekara Pandya, Indra and Siddhars had worshipped Lord Shiva of this temple.