Tiruppaatrurai Adhimooleswarar Temple – Legends
Pattrurai Nathar:
As per
Hindu legend, a Chola king was hunting in the region and was chasing a
bird. The bird escaped and went inside a bush. The king aimed at the bird and
shot an arrow, but the bird was not found. He instead found an ant hill in the
place and milk was oozing out from the point of the arrow. The king got
frightened and returned to his palace. During that night, Shiva came in his
dream and informed that it was he who was inside the anthill.
The king
established a temple in the place of the anthill. So place came to be known as
Pattrurai (Paal+Thurai – Paal in Tamil means milk and Thurai place, thus came
the name Pattrurai). The Lord was named Pattrurai Nathar as he came out
from the place where milk sprang up.
Milk sprang from ground:
As per
the legend, the sage Markandeya visited this site once. He could not find milk
to perform abishekam to Shiva Linga, as part of his pooja rituals. All of a
sudden, milk sprang from the ground with the blessing of Lord Shiva. The sage
happily used that milk to perform his pooja.
People worshipped Shiva here:
Nithya Kalyani
Ammai, Markandeya, and Surya worshipped Siva in this place.
