Karuppariyalur Kutram Porutha Naathar Temple – Legends
Story behind the name Kutram Porutha Naathar:
Meganaathan
was the son of Ravana. Since he won Lord Indra in the war, he was
known as ‘Indrajit’. Once, Indrajit was flying in his Pushpaka vimanam across
the sky. Suddenly the flight of the vimanam was impeded. When he
looked down he understood that he was flying over Siva’s temple and so this impediment
had happened to him. Indrajit was sad and he worshipped the deity of this place
after taking bath in the sacred theertham.
He also
tried to shift this wonderful Lingam to Lankapuri. But he could not and
fell unconscious in the process. Ravana came to know about this
incident. He surrendered to the Lord’s feet, pleaded to him to pardon his
son and bestow blessings on him. The kind Lord did so. Hence, the
deity of this sacred place is called ‘Kutram Porutha Naathar’.
Another version of the story behind the name Kutram
Porutha Naathar:
According
to the legend, Indiran, the king of Devas, is said to have attacked Shiva with
his Vajrayutham and Shiva is said to have forgiven him for his hasty act of
aggression. Hence Lord Shiva is known here as Aparadha Kshameswarar in Sanskrit
and is referred as Kutram Porutha Nathar in Tamil.
King Vichitraangan blessed with Children by praying
here:
King
Vichitraangan with his wife Suseelai came to this place and worshipped to beget
issues. He was blessed with a child and the happy King erected this beautiful
temple – so says history.
Surya worshipped Shiva here:
Since Sun
god worshipped in this place, this place came to be known as
‘Thalaignaayiru’.
Brahma informed Vasishta about the importance of this
Temple:
Lord
Brahma informed the sage Vasishta that all the good deeds performed in this
holy place would multiply tenfold. The legend states that sage
Vasishta installed a Lingam here, worshipped it and blessed with highest
wisdom.
72 maharishis attained ‘Mukthi’ here:
72
maharishis have attained ‘Mukthi’ or liberation after worshipping the deity
here.
Karuppariyalur:
Those
who come and worship here will not be in the mother’s womb in the
next janma are the belief. That is, they will not be born
again. The traditional belief is that they will reach the feet of Lord
Siva. Hence, this holy place is called ‘Karuppariyalur’.
Relief of Hanuman’s dosham or curse:
Lord
Rama, in order to be relieved off the dosham of killing Ravana during the war,
wanted to perform Siva pooja. He asked Hanuman to bring a Sivalingam in a
few hours time. Hanuman accepted the command and went towards the northern
side. Since he did not return within the stipulated time, Lord Rama
created a Lingam in the sand, installed it and worshipped. Where Lord Rama
performed pooja to Lord Siva became ‘Rameswaram’.
Hanuman
was sad to know that the Lingam was installed before he returned. And he also
pulled that Lingam by binding it with his tail, but could not do so. Because
of his action, Hanuman was penalized. Lord Rama advised him that if he
performed tapasya to Lord Siva, he would get rid of the penalty.
Accordingly,
Hanuman did tapasya and Lord Siva appeared before him and said: “Hanuman! You
go to Kanmapuram also called Thalaignaayiru and worship. You will be relieved
of this curse.” Thus the Lord graced him. Hanuman, as directed by the
Lord, came to Thalaignaayiru, worshipped the deity and got free of his curse.
Surprised at the immense benevolence of Lord Siva, he installed a Lingam in his
own name at the North-eastern part of this sacred place and began worshipping
it. Now, this place is known as ‘Thirukkurakkaa’.
