Jayamkonda
Soleeswarar Temple, Nemam – The Temple
This is a west facing Temple with 5 tiered
Rajagopuram. The Rajagopuram is about 66 feet high. The Temple has two
prakarams. Presiding Deity is called as Jayamkonda Soleeswarar / Jayamkondeswarar and
is facing west. He is housed in the sanctum in the form of Lingam. There are
shrines for Vinayagar and Muruga on either side of the main shrine.
There is a desecrated idol of Mother can be found
outside the main shrine. It is believed to be the original idol of the Mother.
Usually, desecrated idol will not be kept for worship in any Hindu temple, but
here it is kept under active worship as per the wishes of Mother. Mother is
called as Soundaryanayaki. She is housed in a separate
south facing shrine.
Normally, in other Shiva
Temples, Bhairavar will be facing south, but here, he is facing west, which is
very unusual. There is a unique shrine for Lord Murugan can be found in the
Temple premises. He is gracing the devotees with a bow and arrow in his hand.
Lord Murugan was flanked by his consorts Valli & Deivanai.
There are shrines for Jayamkonda
Vinayakar, Vishwanathar, Visalakshi, Gajalakshmi and Durga in the Temple
premises. Sthala Vinayagar is housed in Avudaiyar. The ceiling of the temple
has a Rasi chakra representing all the Zodiac signs and also has paintings
related to Siva Puranam. Theertham associated with this Temple is Sozha
Theertham. There is also a shrine for Vinayaka near the tank.
The temple is
a treasure trove of art work and has richly ornamental pillars
and life size statutes from mythology. Some of the sculptures of
exceptional beauty that can be found in the temple are; a sculpture in which
the head is Vinayaka, the body is a female, one leg is a lion, and another is a
bullock, Meenakshi Kalyanam, Kalasamharamoorthy, Urdhava Thandavam, and Markandeya.
