Friday, February 3, 2017

Uma Maheswarar Temple, Konerirajapuram – Legends

Uma Maheswarar Temple, Konerirajapuram – Legends

Swayambu Nataraja:

As per legend, Chola King Gandaraditya and his wife Sembian Mahadevi asked the Sthapathi (Sculptor in Tamil) to create a huge life-size panchaloha idol of Nataraja. Despite his continuous efforts, the sculptor was unable to make an idol taller than 3 feet. The king gave him last chance to work on the idol but warned him that if he did not accomplish his task before the deadline, his head would be chopped off. The Sthapathi was not able to cast a Nataraja idol as desired by the king.

The Sthapathi was very depressed as he had just a day more to present his work. The worried and frantic sculptor prayed to Lord Shiva for help. While he was thinking about the casting of the idol of Nataraja, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi came to his house in the form of an elderly couple and asked for some water to quench their thirst. As the sculptor was engrossed in his work and out of frustration, he told them to drink the molten metal.

The elderly couple immediately drank the molten metal and instantly turned into a beautiful idol of Nataraja and Sivakami. The sculptor realized that the elderly couple was none other than Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy. The Chola King walked in the same time and was extremely happy to see the statues. The sculptor was speechless by the love and affection of god shown towards him and could not able to believe that Lord Shiva had come himself to help him make the icons and saved his life.

Later, the sculptor conveyed the whole incident to the king. However, the Chola king refused to believe the incident. He hit the lifted right foot of the Nataraja idol with his sword. To his astonishment, the idol started bleeding profusely. He was immediately afflicted with leprosy. The king surrendered to Lord Shiva and asked for forgiveness.

Lord Shiva appeared before him and informed that Lord Shiva would be present here as Vaidyanatha Swamy and the king should offer prayers for 42 days to get relief. He did it accordingly and got relief.  The idol still bears the mark of the sword cut made by the king. The image of Nataraja has moles and body hairs like the human beings. In some versions, the king ordered the casting of Nataraja was mentioned as King Varaguna Pandya.

King Pururavas got cured of leprosy here:

As per legend, King Pururavas was suffering from leprosy. He visited several Shiva temples seeking relief. Finally, he reached this temple, took bath in Cauvery river and worshiped Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva advised him to worship Lord Vaidyanatha Swami in this temple. As advised, he worshipped Lord Vaidyanatha Swami and was cured of his illness.

The king performed poojas to this lord and was cured of his illness. As a token of gratitude, he constructed the Vimana with gold coverings and arranged Brahmotsavams during Vaikasi Visakam. Hence it is believed that those having incurable diseases, visit this place for cure. The mantras believed to be chanted by the King Pururavas is inscribed on the wall of this temple.

Lord Shiva granted his wedding darshan to Sage Agastya here:

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.

Bhoominathar:

As per legend, this temple was originally constructed by goddess Bhooma Devi on the advice of Lord Vishnu. Hence, the place came to be called as Bhoomiswaram and Lord Shiva came to be called as Bhoominathar. It is believed that the Shivalinga here was sculpted by Vishwakarma, as per the instructions of Bhooma Devi. She took bath in the Brahma Theertham situated opposite to the temple and worshipped Lord Shiva here. It is believed that the Brahma Theertham contains sacred ganges and other holy theerthas. The mantras believed to be chanted by Bhooma Devi is inscribed on the wall of this temple.

Yama worshipped goddess Durga here:

As per legend, Lord Yama, the god of death was in utter shock after being kicked by Lord Shiva in Thirukadaiyur to save Sage Markandeya. He came to this temple and worshipped goddess Durga here to recover from his shock.

Nala and Damayanti worshipped Saneeswarar here:

As per legend, Nala and Damayanti worshipped Saneeswarar in this temple to seek his blessings before proceeding to Thirunallar.

People worshipped Lord Shiva here:

It is believed that Goddess Parvathy, Bhooma Devi, Devas, Yama, Nandi, 16 Siddhars, Ashtadikpalakas, Agastya, Nala with his wife Damayanti and King Pururavas had worshiped Lord Shiva of this temple.