Vaikal Nathar Temple, Vaikal –
Legends
Mukkan Kshetram:
There are three Shiva temples in
Vaikal Village namely;
·
Vaikal
Maada Kovil (Vaikal Nathar Temple)
It is said that these three
temples represent the three eyes of Lord Shiva. Hence, these three temples are
collectively called as Mukkan Kshetram or Moondru Kan Kshetram. Moondru means
Three, Kan means eye and Kshetram means holy place in Tamil. All these three
temples are situated within a radius of one Kilometer. It is said that Kasi
Viswanathar Temple represents the right eye of Lord Shiva, Brahmapureeswarar
Temple represents the left eye of Lord Shiva and Vaikalnathar
Temple represents the eye on Lord Shiva’s forehead.
Mahalakshmi penance on Lord Shiva to get back Lord
Vishnu:
Mother Earth (Bhoomidevi) requested
Lord Vishnu to marry her. Lord Vishnu accepted her request and married her.
Mother Maha Lakshmi was angered by this marriage, left Lord Vishnu and came to this
place. This
place was then called as Shenbaga Vanam (the place was abounded with
Shenbaga trees). She performed rigorous penance on Lord Shiva at Vaikalnathar
Temple to get back Lord Vishnu.
Meanwhile, Lord Vishnu and
Bhooma Devi came in search of Mother Lakshmi. Both of them worshipped Lord
Shiva at Kasi
Viswanathar Temple. Lord Brahma also came to this
place in search of Lord Vishnu and worshiped Lord Shiva at Brahmapureeswarar
Temple. Lord Shiva advised Lakshmi to accept the marriage of Vishnu and
Bhoodevi. Lakshmi accepted the advice of Lord Shiva and reunited with Lord
Vishnu at this
place.
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.
Ants and Elephant attained salvation here:
As per legend, once, an elephant
was searching for its calf and mistakenly, it damaged an anthill. The ants bit
the elephant and killed it out of rage. It is said that both the calf and the
ants prayed to Lord Shiva here. The baby elephant was consoled for its loss and
the ants were pardoned for their sins. Both attained salvation by the grace of
Lord Shiva.
Shenbakaranyeswarar:
It is said that this place was a
forest abounded with Shenbaga trees. Hence, the place came to be called as Shenbagaranyam
and Lord came to be called as Shenbakaranyeswarar.
People worshipped Lord Shiva here:
Lord Vishnu, Goddess Lakshmi, Lord
Brahma, Indra, Surya, Devas and Sage Agasthya had worshiped Lord Shiva in this
Temple.
Vaikal:
Vaikal (Vai Kuru Kal) means
small hill in Tamil.
