Uma Maheswarar Temple, Konerirajapuram – Legends
Swayambu Nataraja:
As per legend, Chola King Gandaraditya and his wife
Sembian Mahadevi asked the Sthapathi (Sculptor in Tamil) to create a huge
life-size panchaloha idol of Nataraja. Despite his continuous efforts, the
sculptor was unable to make an idol taller than 3 feet. The king gave him last
chance to work on the idol but warned him that if he did not accomplish his
task before the deadline, his head would be chopped off. The Sthapathi was not
able to cast a Nataraja idol as desired by the king.
The Sthapathi was very depressed as he had just a day
more to present his work. The worried and frantic sculptor prayed to Lord Shiva
for help. While he was thinking about the casting of the idol of Nataraja, Lord
Shiva and Goddess Parvathi came to his house in the form of an elderly couple
and asked for some water to quench their thirst. As the sculptor was engrossed
in his work and out of frustration, he told them to drink the molten metal.
The elderly couple immediately drank the molten metal
and instantly turned into a beautiful idol of Nataraja and Sivakami. The
sculptor realized that the elderly couple was none other than Lord Shiva and
Goddess Parvathy. The Chola King walked in the same time and was extremely
happy to see the statues. The sculptor was speechless by the love and affection
of god shown towards him and could not able to believe that Lord Shiva had come
himself to help him make the icons and saved his life.
Later, the sculptor conveyed the whole incident to the king.
However, the Chola king refused to believe the incident. He hit the lifted
right foot of the Nataraja idol with his sword. To his astonishment, the idol
started bleeding profusely. He was immediately afflicted with leprosy. The
king surrendered to Lord Shiva and asked for forgiveness.
Lord Shiva appeared before him and informed that Lord
Shiva would be present here as Vaidyanatha Swamy and the king should offer
prayers for 42 days to get relief. He did it accordingly and got
relief. The idol still bears the mark of the sword cut made by the
king. The image of Nataraja has moles and body hairs like the human beings. In
some versions, the king ordered the casting of Nataraja was mentioned as King
Varaguna Pandya.
King Pururavas got cured of leprosy here:
As per legend, King Pururavas was suffering from leprosy.
He visited several Shiva temples seeking relief. Finally, he reached this temple, took bath in Cauvery river and worshiped Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva advised
him to worship Lord Vaidyanatha Swami in this temple. As advised, he worshipped
Lord Vaidyanatha Swami and was cured of his illness.
The king performed poojas to this lord and was cured of
his illness. As a token of gratitude, he constructed the Vimana with gold
coverings and arranged Brahmotsavams during Vaikasi Visakam. Hence it is
believed that those having incurable diseases, visit this place for cure. The
mantras believed to be chanted by the King Pururavas is inscribed on the wall
of this temple.
Lord Shiva granted his
wedding darshan to Sage Agastya here:
As per the legend, as all the celestial beings were
assembled in Kailash to witness the sacred marriage of Shiva and Parvati
and on account of it, the earth was tilted towards North. To balance the earth,
Lord Shiva asked the sage Agastya to travel towards the southern direction. Due
to greatness of this sage, he was equivalent to all the celestial beings and as
soon as he moved to the southern direction, the earth was balanced back.
Agastya did not want to miss the wedding. Hence he
sought a boon from Lord Shiva that whenever he wants the darshan of divine
marriage, Lord Shiva has to give his marriage darshan. Lord Shiva accepted his
request. Due to his boon, he got the darshan of divine marriage in many sites
in South India. This temple is considered as one such site where he got the
darshan of divine marriage.
Bhoominathar:
As per legend, this temple was originally constructed by
goddess Bhooma Devi on the advice of Lord Vishnu. Hence, the place came to be
called as Bhoomiswaram and Lord Shiva came to be called as Bhoominathar. It is
believed that the Shivalinga here was sculpted by Vishwakarma, as per the
instructions of Bhooma Devi. She took bath in the Brahma Theertham situated
opposite to the temple and worshipped Lord Shiva here. It is believed that the
Brahma Theertham contains sacred ganges and other holy theerthas. The mantras
believed to be chanted by Bhooma Devi is inscribed on the wall of this temple.
Yama worshipped goddess
Durga here:
As per legend, Lord Yama, the god of death was in utter
shock after being kicked by Lord Shiva in Thirukadaiyur to save Sage Markandeya.
He came to this temple and worshipped goddess Durga here to recover from his
shock.
Nala and Damayanti worshipped Saneeswarar here:
As per legend, Nala and Damayanti worshipped Saneeswarar
in this temple to seek his blessings before proceeding to Thirunallar.
People worshipped Lord
Shiva here:
It is believed that Goddess Parvathy, Bhooma Devi,
Devas, Yama, Nandi, 16 Siddhars, Ashtadikpalakas, Agastya, Nala with his wife Damayanti
and King Pururavas had worshiped Lord Shiva of this temple.
