Thiruchendur Murugan Temple - Legends
Slaying
of Surapadma:
An Asura by name Surapadma was ruling Veera Mahandrapuri, an island fortress,
as his Capital. He performed many austerities invoking Lord Siva and Lord Siva
granted him many boons. Later he became arrogant and captured three worlds and
made the Heavenly immortals to do menial task. Devas were unable to bear his
torture and complained to Lord Siva. Lord Siva opened His frontal eye to create
a son to kill the asuras. Six sparks of fire where issued from the frontal eye
of Lord Siva. The divine sparks of grace were received by river Ganges through
Agni, the God of Fire and passed on to the Himalayan lake Saravana Poigai. Here
they were transformed into six babies.
These babies were suckled by the six Krithika nymphs.
Lord Siva and Goddess Parvathi Devi came to Saravana Poigai. When the Goddess
Uma fondly clasped the babies, they became Lord Arumuga with six faces and
twelve arms. When the child Arumuga had grown into a youth God, Lord Siva asked
Him to destroy asuras and free Devas from their cruel bondage. Lord Muruga
reached Thiruchendur with his huge army and encamped. He sent his lieutenant
Veerabahu to the asuras as an emissary and asked Surapadma to release the
Devas. Since Surapadma turned down the request, war was started.
The intense battle continued for few days. During the
first five days of the War the brothers of Surapadma and all other asuras perished.
On sixth day in the battle between Lord Muruga and Surapadma, the lance of Lord
Muruga pierced Surapadma (who got himself transformed as a frightful mango tree)
and broke it in twain. The broken pieces instantly transformed themselves into
a mighty Peacock and a Chanticleer. Lord Muruga took Peacock as his vahana
(Vehicle) and Chanticleer on his banner.
After Surasamharam (Destruction of Surapadman) Lord
Muruga desired to worship his father Lord Siva. Hence Mayan, the divine
architect constructed this shrine at Thiruchendur. Even now Lord Subrahmaniyam
is seen in the posture of worshiping Lord Siva in the Sanctum sanctorum.
As detailed in Skanda Purana, one of the eighteen Hindu Puranas,
while the deities hailed the glory of Kartikeya for having killed Tarakasuran,
Kartikeya himself was saddened by his act. He told the deities--'I regret for
having killed Tarakasuran because he was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Is
there any way to atone for my sin?'Lord Vishnu consoled him-'Killing a wicked
person, who nourishes himself on the blood of innocent people, is not a sinful
deed. But, still, if you feel guilty then there is no better way to atone for
your sin than worshipping Lord Shiva. Install Shivalingas and worship them with
deep devotion.'
Kartikeya instructed Vishwakarma to make three divine
Shivalingas. Later on Kartikeya installed these Shivalingas at three different
places and worshipped them with appropriate rituals. In course of time these
three holy places came to be known as Pratigyeshwar, Kapaleshwar and
Kumareshwar. Kartikeya, while worshipping at Kapaleshwar sprinkled holy water
on the Shivalinga and prayed so that Tarakasur's soul rested in peace. He also
offered sesame seeds to Lord Kapaleshwar and prayed --'May my offerings made in
the form of sesame seeds reach Tarak—the descendant of Sage Kashyapa.' This
way, Kartikeya was absolved of his sins.
Ayya
Vaikundar Miracles:
Near the temple is also a holy temple dedicated to Ayya
Vaikundar considered being an avatar of Lord Vishnu. The followers of Ayya
Vaikundar is called Ayyavazhi sect of the Vaishnavite, and his teachings are
contained in Akilathirattu, a holy book. Ayya Vaikundar was the architect of
"Samabandhi Bhojan" meaning feeding of poor and downtrodden among the
backward communities and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, who were
considered to be untouchable by the rulers of the erstwhile Travancore (now
Kerala State) together under one roof. This was not liked by the rulers and
they gave him many physical and mental troubles including putting him in the
company of a hungry tiger in a lock up. But they were perplexed by his mystic
acts and released him unconditionally.
Kattabomman
realizing his mistake:
There are other legends associated with this temple.
Veerapandiya Kattabomman the last Tamil King who resisted the British East
India Company from taking over Tamilnadu was an ardent devotee of the Lord of
Thiruchendur. He built a special 'mandapam' and decreed that when the deity is
taken in procession, it should be brought to this 'mandapam' and 'archchanai'
(worship) should be performed.
During the next festival as the deity neared its usual
resting place, the sky opened up with pouring rain, thunder and lightning. The
devotees carrying the deity could not proceed further and took the processional
deity to its usual halting place. Kattabomman realised his mistake and decreed
the usual practice to continue.
Dutch
Adventure:
During the 17th century AD some Dutch mercenaries robbed
the temple and mistook the statue to be made of gold and took it to their ship.
Soon after the ship set sail the sea became rough and massive waves hit the
ship while rain with thunder and lightning lashed the ship. Frightened by this
they threw the statue into the sea to evade the wrath of the Gods. The rain and
thunder stopped and the sea became calmer and they sailed away.
Lord Murugan appeared in the dream of one of the
devotees and indicated that the statue would be found in the bottom of the sea
where a lime fruit was floating and a 'Garuda' (eagle) would be circling above.
This devotee with few others went in search and spotted the area with the clues
from his dream. A diver went down and found the statue which was then installed
in the temple.
Sweating
of Lord Muruga:
In 1803 AD a British collector seeing the statue being
fanned in devotion ridiculed this action and asked whether the Lord also sweat.
In response the priest covered the statue with a white cloth which immediately
became wet. The collector realizing his fault gave a silver pot as atonement
and an offering.
Miracle
of Viboothi being converted to Cash:
It is believed that the present temple was built about
300 years ago by Thesigamoorthy Swamigal belonging to the Tiruvaduthurai Adheenam.
He did not have enough money to build the temple. So he paid his workers daily
with a packet of 'Viboothi (holy ash) as their wages. When the workers went
home and opened the package they found the wages in cash according to the task
they performed.