Uthamar Temple, Manachanallur – Legends
Temple for Trinity:
There
are not many temples where the Great Trinity — Lords Narayana, Siva and Brahma
— are worshipped in the same premises, though in the temples in Suchindrum,
near Nagercoil, and in Thirukkannapuram, near Nannilam, the Shivalingam in the
former and the idol of Narayana in the latter, are said to represent the
Trinity. In the North, there is a separate temple for Lord Brahma at Pushkaram.
But in
the Chozha country there are two holy places sanctified by Azhwars' hymns where
there are temples for all the three Gods, not in one, but two places — in
Karambanur or Uthamar Koil or Bhikshandarkoil, near Srirangam and in
Thirukandiyur, near Thanjavur. Both these places are interlinked as Lord Siva
was cured of a curse partially when he visited Karambanur and fully when he
visited Thirukandiyur.
Etymology:
Vishnu
emerged as a Kadamba tree at this place, giving the name
"Kathambanur", which later became "Karambanur". The name
Karambanur is mentioned by Thirumangai
Azhwar in Nalayira
Divya Prabandam, in which he refers the presiding deity as "Karambanur
Uthaman". The temple is commonly called "Uthamar Kovil" after
the name of the presiding deity.
Brahmma got his shrine in this temple by praying Vishnu
here:
Lord
Brahmma the Creator had the grievance that he did not have a temple for himself
though he too held a position as high as the three Lords. Lord Vishnu made
him born on Earth. He was worshipping Lord Vishnu. To test his Bhakti,
Lord stood there as Kadhamba tree. Brahmma did not fail to recognize Vishnu
in tree form and began to perform pujas to the tree. Lord Vishnu told Lord
Brahmma that he had to continue his presence there with Pujas and that he would
be worshipped by devotees here even though there were no temples for him due to
the curses he incurred. Brahmma stayed here. A shrine was later built
for him.
Story of Bhikshatana:
As per Hindu
legend, Brahma and Shiva both had originally five heads. Parvathi, the wife of Shiva once got confused and
performed Patha pooja (ablution of feet, considered an act of
respect) to Brahma instead of Shiva. Shiva got enraged and cut off one of the
heads of Brahma. The cut head got stuck in his hand of Shiva on account of a
curse of Brahma. Shiva wanted to get rid of the sin holding the cut head of
Brahma and went on a sacred trip. While coming to this place, Vishnu requested
his consort Lakshmi to give alms to Shiva. Shiva's grail was filled by the alms and
Lakshmi came to be known as Poornavalli Thayar (the one who filled the grail).
To get
rid of the sin, Shiva worshipped Vishnu at this place as Bhikshadana, where a
part of his sin was relieved. He got his curse fully relieved after visiting
Vishnu at Thirukandiyur and taking a holy dip in the temple tank, Kamala
Pushkarani at Hara Saabha Vimocchana Perumal
Temple. After the incident, the
tank came to be known as Kapala Theertham (kapala indicates skull). Shiva
was pleased and he built the Hara Sabha Vimochana temple and also built a
temple for himself near it. Hence the temple is also called Bhikshandar Kovil
as the Hindu god Shiva is present in the form of Bhishadanar (a
mendicant) and believed to have attained cure by worshiping Vishnu at this
place.
Mahalakshmi requested Shiva to remove Brahma’s Head:
According
to another legend, it was Goddess Mahalakshmi, who requested Siva to remove one
of the heads of Brahma as Brahma looked so charming with five heads and she
feared that the Lord would shower all his affection on his son, ignoring her.
People worshipped Vishnu here:
Apart
from Lord Siva, King Mahabali and Bhrigu Maharishi also got rid of their sins
by worshipping the Lord here, according to legend.
Sage Bhrigu got rid of his curse:
According
to another legend, Sage Bhrigu, who visited the three Lords in their abodes to
test their superiority and kicked Lord Narayana on his chest, wanted to atone
for the sin by visiting all holy places. He got peace when he visited the
Kamala Kshetram.
Chandran absolved of his Sin:
The Moon, who committed the sin of seducing
his preceptor's wife and lost his charm and shape, was restored of them
partially when he took bath in the holy water source and worshipped the Lord
here.
King Janaka, Builder of this temple:
The
temple is said to be built by the king of Janakapuri named Janakar, father
of Goddess Sita. And later it was contributed by Chola kings and Madurai
Nayakars. Once when King Janaka was on a pilgrimage here, came here and
conducted a Yagna here. When everyone was praying with closed eyes, a dog
spoiled the sanctity of the yagna items. At the end of the yagna, the rishis
forgot the completion sloka of the Yagna. A Worried Janakar prayed to Perumal
and a sage coming that way told Janaka to pray to the Kadhamba tree there.
On doing
so, King Janaka heard the holy voice that informed about the spoiling of the
sanctity of the Yagna by the dog. So Janaka started another yagna with new
yagna items which completed successfully. Happy Janaka enquired the identity of
the Sage who guided him. The sage smiled and asked to worship the Kadhamba tree
again. On doing so, the Kadhamba tree which was nothing but the form of Vedas,
spilt into two and Purushothama Perumal in Sayana pose with Lord Brahma in his
Naabi lotus and Lord Shiva in Bitchadanar form by the side gave Dharshan. King
Janaka then built this temple.
King Sathkeerthivarthan blessed with Child by praying
here:
King
Sathkeerthivarthan begot a child by praying in this temple so he did
elaborate renovation by constructing the Mandapams, praharams here as thanks
giving. He started many temple functions as well.
Shiva demolished ego of Sages of Dharukavanam:
Once,
the rishis at Tharukavanam near here (now called Thirupparaithurai in the
Trichy-Kulitalai route) were very egoistic feeling that their knowledge and
spiritual powers are just sufficient to uplift the people. They felt God is not
at all needed since one’s karma only is responsible for the pain and pleasure
of him. Equally the rishis’ ladies were also very egoistic thinking that they
were the most beautiful of all the worlds including the Devaloka and the
consorts of the 3 moorthies.
Wanting
to teach a lesson, Shiva took the form of a beautiful full nude beggar with all
his sheen as Bitchadanar accompanied by Vishnu as Mohini. To teach the lesson
first for the ladies, they both went to Agraharam begging. On seeing such a
divine personality with a magnetic voice for the first time, the ladies forgot
themselves, forgot what they were doing and came to streets to see him. On
seeing the beauty of the Mohini (Vishnu), they felt ashamed and embarrassed
with their egoistic thinking about their beauty. Followed by the ladies of the
rishis, both Bitchadanar and Mohini went to Dharukavanam, where the rishis were
doing a Yagna.
On
getting furious over their ladies getting attracted towards this nude beggar,
the rishis did different things like creating an elephant, Tiger etc., through
yagnas, sending mantras and vedas to fight Bitchadanar but nothing could stand
in front of him. Shiva finally revealed his true identity and did a furious dance
in front of them. On knowing their mistake, the rishis at once surrendered to
Bitchadanar. The rishis learnt hard way that learning all the mantras and vedas
are only to promote the human lives and to do good to the society.
First teachings on Saivam here:
Sanaga,
Sananthana and Sanathkumaras are given the first teachings on Saivam here.
Markandeya Maharishi got Vishnu darshan here:
Markandeya
Maharishi was given the darshan of Perumal.
Purushothaman:
This
sthalaperumal is Purushothaman (Purushan + Uthaman). Purushan means husband and
Uthaman means a person who behaves and likes his wife and doesn't even think of
other women. Sri Ramar is the best example for Uthaman and he is said to be
"Eaga Pathini Vridhan". So this sthalam is named as "Uthamar
Koil" and Emberumanar is called as "Uthaman".
Kadhamba Sthalam:
This
Kadhamba Sthalam is the place where Gnana Thathuvam (explanation of Gnana) and
the explanation of Aanma Gnanam were explained.
Naga Linga Flower:
Doing
pooja in Naga linga flower is one of the specialties in this temple and it is
said to eradicate all the problems in our life.
4 Divya Desams in one go:
In
centuries gone by, Uthamar Koil formed part of ‘Foursome Divya Desam’ wherein
devotees used to first visit the Uraiyur (in Trichy), walk across the Cauvery
to the Ranganatha temple in Srirangam and then cross the Coloroon to Uthamar
Koil and then to Thiruvellarai, thus covering four Divya Desams in one go.
