Subramanya Swamy Temple, Ettukudi – Legends
As per legend, the region was under the control of Chola
King in ancient period. He ordered a sculptor from Porulvaitha
Cheri village to sculpt an idol of Lord Murugan for safeguarding the
region. He sculpted an idol of the Lord Murugan with six faces on peacock. The
Chola king was so impressed with the idol and wanted the idol to be unique one
of its kind in his kingdom. Seeing the beauty of the idol, the jealous Chola
king cut off the thumb of the sculptor so that he could not do another one for
anybody.
The king installed the Murugan Idol in the Sikkal.
The sculptor moved to another village and found a stone suitable for making an
idol. He started sculpting another Murugan idol exactly similar to the previous
idol with lot of dedication and devotion. A local chieftain named Mutharasan
was ruling over the
village. The chieftain noticed the hard work of the sculptor and was
visiting him regularly to enjoy the beauty of the idol.
While the idol was nearing completion rays of light flew
from the idol and the peacock bearing Lord Muruga began to fly. The sculptor lost
his eye sight on seeing this incident. He screamed out to catch (Etti Pidi
means catch in Tamil) the peacock. The chieftain along with his soldiers were
entering the sculptor house during that time. Hearing his scream, the soldiers
caught hold of the peacock and made a scar on the leg.
Thus, the name of the
place came to be called as Ettipidi and later got corrupted to Ettukudi.
The chieftain built a temple
at this village and installed the idol in the
temple. The sculptor was able to sculpt a third idol with the help
of his daughter as he lost the eyesight at Ettukudi.
The third idol was installed in Enkan
and the sculptor got back his vision and thumb. All the three idols
respectively in Sikkal,
Ettukudi
and Enkan
are similar in look.
The
place was surrounded by Shiva Sthalams in all eight
directions. Hence, the place came to be called as Ettukkudi.
Another explanation is that the place was abound with Etti Trees in ancient time.
Thus, the place came to be called as Ettukudi.
It is said that Vanmeega Siddhar attained salvation here. His Jeeva Samadhi is
situated in the
temple premises.