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Saturday, October 8, 2016

Iluppaipattu Neelakandeswarar Temple, Nagapattinam – Legends

Iluppaipattu Neelakandeswarar Temple, Nagapattinam – Legends
Parvathi saving Shiva by pressing his Neck:
During the churning of the milk ocean, serpent Vasuki used as the rope, was exhausted and spit its deadly venom. To protect the Devas and the world, Lord Shiva devoured the venom before it started spreading. To protect Shiva from the effect of the poison, Mother Parvathi pressed the neck of the Lord from behind so that the venom did not reach the stomach and made it stay at the neck itself. As Mother Parvathi stopped the poison from mixing with the Nectar, She is praised as Amirtha (nectar) Valli. She has her shrine behind Lord Shiva’s. As Mother Parvathi saved her husband, married women pray in the shrine for the longevity of their husbands and thereby their Mangalsutras. Mother’s left hand points to her feet.
Shiva appeared as Five Lingas to each Pandava Brothers:
Pandavas During their exile, Pandava brothers stayed in this place for some time. They could not get Shivalingas for their worship here. They lit lamps in the Iluppai nuts and worshipped the Lord in meditation. Lord granted darshan to them individually. They prayed to the Lord that he should grace all devotees from this place. He appeared then as five Shivalingas as prayed by the Pandava brothers. Hence, there are five Lingas (Panchalingas) in separates shrines in the temple.
Emperor Nala prayed here for reducing Saturn Effects:
Towards the end of the seven and half year rule of Saturn-Sani Bhagwan in his life, Emperor Nala was visiting Shiva temples.  Before visiting Thirukkadaiyur temple, he came to this temple and felt the impact of the effect of the planet reducing considerably. It is believed that worshipping here would greatly reduce the adverse effect of Sani Bhagwan during such times.