Margabandheeshwarar Temple, Virinchipuram – Legends
Lord Brahma as Shivasarma submitted his inability to
Lord Shiva:
Lord Brahma was born as Shivasarma here in a priest
family. When Shivasarma father died at his early days, Shivasarma was to
undertake the pooja responsibilities as a small boy. Shivasarma’s relatives had
planned to take away the priest’s rights and land from them and so they warned
that his rights and land will be taken away, if he does not perform the pooja
when his turn comes up.
Shivasarma’s mother prayed to Margapandeswarar and he
appeared in her dream. It was the last Saturday night of the Karthigai month.
The next morning, Shivasarma took bath in the Brahma Theertham and Lord Shiva
came as an elderly person & conducted the Upanayanam, Brahmopadhesam and
Shiva Dhiksha to Shivasarma and disappeared as Mahalingam in the temple tank
bund.
The small boy was then paraded on an elephant with
the holy water pot and the temple door opened automatically to everyone’s
surprise. As if he was very experienced in the pooja procedures, he conducted
the pooja activities to Swarna Ganapathy and while attempting to do the
Abhishekam for the Margabandheeshwarar, as a small boy, he was unable to reach
the head of the lingam. He then submitted his inability to Lord Shiva.
Margabandheeshwarar Lingam in a slightly tilted
position:
In another legend, once Brahma and Vishnu got into
an ego battle and they set out to reach the head and foot of Lord Shiva but
both failed. Brahma lied to Shiva that he had seen the head with Thazhampoo as
a false witness but here Lord Brahma accepted his inability to reach the head
of Lord Shiva and offered his failure to the Lord himself. Lord Shiva, then
bowed his head to accept the Abhishekam and Brahma got his curse cleared off
and attained salvation. So, the Margabandheeshwarar lingam can be seen in
a slightly tilted position here.
Vazhi Thunai Nathar:
Dhanabalan, a Kundala Desa pepper merchant lost his
loads to thieves. He prayed to Lord Shiva and he came as a soldier on a horse
and not only retrieved the pepper loads but also accompanied Dhanabalan till
Kanchipuram. Due to this he is called ‘Vazhi Thunai Nathar’ in Tamil and
Margabandhu in Sanskrit (Marga meaning way and Bandhu meaning company).
Beejakshara Pradhishtai to Simha Theertham:
Aadhi Shankara had done the Beejakshara Pradhishtai
to the Simha Theertham of the temple
Birth Place of Sri Appayya Dikshitar:
This is the birth place of Sri Appayya Dikshitar
(1520-1593), the greatest interpreter of Advaita Siddhantha after Adhi Sankara.
His Margabandhu stotram on this Margabandheeshwarar is for the protection of
people while on journey. By reciting this one can have Lord Shiva with them as
Marga-bandhu (protector during journey) along their journey.
People worshipped Lord Shiva here:
Gowri Devi, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord
Sriharan had worshipped here.
Bhaskara Kshetram:
This temple is also known as ‘Bhaskara Kshetram’
because the Sun God is said to worship the Linga when its rays fall on it in
the month of Panguni.
Virinchipuram:
The name of the place as Virinchipuram came from the
legend that the temple was worshipped by Brahma, i.e., Virinchi.
Gowripuram:
The Theertham of this temple is said to be created
by Gowri Devi and so, this place is also known as Gowripuram.
Other Names:
Vishnupuram and Margabandheeswaram are also the
other names of the place.