Pages

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Agniswarar Temple, Kanjanur – The Temple

Agniswarar Temple, Kanjanur – The Temple
This Temple is facing towards east with five tiered Rajagopuram and has two prakarams. The Raja Gopuram is facing south towards the River Cauvery. Kodimara Vinayagar, Dhwaja Sthambam, Balipeedam and Nandi can be found facing the sanctum. Dhwaja Sthambam is located inside the Mandapam. There is another two-tiered Gopuram at the entrance of the Sanctum Sanctorum. The Artha Mandapam follows Vovval Nethi style architecture.


The Sanctum Sanctorum consists of Sanctum, Antrala and Artha Mandapam. Presiding Deity is called as Agneeswarar and is facing east. Lord is a Swayambumurthi. A special feature of the Linga of Agniswarar is that it absorbs all the oil poured on it during the process of Abishekam. Narthana Vinayaka, Brahma, Dakshinamurthy, Lingothbhava and Durga are the Koshta Idols located around the sanctum walls.


Chandikeswarar can be found in his usual location. Normally, Lord Dakshinamurthy (Guru) is always seen with a demon Muyalagan being crushed under his feet or tortoise or four rishis. But here, an idol of Haradatta sitting at his feet along with Muyalagan can be seen. It is a unique feature in this temple. There is no separate shrine for Lord Sukra as Lord Shiva himself is believed to have incarnated as Venus here.


Mother is called as Karpagambikai. She is housed in a separate east facing shrine. Her Shrine is situated on the right side of sanctum. The idol of Goddess Aadhi Karpagambikai can be found near Mother shrine. Nataraja Sabha in this Temple is called as Mukthi Mandapam. It houses stone idols of Nataraja and his consort Shivagami. The Shiva Thandavam here is called as Mukthi Thandavam.


There are shrines and idols of  Karpaga Vinayaka, Mayura Subrahmanya, Nalvar, Surya, Kalikkama Nayanar, Manakanchara Nayanar, Vishwanathar, Mahalakshmi, Anjaneya, Chandra, Saneeswarar, Navagrahas and Bhairava can be seen in the temple premises. Idols of Haradatta and Suraikkai Bhakthar with his wife can be seen in the prakaram. Idols and sculptures depicting legends related to Haradatta Sivachariyar can be seen in the temple premises.

The idol of the stone Nandhi called as Pullunda Nandhi can be seen in the prakaram. It is believed that Nandi is said to have taken the grass from Haradatta. There is a Linga called Kamsa Lingam, said to have been installed by Kamsa, uncle of Lord Krishna, in the outer prakaram. There is a shrine for Mathisoodumperuman along with his consort Umadevi to the south of the sanctum.


Theerthams associated with this Temple are Agni Theertham, Brahma Theertham (Cauvery River), Manikarnika Theertham, Chandra Theertham, Anjaneya Theertham and Parasara Theertham. Sthala Vriksham is Purasu / Palasa tree. The vilva tree in this temple is unique as it comes in bunches of five leaves instead of the usual three leaves.  There is a shrine for Haradatta below the banyan tree at the entrance of the town. He is seen offering Pooja to Lord Shiva in this shrine.