Uthira Vaidhya Lingeswarar
Temple, Kattur – Legends
Uthira
Vaidhya Lingeswarar:
As per the legend, as all the
celestial beings went to Himalayas to attend the divine marriage of Lord Shiva
and Parvati, the earth lost its balance. To balance the earth, Shiva asked the
sage Agastya to travel towards the southern direction. Due to greatness of this
sage, he was equivalent to all the celestial beings and as soon as he moved to
the southern direction, the earth was balanced back. Agastya did not want to
miss the wedding. With the help of Lord Shiva, he got the divine sight and
watched the divine marriage in many sites in South India.
This
temple is one such site where he got the
darshan of divine marriage. It is also said that Shiva
Linga was installed by him. Sage Agastya was fascinated by the natural settings of the area
and decided to perform penance. During his stay, the villagers were affected by
some unknown illness and approached him for cure. Sage Agastya worshipped Lord
Shiva and requested him to provide a solution.
Lord Shiva advised the sage to
excavate a pond, perform pooja to the Linga with the water drawn from the
Theertham and offer this Theertha water to the villagers. As per Lord Shiva
advise, Sage Agastya offered the Theertha water to villagers and they got cured
after consuming the Theertha water. As Lord Shiva cured the disease of the
villagers and the
temple is situated to the north of Vaitheeswaran
Kovil Vaidyanathar Temple, Lord Shiva came to be called as Uthira Vaidhya
Lingeswarar.
Maraikattur:
During ancient times, several sages,
saints and religious people stayed in this place and performed vedic rituals.
Hence, the place came to be called as Maraikattur
/ Maraiyur (Marai meaning Vedha).
People
worshipped Lord Shiva here:
It is believed that Thiruporur
Chidambaram Swamigal, Sage Brihu, Sage Gauthama, Sage Kashyapa and Sage Atri had
worshipped Lord Shiva here.
