Laguleesar Cave Temple, Arittapatti, Madurai
Laguleesar Cave Temple is an ancient cave temple
dedicated to Lord Shiva located at Arittapatti near Melur in Madurai District
of Tamilnadu. Arittapatti is also called as Kalinjamalai
and Thiruppinaiyanmalai. This rock-cut Siva temple is now under the protection
of the ASI but it is still used for worship by the locals and is called
Idaichchi Mandapam. This Temple is situated at the outskirts of Arittapatti.
Legends
Lakulisa
was born in Gujarat, and when a little boy, was struck by illness and given up
as dead. He was taken to the Ghats to be cremated, when he is supposed to have
"come back to life". He asked the people to leave him, and grew up in
the Ghats, with special mystical and spiritual powers. His name could mean
"Na-Kula-Isa" – a god with no Kula/ancestry. The popular meaning is
that it stands for the lord with the club. Lakulisa then grows up to become the
proponent of the Pasupatha dharma, a strongly ascetic, Saivite way of life.
He had
four main disciples - Kushika, Gargya, Maitreya and Kaurusha. His
disciples spread their dharma across ancient India. This Sect is very popular
among Nepalis. The presence of this Lakulisa in Arittapatti indicates that his
influence had spread so far south - in the 8th Century AD. The sect
had shrunk and became restricted to Gujarat and the Himalayan region including
Nepal by 15th Century AD.
The Cave
Temple
The
hillock which looks like a pack of rocks is steeped in 2300 years old history.
On one side of the hill are natural Jain caves called Pandava Padukkai and on
the other side, a rock-cut Siva temple. Pandava Padukkai has got nothing to do
with the Pandavas of Mahabharatham. Yet people assume the stone beds might have
been used by Pandavas during their exile. These are actually the beds used by
Jain saints.
The Siva
temple is a fine example of the early Pandya rock-cut temple architecture. This
is a simple but beautiful edifice, belongs to the 7th – 8th
century CE, has a garbhagriha and a front mandapa. Now the local
people call this temple as Idaichchi mandapam. There are
rectangular wall niches on either side of the sanctum entrance. Dvarapalas
sculptures, embraced by Brahmakanta pilasters are seen in these wall niches. These
Dvarapalas may be the later added structures.
The Siva
Linga of this temple has been chiseled in the centre of the same rock. The
bas-relief sculptures of the Vinayaka and Siva as Laguleesar adorn the two
niches of the exterior wall of the front Mandapa. This is one among the rare Laguleesar
sculptures found in Tamil Nadu. Another similar sculpture is found in
Kudimallam near Vellore. There are several sects in Saivism and one of them is
Lakulisa Pasupatham.
On the eastern face of the hill is a cavern with a
drip-ledge cut into the outer face of the rock. On the brow of the cave is
found a Brahmi inscription which has been dated to between the second and first century
B.C. The inscription, engraved as a single line with 33 letters and running for
3.10 metres, reads as follows:
“ilanjiy vel mapparavan makan
emayavan nalmuzhaukai kotupithavan”
It means, “Emayavan, son of Mapparavan, chief of
Ilanji, has caused the carving of this auspicious cave.”
Connectivity
The
Temple is situated on Melur – Alagar Kovil Route. The Temple is located at
about 8 Kms from Melur, 14 Kms from Alagar Kovil Kallazhagar Temple, 5 Kms from
Narasingampatti, 20 Kms from Mattuthavani Integrated Bus Terminus, 25 Kms from Madurai,
26 Kms from Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, 27 Kms from Madurai Railway
Junction, 27 Kms from Madurai Periyar Bus Stand and 35 Kms from Madurai
Airport.