Velladainatha Swami Temple, Thirukarugavur – Legends
Lord Shiva feeding Sundarar:
During
his pilgrimage, Saivite Saint Sundarar came to this place to worship Shiva, but
could not find the temple as the place was a dense jungle then. He sadly
continued his journey with his followers. When he felt very hungry, an old man
came to him and said that he was feeding Shiva devotees at a nearby place and
asked him to come there for a lunch. Sundarar and his followers enjoyed a
good feast coupled with hospitality of the host. After the lunch,
Sundarar slept for a while as he was very tired then.
When he
woke up, he found neither the feeding camp nor any sign of feeding event. He
realized that it was Lord Shiva who quenched his hunger. Lord Shiva
appeared before Sundarar and showed him the temple. This Feeding event is
celebrated as a great festival on the Full Moon Day of the month of Chithirai
(April-May) in the temple. Devotees believe that worshipping the Lord here
would ensure them a life free of hunger.
Tirugnana Sambandar prayed to Lord Shiva for absolving
his sins for killing Jains:
Tirugnana
Sambandar as a child devotee of Lord Shiva and blessed with a high degree of
poetic abilities by Mother Parvathi, fought the Jains who waged a war against
Saivism. According to the literary history of Tamilnadu, it was Child
Sambandar and the ripe old Saivite saint, who had a firsthand knowledge and
experience of the Jain designs, fought the war together. In the various
challenges Sambandar was drawn, he defeated the Jains and re-established the
glory of Saivism in Tamilnadu and almost eliminated Jainism from the Tamil
soil.
As was
agreed between Sambandar and the Jains, the latter were hanged after Sambandar
won every challenge. However, Sambandar had to incur the sin of causing
the death of the Jains and wanted to go to Kasi to make amends for the
sin. He prayed for the permission of Lord Shiva in Sirkali to proceed to
Kasi. Lord appeared before Sambandar and brought Ganga here itself. The
child saint had a dip in holy Ganga and got relieved of the sin. A temple
was erected here later.
River
Ganga sprang in the well here on the New Moon day in the Thai month
(January-February). Based on this story, the holy spring is opened for the use
of devotees on this day only and will be closed during the rest of the year.
Vishnu in the form of Rishaba worshipped Shiva here:
Vishnu
is said to have taken the form of a white Rishabam and prayed to Shiva, hence
Velvidai, Rishabapuram, and Vishnupuram.
Shiva made Kuberan to gift Gems to poor devotee:
It is
also believed that Shiva caused Guberan to provide a poor devotee with a gift
of gems hence the name Ratnankureswarar.
Story behind the name Kurukavur:
Agni in
the guise of a pigeon had tested King Sibi and to regain his original form,
created a river and offered its waters in prayer to Shiva, hence Kurukavur.