Viswanatha Swamy Temple,
Thepperumanallur – Naga Worship
There are several miracles and
unique things about this temple. There is a recorded incident of a
Cobra offering Vilva leaves to the Lord on the solar eclipse day on Jan 15,
2010. This was captured in both video and still photos and reported
in all the newspapers. Locals noticed a cobra entering the temple and
lying on top of the Shiva Linga minutes before the Solar Eclipse started, at
around 10:30 am. Later the Snake slowly descended from the Lingam and went
towards Vilwa tree which is Sthala Vriksham - Holy tree of the temple. It
climbed the tree and picked a Vilwa leaf and returned back to Sanctum. Locals noticed that the snake hissed at every
devotee that tried to go near it. It again climbed onto the Shiva Linga and
opened its hood only to drop the Vilwa leaf on Lord Shiva.
The
cobra did not stop at that, it repeated it again and again for few times. Once
the news spread, in and around the village, hundreds of villagers rushed to the
temple to have the magnificent and glorious Darshan of Lord Shiva with Cobra
lying above him. The
name Naga Viswanathar is in connection with his equation with
snakes. The outer skin of snakes which gets peeled off periodically
(Pambu Chattai in Tamil) is seen in the shrine on number of occasions.
