Dandeeswarar Temple, Velachery – Legends
Vedasreni:
During Tretha
Yuga, the Four Vedas were snatched away from Lord Brahmma by the demon
Somasura. Lord Vishnu recovered them from the demon. As the Vedas remained with
the demon for some time, their sanctity was lost as they had acquired an asura Dosha.
They prayed to Lord Shiva at this place to become pure and holy again. Lord
Shiva purified the Vedas here and restored them to their original glory. The
place where the four Vedas prayed was known as Vedasreni, which got changed in
the later yugas and now called as Velachery.
Velvichery:
As per
another version, a lot of yagnas were conducted in this village. Yagna is
called as Velvi in Tamil language. The place was called as Velvichery, which
later became Velachery.
Dandeeswarar:
The
legend also has it that during Dwapara Yuga, when Yama came to snatch away the
life of Markandeya, the Pasakkayiru fell on the Siva Lingam which Markandeya
was hugging. Angered over this act, Lord Shiva snatched the Dhandam of Yama. On
the advice of Sage Narada, Yama created a temple pond here and worshipped the Lord
Shiva and got back his Dhandam. Hence the Lord Shiva here is called as
Dandeeswarar and the temple pond created by Yama is called Yama Theertham.
Association of Appaya Dikshitar with this Temple:
Appaya
Dikshitar, a great Sanskrit savant hailing from Adaipalan, in North Arcot
district, is believed to have consecrated the shrine of Goddess Karunambikai in
this temple. He was an erudite scholar who translated the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata
into lucid prose. He was a devotee of Lord Shiva and propitiated him every day.
The rulers of Vijayanagara and Nayak dynasties respected him.
King
Chinnabomman, who ruled Vellore, performed kanakabishekam for him. Appaya
Dikshitar stayed in Vedasreni (Velachery) and conducted a Yaga and worshipped Dandeeswarar.
He also visited Thiruvanmiyur and worshipped Marundeeswarar. It is believed
that since Appaya Dikshitar wanted to worship the deity, Lord Marundeeswarar turned
west. Sabapathy Siddhar and Ambalavana Swamigal also worshipped the deity.
Lord Veerabhadra is along with the Kannikas:
Saptha
Kannikas, the seven virgins set out to destroy a demon, killed a sage by mistake. The
demon also came to know that the Kannikas would be coming to kill him. While
being afflicted with the Dosha of killing the sage by mistake, the Kannikas
were also afraid of the demon. To protect the Kannikas, Lord Shiva deputed
Veerabhadra. He killed the demon and also protected the virgins. Based on this
incident, Lord Veerabhadra is along with the Kannikas as their guardian
deity.