Narumboonatha Swamy Temple, Thiruppudaimarudhur –
Legends
Surendara Moksha Theertham:
There
was a king called Surendra who killed another king in a battle. He was
affected by the sin and wanted to get rid of it. He meditated Shiva. Lord
Shiva gave him a Brahmadhand and told that this will go to sea and get back to land;
wherever it stops you build a temple. He built the temple. Also the Lord asked
him to travel to Himalayas to search for a statue of Mother Gomathi. He did
search and found which was completely made of Rudraksha.
With
that, he completed building the temple. He bathed in Thamirabarani River near the temple and got salvation. This is called
"Surendara Moksha Theertham". It is believed that if one takes bath
there, all sorts of sins are dissolved including "Brahmahatti Dosha".
Indra got cured of Brahmahatti Dosha here:
Indira,
the king of Devas once held Jupiter in high esteem as his Guru. As Jupiter
did not give much respect to him, he adopted Viswarupan a demon as his Guru
then. Indira came to know that Viswarupan was more concerned with the welfare
of his own community ignoring that of the Devas and performing yagnas for the
demons. Indira simply killed Viswarupan by strangulating his neck and incurred
the Brahmahatti sin for committing the murder. Indira came to this place
with his wife Indirani, bathed in the Surendra Moksha Theertha on the banks of
Tambiraparani, performed penance on Lord Shiva and got relieved of the sin.
Story behind the name Marudhur:
Indiran
did penance under the Marudha tree and got the Dharshan of Lord Shiva and so
this place was called Marudhur.
Leaning Posture of Lord Shiva:
Karuvur
Chithar, celebrated Shiva devotee came to this place to worship Shiva. When
he reached the northern bank of Tambiraparani, the river was in full flow and
could not cross the river to reach the temple. He spoke to Lord Shiva
saying, “Being in the midst of Marudha trees spilling fragrance from their
flowers, can’t you help me to reach you.” Lord just leaned on a side to hear
Chithar more clearly keeping his hand on the ears. The Lord advised
Karuvur Chithar to simply cross the river with his thoughts resting on
him. Chithar did so and worshipped the Lord to his full satisfaction. As
the Lord leaned on a side to hear Chithar, He is found leaning on a side.
Equivalent to Kasi:
The
Devas – those in the celestial world – once begged the Lord to show them a
place on earth equal to Kasi-Varanasi. Lord asked them to place his
Brahmmadanda on the floor which moved towards River Tambiraparani and stood at
Tirupudaimarudur where the temple stands today. Lord Shiva said that the
place where the Brahmmadanda stopped was the place equal to Kasi.
Shiva in the form of Deer gave darshan to King
Veeramarthanda:
The
region was under the rule of Veeramarthanda then. He came to this place dense
with Marudha trees for hunting. He targeted a deer which hid itself in the
hole of a tree. The king ordered to cut the tree to get the deer
out. But blood came out of the tree where the king found a Shivalinga with
a hit on the head caused by the instrument. He heard a voice saying that
Shiva himself graced them through the deer. He built the temple as
directed by the Lord.
Shiva appeared to Manu from Marudham Tree:
Sage
Agasthiyar requested the son of Brahma, Manu to visit this place. At that time,
the three goddesses—Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Bhoomadevi were worshipping Lord
Shiva. When Manu appeared, the goddess hid themselves in the Arjuna tree called
Maruthamaram in Tamizh. When Manu wanted to destroy the tree Shiva intervened
and prevented him from doing so. The town and temple take their name from this
tree and is called as Thiruppudaimarudhur.
Arjuna Tree:
Continuing with
the association with Arjuna trees, there are three important temples associated
with the same tree – at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, Thiruvidaimarudhur near
Thanjavur and Thiruppudaimarudhur. The Lord at Srisailam is Mallikarjuna, and
the temple itself is called Mallikarjunam, for the Lord is said to represent
the top of the Arjuna tree, its head, so to speak, with the flowers. At
Thiruvidaimarudhur, He is the trunk, and here, at Thiruppudaimarudhur, he is
the base. Together, they represent the Arjuna tree in its entirety.
Idol of Goddess Gomati:
The idol
of Goddess Gomati is made up of Rudraksha and it was brought here from Komal
hills as per the advice from a divine voice.
People worshipped Shiva here:
Suyambumanu
(son of Lord Brahmma), Karuvur Siddhar, King Veera Marthanda, Indiran,
Indirani, Agasthiyar, Parvathi, Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Bhoomadevi worshipped
Lord Shiva here.