Pages

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Thandeswarar Temple, Kozhumam – The Temple

Thandeswarar Temple, Kozhumam – The Temple
This is an east facing temple with an uncompleted Rajagopuram and an entrance arch on the southern side. Dwajastambam, Balipeedam and Nandhi can be found immediately after the entrance arch facing sanctum. The sanctum sanctorum consists of sanctum, antarala, Artha mandapam and Maha Mandapam. There are shrines of Bala Murugan and Ganapathi on either side of the entrance of the Maha Mandapam.




Presiding Deity is called as Thandeswarar / Chozheeswarar and is facing east. He is housed in the sanctum in the form of Lingam. Dakshinamurthy and Durgai are the Koshta Idols located around the sanctum walls. Dakshinamurthy in this temple has only two disciples against the four according the tradition. But four disciples are found doing penance in the sanctum sanctorum wall.




Mother is called as Periyanayaki / Brihannayagi. She is housed in a separate east facing shrine. Jyestha Devi can be found in the front side of Mother Shrine.  Sabha mandapam is in an elevated level with steps to climb. There is a shrine for Lord Nataraja (Thandeswarar) in the Temple premises. He appears here too with one leg upward as in Chidambaram temple. The idol is 5.5 feet tall. Hence, the shrine is known as Then Chidambaram (Chidambaram of the South).




There are shrines for Vinayagar, Agneeswarar, Chandikeswarar, Kala Bairavar, Navagrahas, Saneeswarar, Suryan and Naalvar in the Temple premises. Sthala Vriksham is Vilwa Tree. Theertham associated with this Temple is Amaravathy River. Inscriptions dated to 13th century AD can be found around sanctum walls, kumudam and Sabha mandapam, Adhishtanam and Kumudam. The inscriptions mainly speaks about the donations given to the temple.