Kutram Porutha Naathar Temple,
Thalaignayiru – Legends
Kutram Porutha Naathar:
Meganathan, son of Ravana, was
also called as Indrajit, as he won against Indra in a battle. Once, Indrajit
was flying in his Pushpaka Vimanam across the sky. Suddenly the flight of
the Vimanam was impeded. When he looked down, he understood that he was
flying over Lord Shiva’s temple and so this impediment had happened to him.
Indrajit came down and worshipped the Lingam after taking bath in the sacred Theertham.
He also tried to shift this
wonderful Lingam to Lankapuri. But he could not and fell unconscious in
the process. Ravana came to know about this incident. He surrendered
to the Lord’s feet, pleaded to him to pardon his son and bestow blessings on
him. Lord forgave Indrajit. As Lord Shiva pardoned Indrajit for his mistake,
he came to be called as Kutram
Porutha Nathar (Kutram – mistake, Porutha – to pardon & Nathar –
Lord Shiva).
Aparadha Kshameswarar:
Once, Indra, the king of Devas,
visited Mount Kailasa, the abode of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva in the guise of
Bhooda Gana appeared before him. Indra is said to have attacked the Bhooda Gana
with his Vajrayudha without realising that the Bhooda Gana was none other than
Lord Shiva. Soon, Indra realized his mistake and visited this place for seeking
forgiveness. Lord Shiva is said to have forgiven him for his hasty act of
aggression. Hence, Lord Shiva came to be called as Aparadha Kshameswarar in
Sanskrit and Kutram Porutha Nathar in Tamil. Also, the
place came to be called as Karma Nasa Puram.
Lord Hanuman worshipped Lord Shiva here for relief from
a curse:
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.
Lord Shiva appeared before him and advised him to go to Thalai
Gnayiru for relief. As instructed, Lord Hanuman visited Thalai
Gnayiru, worshipped Lord Shiva and got relief from the curse.
Mada Kovils:
Kochengat Chola was an
early Chola king and one of the 63 Nayanmars (Saivite saints)
of Saivism. He is believed to have attained spiritual rebirth of a
spider that fought with an elephant in its previous birth over the worship of
the Lord Shiva. He had red eyes during birth as he remained in his
mother’s womb a little longer. His mother, looking into the baby red eyes said
Kochengkannano (in Tamil Ko=king, Cheng=red, Kan=eyes), which
literally means king with red eyes and hence he was named Kochengat
Cholan. After becoming a king, he followed Saivism and built 70 Maadakovils,
temples with elevated structure where elephants cannot reach the
sanctum, in the Chola empire. It is believed that this is one of the
temple built by him.
King Vichitraangan blessed with child boon here:
Vichitraangan, king of Sindh
Kingdom along with his wife Suseelai went to pilgrimage and visited several
Shiva temples for Child boon. It is believed that they visited this
temple and realised their wish after worshipping Lord Shiva of this temple.
The King built this
magnificent temple in gratitude.
Karuppariyalur:
Those who come, and worship
here will not be in the mother’s womb in the next janma are the
belief i.e. they will not be born again. The traditional belief is that they
will reach the feet of Lord Siva. Hence, this holy place is called Karuppariyalur.
Saint Thirugnana Sambanthar also mentions about Karu Pariyal of those who
worship Lord Shiva here in his Devaram Hymns.
Lord Brahma informed Sage Vasishta about the importance
of this place:
Once, Lord Brahma informed Sage
Vasishta about the greatness of this
place. Lord Brahma said that the good deeds performed in this
holy place would multiply tenfold. Sage Vasishta visited this
place after hearing the importance of this place from Lord Brahma.
Sage Vasishta installed a Lingam and worshipped it sincerely. Lord Shiva
blessed him with highest wisdom.
Thalai Gnayiru:
It is believed that this place
is considered as the first place where Lord Surya worshipped Lord Shive. Hence,
the place came to be called as Thalai
Gnayiru (Thalai means first and Gnayiru means Surya in Tamil). This
place is also called as Adityapuri
(Aditya means Surya and Puri means place).
Kokudi Koil:
Sthala Vriksham of this
temple is Kokudi Mullai, a variety of jasmine. Hence, the temple
came to be called as Kokudi Koil. Saint Thirugnana Sambandar and Sundarar have
mentioned this
temple as Kokudi Koil in their hymns.
Mela Kazhi:
As this
temple is situated on the western side of Sirkazhi,
this place also gets the name Mela
Kazhi (Mela means west).
72 Maha Rishis attained salvation here:
It is said that 72 Maha Rishis
including Angirasa, Gauthama, Vamadeva and Kabali have worshiped Lord Shiva
here and attained salvation.
Other Names:
The
place was called as Adityapuri, Karma Naasa Puram, Melai
Kazhi, Thiru Karuppariyalur, Kokudi Koil, Kallar Kottai, Yuthigavanam and Thalaignayiru.
