Thirumagaraleeswarar Temple,
Thirumagaral – Legends
Magaraleeswarar:
As per legend, Once, Brahma was beamed with pride that
he was the best among the Trinity (Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma).
Lord Shiva cursed Brahma to be born on earth for his sin. Lord Brahma came to this
place on earth, installed a Shiva Linga and worshipped Lord Shiva sincerely
for relief. Pleased with his worship, Lord Shiva gave back the creation work of
Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma planted a Jack fruit tree near the Shiva Lingam before
leaving to Satyaloka, his abode. This Jack fruit tree is miracle tree and would
yield only one fruit each day.
King Rajendra Chola came to know about this fruit. He
ordered one person from each family should carry the fruit to the Chidambaram
Nataraja Temple to be offered as nivedhana to the Lord. The fruit would be
sent to the king for his consumption after the poojas. Once, it was a turn of a
young boy from the village to carry the fruit. He felt that the task of
carrying the fruit should be given to his soldiers not to the general public.
He told the villagers that he was a young boy and could not bear the weight of
the fruit.
He requested them to carry the fruit to the king and
offered to take care of their houses till their return. The villagers left the
place carrying the fruit in order to help the boy. The young boy felt that this
problem would persist till the tree existed and he simply burnt the tree
thinking that the villagers would be relieved off the duty. He informed the
villagers that the tree caught fire accidently and was reduced to ashes. The
king enquired the boy, who fearlessly narrated the truth.
The king was angry with him and ordered the boy to be
transported out in the night and left in the early morning wherever he was,
under the condition that he should never return back. The place where he was
left is called Vidi Magaral, between Thiruvallur and Thiruthani. Later, when
the king visited Magaral
and saw a golden monitor lizard cross his way to an anthill with only its tail
wagging out. The king tried to catch it. The king dug the anthill and noticed
blood oozing out from the anthill.
A divine voice condemned the king for his action. The
voice further said that the golden monitor lizard was none other than Lord
Shiva himself and ordered him to build a temple. As Lord Shiva appeared as
Magaral / Udumbu (monitor lizard), Lord Shiva came to be called as Magaraleeswarar
/ Udumbeeswarar and the place came to be called as Magaral.
It may be noted that the size of the Linga in the sanctum is just the size of
the tail of the creature.
Makkirakeeswarar:
As per legend, Lord Muruga annihilated Surapadman and
other asuras during Soora Samharam. One Asura named Makkirakan escaped from
Lord Murugan and reached Thandaga forest. He saw a Shiva Linga in the forest
and worshipped it sincerely. As Lord Shiva was worshipped by the demon Makkirakan,
he came to be called as Makkirakeeswarar and later got corrupted to Magaraleeswarar.
Lord
Murugan marriage darshan to Lord Vishnu here:
As per legend, Lord Murugan married Devasena
at Thiruparankundram
after the annihilation of Soora Padman. Indra, the king of Devas presented his
white elephant Airavata to Lord Murugan. When Lord Vishnu wanted to meet the
couple, they travelled on the elephant and appeared at Thirumagaral
for Lord Vishnu.
Subbaraya
Pillai got cured of paralysis here:
A person named Subbaraya Pillai from Salem was affected
by paralysis due to which his body parts below his hip stopped functioning. He
went to several hospitals consulting different medical practitioners and
several temples for relief. However, all his efforts went in vain. Finally, he
visited this
temple, worshipped Lord Shiva here sincerely and got cured from his
disease.
People
worshipped Lord Shiva here:
Agastya and two asuras namely Maaharan & Maalayan
worshiped Lord Shiva of this
temple.
