Karkadeswarar Temple,
Thirundudevankudi – Legends
Karkadeswarar:
According
to Hindu mythology, Sage Durvasa was engaged in his Shiva Puja when a
Gandharva (a community in the celestial world) mocked at his old age
appearance. The sage did not mind it. Yet, the Gandharva continued
the mischief and even called him by clapping hand moved before him as a
cancer-Nandu. Angry sage cursed him born a Nandu. Realizing his
folly, he sought the pardon of the sage. He was advised to perform Shiva Puja
to gain his original form. He came to this place as a Nandu, bathed in the
Pushkarini, picked up flowers and worshipped Lord Shiva with flowers.
Meantime,
Indira the king of Devas also came to this place to perform Shiva Puja as
advised by his Guru to acquire a power to conquer the demons. Varuna was given
the task of creating the flowers in the temple moat for Indra’s Pooja. He
used to bathe in the Pushkarini and did Shiva Puja with 1008 flowers. Indra ran
short of one flower during pooja one day. He inquired to Varuna about the
shortage of one flower. Varuna informed that he created 1008 flowers as per
Indra order.
This
shortage of one flower continued for few days. Indra himself decided to find
the reason behind this shortage. Finally, he noticed one of the flowers moving
out of the water into the sanctum through the drain onto the top of the
Shivalingam. When he examined closely, he found golden crab carrying the
flower from the waters. He thought that he was the only one worthy of
doing Shiva puja and a Nandu was not qualified for the puja and tried to kill
it with his sword.
Lord
made a hole in his Linga body to help the creature to escape Indira’s
attack. Yet, the Linga was injured by the sword cut. Lord appeared
before Indira and said that one cannot succeed by arrogance but by humility
alone. As Lord granted salvation to Karkadaka (Nandu), he came to be
called as Karkadeswarar. Indra realized his mistake and surrendered to the lord
asking him for forgiveness. Lord Shiva pardoned him. Because of Indra’s attempt
to strike the crab, a huge cut can still be seen on the Shivalingam.
As
Lord Indra tried to correct his mistake here, this
place gets the name Thirunthu
Devan Kudi (Thirunthu means correction, Devan refers to Lord Indra
and Kudi meaning village in Tamil). However, locals call this place as Nandaan
Koil. A scene of a crab offering worship to Lord Shiva is depicted
in one of the stone pillars inside the
temple. It is believed that the image of a golden crab can be seen
on the Sivalingam after performing some rituals.
Arumarundu Devar:
A
Swayambulinga existing in this place then got buried under the sand here. A Chola
king was ruling this place then. He had an attack of paralysis and no
doctor was able to cure him. He fell at the feet of Lord Shiva finally. An
aged couple came to his court, gave him the water dissolved with sacred
ashes. The king got up completely cured and requested them to stay in the
place as royal doctors which they declined. He offered them gifts of gold
which too they denied accepting.
When
the king asked them what exactly they wished, brought him to this place and
asked him to build a
temple where the Shivalinga was then and simply disappeared then.
The king understood that the visitors were but Lord Shiva and Mother Parvathi
and built the temple. Lord Shiva is also said to have revealed to him, the
medicines for other afflictions, hence the name Arumarundu Devar, the Lord
of Medicine and Healing.
Dhanvatri Visit to this Temple:
There
is another legend connecting Dhanvatri, God of medicine to this
temple. Dhanvatri was not getting certain rare herbs in
Devaloka and came to earth in search of them. At that time, he met Agasthya and
the Kuru Muni advised him to search for the herbs in Aushadavanam on the
northern banks of Kaveri. Dhanvatri came to this place and found a Shiva
Lingam. After praying the Lord, he started looking for the herbs. After some
time, he met an old man who introduced himself as Maha Vaidyanathan.
He
told Dhanvatri that it was he who planted all these plants and creepers which
are to be used as medicines. When Dhanvatri could not identify certain herbs,
the old man helped him in identifying them. He permitted Dhanvatri to take any
of these herbs and use them for curing those suffering from diseases. When they
were coming near the Shiva Lingam, the old man disappeared. Then only Dhanvatri
realised that the old man was none other than Lord Shiva.
He
stayed behind for some more time, offering his prayers and after completing his
collection, went back to Devaloka. It is believed that the vegetation covering the
temple is of medicinal value. It is speculated that in the days of
its glory, this village would have been a medical care center with an Ayurvedic
dispensary, providing herbal remedies to various ailments. In support of this,
a sculpture of an ayurvedic doctor preparing medicine is seen.