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Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Uthira Vaidhya Lingeswarar Temple, Kattur – Legends

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.