Veeratteswarar Temple, Keezha Parasalur – Legends
Thiruppariyalur:
Daksha was one of
the Prajapati, son of Brahma, and among his foremost creations. The
name Daksha means "skilled one". Daksha had two wives:
Prasoothi and Panchajani (Virini). Sati (also known as ‘‘Uma’’) was his
youngest daughter; born from Prasoothi (the daughter of the Prajapati Manu),
she was the pet child of Daksha and he always carried her with him. Sati
(meaning truth) is also called Dakshayani as she followed Daksha’s path; this
is derived from the Sanskrit words Daksha and Ayana (walk
or path).
Sati, the youngest daughter
of Daksha, was deeply in love with the god Shiva and wished to
become his wife. Her worship and devotion of Shiva strengthened her immense
desire to become his wife. However, Daksha did not like his daughter’s yearning
for Shiva, mainly because he was a Prajapati and the son of the
god Brahma; his daughter Sati was a royal princess. They were wealthy
nobility and their imperial royal lifestyle was entirely different from that of
Shiva.
As an emperor, Daksha wanted to
increase his influence and power by making marriage alliances with powerful
empires and influential sages and gods. Shiva on the other hand led a very
modest life. He lived among the downtrodden, wore a tiger skin, smeared ashes
on his body, had thick locks of matted hair, and begged with a skull as bowl.
His abode was Mount Kailash in the Himalayas. He embraced all kinds
of living beings and did not make any distinction between good souls and bad
souls.
The Bhutaganas, his
followers, consisted of all kinds of ghosts, demons, ghouls and goblins. He
wandered through garden and graveyard alike. As a consequence, Daksha had
aversion towards Shiva being his daughter’s companion. However, unlike Daksha,
Sati loved Shiva as she had the revelation that Shiva was the Supreme God. Sati
won Shiva as her husband by undergoing severe austerities (tapas). Despite
Daksha's disappointment, Sati married Shiva.
Once Brahma conducted a
huge yajna (sacrifice), where all the Prajapatis, gods and kings of
the world were invited. Shiva and Sati were also called on to participate in
the yajna. All of them came for the yajna and sat in the ceremonial place.
Daksha came last. When he arrived, everyone in the yajna, with the exception of
Brahma, Shiva and Sati, stood up showing reverence for him. Brahma being
Daksha's father and Shiva being Daksha's son-in-law were considered superior in
stature to Daksha.
Daksha misunderstood Shiva’s
gesture and considered Shiva's gesture as an insult. Daksha vowed to take
revenge on the insult in the same manner. Daksha’s grudge towards Shiva grew
after Brahma's yajna. With the prime motive of insulting Shiva, Daksha
initiated a great yajna, similar to that of Brahma. The yajna was to be
presided over by the sage Bhrigu. He invited all the gods, Prajapatis and
kings to attend the yajna and intentionally avoided inviting Shiva and Sati.
After the sacrifice and hymns
where offered to the twelve Aditya gods; Dadhichi noticed that there was no
sacrificial portion (Havvis) allotted to Shiva and his wife, and no Vedic hymns
were used in the yajna addressing Shiva which were part of Vedic hymns. He
warned Daksha that he should not alter the Holy Vedas for personal reasons; the
priests and sages supported this. Daksha replied to Dadhichi that he would not
do so and insulted Shiva. Dadhichi left the yajna because of this argument.
Sati came to know about the
grand yajna organized by her father and asked Shiva to attend the yajna. Shiva
refused her request, saying that it was inappropriate to attend a function
without being invited. He reminded her that she was now his wife more than
Daksha’s daughter and, after marriage, is a member of Shiva’s family rather
than Daksha’s. The feeling of her bond to her parents overpowered the social
etiquette she had to follow.
She even had a notion that there
was no need to have received an invitation in order to attend as she was
Daksha’s favourite daughter and no formality existed between them. She
constantly pleaded and urged Shiva to let her attend the ceremony and became
adamant in her demands without listening to the reasons Shiva provided for not
attending the function. He allowed Sati to go to her parents' home, along with
his followers including Nandi, and attend the ceremony, but refused to
accompany with her.
Upon arriving, Sati tried to
meet her parents and sisters; Daksha was arrogant and avoided interacting with
Sati. He repeatedly snubbed her in front of all the dignitaries, but Sati
maintained her composure. Because of Sati’s persistence in trying to meet him,
Daksha reacted vehemently, insulting her in front of all the other guests at
the ceremony to which she had not been invited. He called Shiva an atheist and
cremation ground dweller.
As planned, he took advantage of
the situation and continued shouting repugnant words against Shiva. Sati felt
deep remorse for not listening to her beloved husband. Daksha’s disdain towards
her, and especially her husband Shiva, in front of all the guests was growing
each moment she stood there. The shameless insult and humiliation of her and
her beloved, eventually became too much to bear.
She cursed Daksha for acting so
atrociously toward her and Shiva and reminded him that his haughty behaviour
had blinded his intellect. She cursed him and warned that the wrath of Shiva
would destroy him and his empire. Unable to bear further humiliation, Sati
committed suicide by jumping into the sacrificial fire. The onlookers tried to
save her, but it was too late. They were only able to retrieve the
half-burnt body of Sati.
Daksha's pride in being a
Prajapati and his prejudice against his son-in-law created a mass hatred within
himself, which resulted in the death of his daughter. The Nandi and the
accompanying Bhootaganas left the yajna place after the incident. Nandi cursed
the participants and Bhrigu reacted by cursing the Bhootaganas back. Lord Shiva
was deeply pained upon hearing of his wife's death.
His grief grew into a terrible
anger when he realized how Daksha had viciously plotted a treachery against
him; but it was his innocent wife who fell into the trap instead of him. Lord Shiva
learned of Daksha’s callous behaviour towards Sati. Shiva's rage became so
intense that he plucked a lock of hair from his head and smashed it on the
ground, breaking it into two with his leg.
Armed and frightening, two
fearsome beings Virabhadra and Bhadrakali (Rudrakali) emerged. Lord Shiva
ordered them to kill Daksha and destroy the yajna. The ferocious Virabhadra and
Bhadrakali, along with the Bhutaganas, reached the yajna spot. The invitees
renounced the yajna and started running away from the turmoil. Sage Bhrigu
created an army with his divine penance powers to resist Shiva’s attack and
protect the yajna.
Bhrigu’s army was demolished and
the entire premises were ravaged. All those who participated, even the other
Prajapatis and the gods, were mercilessly beaten, wounded or even slaughtered. The
nose of some goddesses were cut, Yama's staff bone was broken, Mitra's
eyes were pulled out, Indra was trampled by Virabhadra and
Bhutaganas, Pushan's teeth were knocked out, Chandra was beaten
heavily, all of the Prajapatis' were beaten, the hands of Vahini were cut off,
and Bhrigu's beard was cut off.
Daksha was caught and
decapitated, the attack culminated when the Bhutaganas started plucking out
Bhrigu’s white beard as a victory souvenir. As the obstruction of the yajna
will create havoc and severe ill effects on the nature, Brahma and the
god Vishnu went to the grief-stricken Lord Shiva. They comforted and
showed their sympathy towards Shiva. They requested him to come to the yajna
location and pacify the Bhutaganas and allow the Yaga to be completed; Shiva
agreed.
Lord Shiva found the burnt body
of Sati. Lord Shiva gave permission to continue yajna. Daksha was absolved by
Shiva and the head of a ram (Male goat) meant for yajna was fixed on the
decapitated body of Daksha and gave his life back. The yajna was completed
successfully. Daksha realized his
mistake, composed a prayer poem called Chamakam here and prayed to Lord Shiva
for forgiveness. Pleased with his prayers, Lord Shiva told him that Chamakam will
be added as supplement to the Sri Rudram and will be recited together in
future.
It is believed that the Rudra Homam / Rudra Abhishekam
started from this
temple. It is said that Daksha selected this
place to conduct his yagna. Hence, the
place came to be called as Daksha
Puri. As Lord Shiva withdrew (Parithal in Tamil) the boons granted to
Daksha, this
place came to be called as Thiru
Pariyalur. The temple tank is regarded as the sacrificial altar
of Daksha. The altar can be seen at the bottom of the temple tank when it is
dry.
It is believed that this is the first temple for Lord Veerabhadra.
Veerabhadra is also praised as Akasha Bhairavar, Aghora Veerabhadra,
Periyandavar and Pethandavar. Lord Veerabhadra punished Surya by knocking out
his tooth for participating in Daksha Yagna. Surya also begged forgiveness from
Lord Shiva and has a separate shrine in this
temple. It is said that Surya worships Lord Siva here every day for the
wrong that he has committed.
Devas worshipped Lord
Shiva here:
As per legend, Devas worshipped Lord Shiva here and got
rid of the fear caused by demon named Taraka.
People worshipped Lord
Shiva here:
It is believed that Lord Vishnu, Lakshmi, Brahma,
Saraswathi, Indra, Agni, Yama, Niruthi, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera, Saptharishis and
all other celestial gods have worshipped Lord Shiva in this
temple.