Nootreteeswarar Temple, Chinnakavanam – Legends
Two Presiding Deities:
In olden
days this place was called Chathurvethapuram and the main deity is called
Chadurvedeeswarar with Goddess Sivagami Ammai. On his way to Kasi, Sage
Agasthya came here to worship Chadurvedeeswarar when he got the divine message
that worshipping a Shivalingam under the Eranzhil tree here for 108 days will
be equivalent to going to Kasi. So, he created a lingam every day with the sand
of the nearby Brahma Aranya river and worshipped them for 108 days.
But on
the final day, all the 108 lingams merged themselves into a single Vinayaka
idol for the simple reason that he did not start the worship with Vinayaka as
per custom. Then Lord Shiva gave Dharshan to Agasthya in the form of Vinayaka.
The 108 lingams which got merged into a Vinayaka are present under the Eranjil
tree in the name of Ankola Ganapathy. In spite of many hundreds of years of
exposure to nature’s elements the sand made Vinayakar is still looking fine.
Since
all his 108 lingams got merged into a Vinayaka, Agasthya then installed another
lingam called Nootreteeswarar which is considered equivalent to the original
108 lingams. In the sanctum sanctorum we can see both Nootreteeswarar and
Chadurvedeeswarar in the form of lingams in separate shrines. Also, there are
two Nandhis for the two lingams.
Sage Agastya built 108 temples on the banks of
Kuchasthalai River:
As per
another legend, the sage Agastya emptied the oceans to reveal the demons lead
by Vritrasura. It enabled the Devas to find and kill them. However, a lot of
living beings in the ocean lost their lives without water. Due to this sin, the
sage got severe stomach pain. He approached Lord Subramanya in the site called Thiruthani.
He advised the sage to construct 108 temples for Lord Shiva to get rid of his
pain. He created a river called Kuchasthalai river and built 108 temples on the
banks of that river. It is said that Nootreteeswarar temple in Chinnakavanam is
the 108th temple.
