Panangaateeswarar Temple, Panaiyapuram – Legends
Surya
penance on Lord Shiva:
The legend is that Dakshan (father of Goddess Parvathi)
once performed a yagna where he invited all the devas (celestial gods) but
intentionally left out Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was angered by this slight and
all the devas who attended the yagna and consumed the yagna-food (avirbhaagam),
became the object of his fury. Lord Shiva instructed Aghora Veerabhadrar to go
to Dakshan’s yagna-hall and punish all the devas.
Agora Veerabhadrar carried out the lord’s instruction
and as a result the Sun God (Suryan) who was one of the attendee lost his eye
sight and lustre. To seek Lord Shiva’s forgiveness, Suryan went to several holy
places and offered his prayers. It was finally at this place (Puravaar
Panangkattur) that Suryan’s eye sight and his brightness were restored. Hence,
Lord Shiva is also praised here as “Kan parithu aruliya kadavul” (the God who
took and later restored the eye sight).
As Suryan got back his brightness at this temple, it is
believed that every year, he worships Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi for a
period of seven days from the 1st day of the Tamil New year by illuminating
the idols in the two sanctums i.e directly on the lord as well as the Ambal
bathing them from top to bottom as he transits from morning to evening.
So, all sannidhis of the temple face east.
King
Sibi's sacrifice:
One day, Indra and Agni wanted to test him and appeared
before him in the form of a vulture and dove. When the vulture chased down its prey
to eat it, the dove sought refuge in the lap of King Sibi. Sibi requested
the vulture to let go of the dove. The vulture refused as he was hungry and
asked the King to let go of his rightful meal. The King asked the vulture if he
would be satisfied with flesh equal to the weight of the dove to let go of it.
The vulture accepted. The King asked for a pair of scales, and without
hesitation, sliced a portion of his thigh and placed it on the scales to equal
the weight of the dove.
It is believed that Goddess Parvati (Satyambigai) was
pleased with King Sibi's sacrifice and righteousness and gave him moksha at this palm grove (Panangadu in Tamil) which is
why it was called " Puravar Panangattur" in ancient times. The
later Cholas are said to be descendants of King Sibi which was why they assumed
the title of "Sembian" and rightfully they have built a beautiful
temple at the spot associated with King Sibi.
Puravaar
Panangaatoor:
To distinguish it from the other holy places, this was
named ‘Puravaar Panangattur’ since it was surrounded by thick woods (puravu:
grove, wood / forest). As this holy place was enclosed by the woods of Mullai
region, the place is called ‘Puravaar Panangaatoor’.