Kundala Karaneshwarar
Temple, Thirukkurankaval – Legends
Kundala Karaneswarar:
After Lord
Rama vanquished Ravana in the battle of Ramayana, he was ready to
be returned to Ayodhya
to be crowned as King. Ravana, although a personification of evil, had acquired
his immense powers through years of penance and devotion to Lord Shiva. While Lord
Rama vanquished the evil that Ravana represented, he had at the same time
also vanquished a devout Bhakta of Lord Shiva. To atone for killing a
devotee of Lord Shiva, regardless of the justification, Lord Rama was
advised to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva at Rameshwaram in
South Tamil Nadu, within 2 days of the victory.
His devotee Lord
Hanuman was assigned the task of finding a Linga suitable for the
atonement-rituals. He was to be accompanied by Jatayu in his search. Lord
Hanuman and Jatayu searched high and low before finding one in
Northern India, near present day Kashi.
However, they found it difficult to get their hands onto the lingam as it was
guarded by Lord Kala Bhairava, another incarnation of Lord Shiva.
A battle ensued between Lord Hanuman and Lord Kala Bhairavar with
the former finally prevailing. Back in Rameshwaram,
time was running out.
With no sign of Lord
Hanuman or Jatayu, Lord Rama advised his consort Lord
Sita to prepare a Lingam out of the sea sand nearby. She did so, and this
was used for the atonement rituals. As the rituals were ending, Lord
Hanuman was sighted with the lingam in hand. However, on noticing that the
rituals were completed without his presence, he was extremely disappointed. He
tried prevailing on Lord Rama to use the lingam procured by him, for
the rituals, instead of the one constructed by Lord Sita.
In a bid to appease him, Lord
Rama suggested that if that were to be done, Lord Hanuman would
have to move aside the Lingam constructed by Lord Sita and place the
lingam brought by him, in its place. As hard as Lord Hanuman tried,
he could not move the lingam. Finally, he tried to wrap his tail around it and
yank it off the ground. The force he applied was so great that the Lingam did
get uprooted but landed a few miles away from Rameshwaram
in a place called Hanuman Pallam (pit created by Lord Hanuman). In
the process, his tail got separated from his body. Lord Hanuman realized
his folly.
It was pre-ordained that the Lingam
prepared by Lord Sita was to be used for the rituals and sought forgiveness
from Lord Rama and Sita to regrow his tail. Lord Rama suggested
to Lord Hanuman that he seek forgiveness from Lord
Shiva instead and suggested that Lord Hanuman should go for a
pilgrimage and visit a few Shiva temples to seek relief. Lord Hanuman visited Thirukkurankaval
and worshipped Lord Shiva for relief. He got his tail back in Thirukkurankaval.
Besides flowers, he also offered his ear rings (Kundalam) and secured the
pardon of Lord Shiva.
As the Lord was worshipped
with Kundalams, he came to be called as Kundala Karaneswarar. The place came to be called
as Kurankukka
named after Hanuman. Lord Shiva appeared before him and advised him to go to Thalai
Gnayiru nearby for complete relief. As instructed, Lord Hanuman visited
Thalai
Gnayiru, worshipped Lord Shiva and got relief from the curse. It is
said that a pack of monkeys enter the sanctum in the summer months of Chitirai
and Vaikasi make offerings of flowers to the deity even today.
People worshipped Lord Shiva here:
It is believed that Lord
Hanuman, Sage Agastya and Sage Markandeya worshipped Lord Shiva of this
temple.
