Panchavarnaswamy Temple, Woraiyur – The Temple
Panchavarnaswamy
temple complex has three prakarams (outer courtyard) and a five-tiered Rajagopuram (gateway
tower). Moolavar is called as Panchavarneswarar and Mother is called as Kanthimathi
Ammai. Theertham is Shiva Theertham and Naga Theertham. Sthala Vriksham is Vilwam
Tree. At the entrance, a beautiful and richly decorated Nandi greets the
visitor. The temple has a maha Mandapam, ardha mandapam and a sanctum
sanctorum. The central shrine faces east and holds the image of Panchavarna Swamy
(Shiva) in the form of lingam made of granite.
Lord
Shiva of the temple is a Swayambumurthy. Lord showed five colours – golden
yellow, white, red, black and smoke ash – to Lord Brahmma, hence praised as
Aivanna Perumal in Tamil and Panchavarneswarar in Sanskrit – Lord of five
colours. The devotee can observe the change of colours in the Linga during each
puja. The Shivalingam held in worship here is very small in size. The sanctum
faces east while the Ambal shrine faces south.
Lord
Shiva is known as Panchavarneswarar as he is said to have manifested himself
in 5 different colours to Utanga Munivar. The shrine for Utanga Munivar is
situated directly across the main sanctum. Goddess Kanthimathi Ammai, the
consort of Panchavarneswarar adorns Ankusham and Lotus in her two hands and
faces north. Close to the shrine, one can see the images of Mahavishnu, the sun
god, Lord Saneeswara and Kala Bhairavamurthy.
In the
Arthamandapam, at the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum, there are two
brilliant six feet tall Dwarapalakas with typical 8th century features. Both
the images are brilliantly decorated. The 4 feet tall granite idol of
Chandikeswara inside the shrine on the northern side is one of the tallest
granite idols. There are shrines to Ambal, Vinayakar, Subramanyar and
Mahalakshmi here. The pillared hall has a number of exquisite carvings like the
multi faced Ganapathy, Thandava Shiva and Kali.
The
granite images of the deities Ganesha (son of Shiva and god of wisdom), Murugan (son of Shiva and god of war), Nandi (the bull and vehicle of Shiva) and Navagraha (nine planetary deities) are located in the hall
leading to the sanctum. As in other Shiva temples of Tamilnadu, the first
precinct or the walls around the sanctum of Panchavarnaswamy has images
of Dakshinamurthy (Shiva as the
Teacher), Durga (warrior-goddess) and Chandikeswarar (a saint and devotee of Shiva). The second
precinct is surrounded by granite walls.
The
temple has many interesting legends. One such is that when the Chola King
Veeravathithan's elephant became uncontrollable, a cock suddenly appeared and
disciplined the elephant and disappeared. There is a description of this legend
in the temple panels. Incidentally the place where the temple is located is
also called Kozhiyur (place of cock) and the Lord of the temple is also named
after it. Another interesting fact is that a cock suddenly appeared inside the
temple one day, a few years ago, and since then it is staying there, without
being disturbed by the temple activities.
The
temple is replete with sculptural work depicting legends associated with the
temple. For instance there are wondrous pieces of sculpture on some of
the temple pillars that appear as four women from one angle, and as a horse
from another. There are eight historical inscriptions in the temple, which are
recorded by Epigraphy India as 181-188 of 1907. One of them dated the fourth
year of a ruling Chola king records a gift of the village Atigunakapaganallur
to the maintenance of the temple.
The
historical introduction of Chola king Rajendra
Chola I can be traced in the
inscription. Another inscription on the north wall of the presiding deity
during the seventh year of Raja
Raja Chola I mentions
Rajasraya-Chaturvedimangalam in Uraiyur-kurram, a subdivision in
Keralankata-valanadu. The temple is mentioned as Udaiyar tiurndaitalai Mahadeva
at Tiru-uraiyur. The epigraph 51 of 1890 on a rock called Cholamparai near
Uraiyur, mentions a record of Tribhuvanachakravartin
Tribhuvanavira-Vikramadeva. This temple was renovated in the year 2002.