Veera Vara Nathar Temple,
Kinar – Legends
Kinar:
As per
legend, Indra, the king of Devas, was enamoured by the beauty of Ahalya, wife
of Sage Gautama. Indra desired to have Ahalya. When sage Gautama went to his
daily morning ritual bath, Indra in the guise of Sage Gautama came to the
hermitage and requested Ahalya for sexual intercourse. Though, she knew it is
Indra, she consents owing to her curiosity. Gautama learnt Indra's
deception through his supernatural powers and returned to the ashram.
On
seeing the sage, Indra took the form of a cat and tried to flee. The angry sage
cursed Indra to bear thousand eyes on his body. He also cursed Ahalya to become
stone. Realizing her folly, Ahalya begged for forgiveness. He assured her that
her sin would be expiated when the feet of Lord Rama touched her stone form.
Realizing his mistake, Indra visited several Shiva temples for relief.
He
finally came to this
temple and got relieved from his curse. Thus, Lord Shiva came to be called
as Nethrapureeswarar and the
place came to be called as Kannar Koyil (Nethrapuri in Sanskrit), later corrupted
to Kannar and finally became Kinar.
Lord Shiva is also called as Veera Vara Nathar as he gave boon to Indra
(Veeran). Indra can be seen between the presiding deity and Nandi in this
temple.
People
worshipped Lord Shiva here:
Indra, Sage Gowthama, Ahalya and Pancha Pandavas had
worshipped Lord Shiva here.
