Pallikondeswarar Temple, Surutapalli – Legends
Origin of Pradosham:
Once
Indra, the King of Gods, while riding on his white elephant Iravadha came
across Sage Durvasa who offered him a special garland. Indra accepted
the garland but without giving much importance he gave it to his elephant.
Iravadha was irritated by the smell of the flowers in the garland and therefore
threw the garland on the floor and stamped on it. This act enraged sage Durvasa as he got the garland from “Sridevi” as prasadam.
Immediately Durvasa cursed Indra and all devas to be bereft of all strength,
energy, and fortune.
Due to
this curse, in the battles that followed Devas were defeated and Asuras led by Mahabali Chakravarthy, gained control of
the universe. Devas sought help from Lord Vishnu who advised them to take the path of diplomacy
with Asuras and the only way to regain lost glory was to drink
Amrutham/nectar. Devas came to an agreement with asuras to jointly churn the
ocean for the nectar of immortality and to share it among them. However, Lord
Vishu told Devas that he would ensure Amrutha (Nectar) does not get to Asuras.
During
the Samudra Manthan (churning) of the Ocean of Milk Mount Mandaranchal was used
as the dasher (churning tool), and Vasuki, the king of serpents, became the
churning rope. The gods held the tail of the snake, while the demons (Asuras)
held its head, and they pulled on it alternately causing the mountain to
rotate, which in turn churned the ocean. However, once the mountain was placed
on the ocean, it began to sink. With request from both Devas
and Asuras Lord Vishnu took the form of a turtle (Kurma avatar), came to their rescue and supported the mountain on
his back.
Halahala
Poison was the first to come when churning started and this terrified the Devas
and Asuras because, the poison was so toxic that it might have destroyed all of
creation. On the advice of Vishnu, both Devas and Asuras approached Shiva for help and protection. Out of compassion for
living beings, Shiva drank the poison. It was so potent that it changed the
color of Shiva's neck to blue and therefore he is also called Neelakantha (the
blue-necked one, Nila =
"blue", kantha = "throat"). Parvati immediately realized
the deeds of Shiva and put her hand to stop the poison from entering Lord
Shiva’s body.
After
the episode, Shiva proceeded to his abode Kailash with Parvati. On the way, he felt exhausted and
slightly uncomfortable, when he reached a place in the bounds of Andhra, which
came to be called Suruttuppalli. There, he lied down to relax, keeping his head
in the lap of Parvati. The gods, who were concerned about Shiva’s well-being
assembled there and stood around him, waiting for the Lord to open his eyes.
This lying posture of Shiva is rare and unique, is almost similar to Vishnu’s
reclining posture.
As soon
as the effect of poison diminished and Lord
Shiva came back to normalcy all
Devas and Asuras wanted to have his Darshan. When they approach Nandi (Sacred
Bull) for permission to see Lord Shiva, Nandi refused and asked them to pray
and wait since, Lord Shiva and Parvati were together. On waking up, he found
that everyone was happy and feeling relieved since a big disaster was averted.
So,
happily, he then began his cosmic dance, Anantha Thandavam, on top of the
forehead of Rishaba Vahana accompanied by Devendhran reciting flute,
Mahalakshmi singing dance, Brahma playing the jalra, Mahavishnu playing the
mridangam in the presence of all the Devars and Rishis. This period when Lord
Shiva gave them Darshan is known as Pradosha
Kalam. Pradhosha, generally, is a
significant occasion observed with great piety at all Siva temples. It is
believed that Pradosham is originated here.
Valmikeswarar & Ramalingeswarar:
Sage
Valmiki prayed to Lord Rama and the Lord gave him darshan. After defeating
Ravana, and before reaching Ayodhya, Rama stayed at this place. So, the two
together prayed to Lord Siva. The Lingam, which Valmiki prayed to, is called Valmikeswarar
and the one Rama prayed to is Ramalingeswarar. At present these two Lingams
face each other.
Lava & Kusa visit to this Temple:
Unknowingly
twins Lava and Kusa fought with his father Rama over the Ashwamedha Yaga horse.
To get salvation from this they visited many Shiva temples along with Sage
Valmiki. This is one of the Temples visited by them.
Pancha Brahma Sthalams:
The
river Brahma Aranya was believed to have been created by Lord Brahma. Once when
he churned the Arani wood (Arani means fire) to create fire to start the Yagna
for Sage Romesa, fire came out initially but on churning further, water came
out of it and flown as a river. Since this was created by Lord Brahma from the
Arani wood, this is called Brahma Aranya river.
The
Brahma Aranya river flows from Andhra Pradesh and merges with sea at
Pazhaverkadu. Many sages have meditated at the banks of this river and created
many temples. Out of these, in five places they have contained all their
meditative powers into Shivalingams and built temples. They are called Pancha
Brahma Sthalams, representing the five faces of Lord Shiva and they are:
1.
Ramagiri alias Thirukaarikarai in Andhra near Surutapalli/ Nagalapuram
representing Ishana face of Lord Shiva
2. Pallikondeswaram
alias Surutapalli representing Tatpurusha face
3. Vamadhevapuram
alias Arani near Periyapalayam (not North Arcot) representing Vamadeva face.
4. Varamoorthy
Kshetram alias Ariyathurai representing Satyojatha face.
5. South
Gokarnam alias Chinthamaneeswaram – Kattur near Minjur, the place where Brahma
Aranya river merges with sea representing Aghora face of Lord Shiva.
All
these temples are many thousand years old and since they have been created by
Sages, the base of the lingam (Avudayar) will be in square shape.