Saatchi Boodeshwarar Temple, Pazhayanur,
Thiruvalangadu, Thiruvallur
Saatchi Boodeshwarar Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated
to Lord Shiva located at Pazhayanur Village near Thiruvalangadu in Thiruvallur
District of Tamilnadu. The village is associated with the famous legend
‘Pazhayanur Neeli Kanneer (false tears)’.
Legends
A married merchant while travelling in Kasi city,
marries another beautiful girl, loving her at first sight. He along with his
new wife and her brother come back to his village near Pazhayanur. On reaching
his village, the merchant remembers his earlier wife and fears for showing his
new love to her. Without hesitation, he takes his brother in law to a nearby
pond and drowns him. When his new wife enquires about her brother, the merchant
takes her to the pond acting as if they are out for search, unabashedly kills
the new wed wife too in the same pond.
The dead woman comes out as a wandering spirit (Neeli in
Tamil), and carrying the brother ghost as her kid, follows the merchant. The
merchant nearing his village, crosses Pazhayanur. Night falls and the merchant
had to take rest. The Velalars (today’s merchant community) of Pazhayanur are
known for their wisdom and integrity. They welcome the guest of their village,
feed him and request him to take rest there and go to his native the next day. The
“Neeli”, the ghost appears in the disguise of his true wife along with the kid
and requests before the Village heads that the merchant had ignored her and is
running away from her.
She pleads with them to unite them. The merchant knows
very well that there is no chance of his wife appearing at that spot, fearing
the worst, refuses to have the woman with him. The guests are intrigued and ask
the merchant to have his wife and kid with him that night, in the same room, as
it was already late night. Neeli, the ghost is smart and asks the village
headmen to make her husband remove the sacred knife he carries along to thwart
evils, saying that it is disgusting that a man does not even believe his own
wife and carries a sword.
She also adds that she fears for her life and that of
her kid, that this man may kill them when they are fast asleep. Seeing her sob
and narrate a pathetic story, the village head men believe her and order the
merchant to have her in his room. The village head men 70 of them, the Velalars
back the Neeli for staying with the merchant. With no other choice, the
merchant agrees, but asks guarantee for his life.
The village heads (63 of them) promise that if something
untoward happens to the merchant, they will also perish themselves, jumping
into the fire, before the Shivalinga of Pazhayanur. And as expected, the worse
happens. The Neeli kills the merchant, throws away the ghost kid on her way
back to hell besides, crushes the kid ghost beneath her feet and disappears.
The village headmen, on seeing the gory death of their guest, feel they are
responsible for his death, plunge into the big fire before the Shivalinga.
One head man who is left out, is again called by the
Neeli, (taking the form of the wife of the headman himself), asking him why he
is alone here, while the others have jumped to death, to keep up their promise.
The headman, was ploughing the field by then. Hearing that his brethren have
perished, slays his head off with the plough edge and suicides himself to keep
up the promise.
The
Temple
This is the temple in front of which the famous incident
of 79 velalars burnt themselves to death to keep their promise because of
Neeli. The place of their death, the Satchibudeswarar Shivalinga and the temple
where the oath was taken, are still seen in this village. The very site
which witnessed this story of courageous village headmen, who kept their
promise to uphold their promise and village law, also the place where the Neeli
crushed the ghost kid, all are seen still today.
A memorial is built in the place where the village head
men jumped to death, and was opened for common public by the Chief Justice of
Madras High Court. The three kings, Chera, Chola and Pandya have sung in praise
of this sacrifice, so had sung the mystic poets Sekkizhar, Tirugnanasambandar
and Umapathy Sivam. The memorial is a cement sculpture showing a person dunking
into flames and around it is a square pavilion where stone reliefs which depict
various people and incidents around this massacre.
Connectivity
For brief details, please refer below link;