Vasishteswarar Temple,
Karanthai – The Temple
The temple is facing east but
the entrance to the temple complex is from the south side with a two tier
Rajagopuram. Nandi, Dwajastambam and Balipeedam are located in the Maratha
Period Mandapam. Shrines of Nardana Ganapthy, Murugan, Vinayaga, Saneeswarar,
Surya and Bhairava can be found in the next Mandapam. There is another Gopuram
at the rear entrance of the Temple. The Temple is having two prakaram. The
Temple has entrances on all four sides. There are two entrances to inner
prakaram; one in the east and other is in the south.
The sanctum sanctorum consists
of Sanctum, antarala, Arthamandapam. The Sanctum is on the Padmabhanda
adhistana. Presiding Deity is called as Vasishteswarar / Karunaswamy /
Karuvelayuthaswamy. Presiding Deity is housed in the sanctum in the form of
Lingam. He is facing east. Dwarapalakas guards the entrance of the sanctum.
Also, Vinayaga and Murugan can be found at the entrance of the sanctum. The
sanctum sanctorum is of Agazhi type. The vimana and the external wall of the
main shrine are beautiful with a lot of attractive sculptures.
Thirugnanasambanthar,
Vasishtha, Rishi Pattini, Vinayagar, Vakeesar, Nataraja, Gangalamoorthy, Murugan,
Durga, Dakshinamurthy, Gangadhara, Arthanareeswarar, Lingothbhavar, Kalarimoorthy,
Gantharar, Visarjanar, Brahma, Veenadhara Dakshinamurthy, Kalasamharamoorthy,
Bikshadana, Kalyana Sundarar, Agastya, Vishnu and Tirunavukkarasar are the nice
images found on the sanctum walls. The Ardhanareeshwara image in the niche
of the sanctum shows Parvathi devi constituting the right half of Shiva, in
contrast to the norm, where she occupies his left. Chandikeswarar Shrine is
found in its usual location.
Mother is called as Periya
Nayagi Amman / Tiripura Sundari. She is housed in a separate shrine in the
Arthamandapam facing south with a separate Nandhi and Dwajastambam immediately
after the south side Rajagopuram. The vavalnethi Arthamandapam was built during
Maratha period. There are shrines for Adhi Vinayagar, Lord Subramanya with his
consorts Valli & Devasena, 7 Lingas, Jwarahareswarar, Gajalakshmi,
Nataraja, Navagrahas, Bhairavar and Nagas in the outer prakaram.
Palliayarai and Vahana
Mandapam can also be found in the outer prakaram. There are four shrines dedicated
to Vinayagar on each corner of the outer prakaram. There is a shrine for Bala
Dhandayudhapani on the western entrance in the outer prakaram. Outer Prakaram
is dated to Maratha Period. Theertham (Temple Tank) is called as Vasishtha
Theertham and is situated opposite to the Temple. Sthala Vriksham is Vanni
Tree.
