Thirunandheeswarar Temple, Manavur – Legends
Thirunandheeswarar
& Nandhi Theertham:
Nandhi Bhagavan, initiated a sacred water source, which
is now serving as the temple tank, took holy dip in the beautiful temple pond,
worshipped lord Shiva and got his curse relieved. Hence the temple tank has the
name Nandi Theertham and the Lord is called Thirunandeeswarar. It is also
believed that Ganga Devi who captivated in Lord Shiva’s Head, is the source of
water flow to this temple tank.
Manavur:
Lord Shiva after his celestial dance performance in
Thiruvalangadu, which Karaikal Ammaiyar witnessed, came to Manavur and gave
darshan to sage Agasthiar with his consort Ananthavalli. There is a famous
saying "ஆடியது ஆலங்காட்டில், அமர்ந்தது திருவூறலில், மணந்தது மணவூரில்". Which means,
Lord Shiva danced in Thiruvalangadu, rested in Thiruvooral (now known as
Thakkolam) and married Parvathi at Manavur. Hence the village got the name Manavur.
Temple
Door:
It is also being said that when this temple was well
maintained, the doors of this temple, when closed, the bell sound will be heard
in Chidambaram, only after which the Chidambaram temple will be closed. Also,
during mogul invasion, the villagers, in a measure to save such beautiful
doors, seem to have hid these doors, by throwing it in the village pond.
Construction
of Rajagopuram:
There was story for the construction of Rajagopuram.
When they tried to construct the Rajagopuram and do the Kumbabishekam, faced
lot of problems and work was moving in a snail space. After prasannam they came
to know that the delay was due to neglect of Ganapathy temple in front of
Rajagopuram. After Kumbabishekam was performed to Rajaganapathy, they could
able to construct the Rajagopuram without any hurdle.
