Vyagrapureeswarar Temple,
Thiruvengaivasal – Legends
Thiruvengaivasal:
As per legend, once celestial cow Kamadhenu was
late to attend the court of Indra. Indra banished the celestial cow from heaven
and cursed her to live the life of an ordinary cow on earth. Kamadhenu came to
earth and sought the advice of Sage Kapila who had his hermitage in the forest
in Thirukokarnam.
Sage Kapila advised her to carry Ganga water in its ears each day and perform
ablutions to the Shiva Linga under the Magizha tree.
Kamadhenu worshipped Lord Shiva as advised by Sage
Kapila. Once, when Kamadhenu was going for the worship, Lord Shiva, to test its
determination, intercepted in the guise of a tiger at Thiruvengaivasal
and threatened to devour her. Kamadhenu begged tiger to leave her as she was on
her way to Shiva Pooja. She promised to return back. She was allowed to go on
condition that she returned immediately after the worship was over.
The cow, as promised, returned to the tiger after
finishing her Shiva Pooja. The tiger changed its shape and granted darshan with
Parvathi. Lord Shiva carried the cow to heaven. The place where the tiger
confronted the cow came to be called as Thiru
Vengai Vaasal (Vengai means tiger). As Lord Shiva appeared here as tiger
to threaten Kamadhenu, he came to be called as Vyagrapureeswarar (Vyakram means
tiger in Sanskrit).
Shrine
for the damaged idol of Brahadambal:
There is an east facing shrine for damaged ancient idol
of Goddess Brahadambal, situated near southern entrance. This shrine was built
during the reign of Raja Ramachandra Thondaiman. It is said that when Raja
Ramachandra Thondaiman decided to replace the damaged old idol with a new idol.
Usually, the damaged idols would be discarded and thrown in the temple tank.
Goddess appeared in his dreams and instructed him not to discard the old idol but
to preserve it in a shrine. As directed, the king constructed a separate shrine
for the goddess and kept the damaged old idol in that shrine.