Thirunokkiya Azhagiyanathar
Temple, Thiruppachethi – Legends
Thirunokkiya Azhagiyanathar:
When Indra and Brihaspati were
going towards Mount Kailasha to meet Lord Shiva, their way was
blocked by a naked yogi with matted hair and a radiant face. The yogi was
Lord Shiva himself, who had taken the form to test the knowledge
of Indra and Brihaspati. Indra did not recognize the yogi
and was infuriated at the fact that the man was not moving out of their way. Indra asked
him to move, but the man did not budge. Indra got furious and threatened
him with his weapon thunderbolt.
The yogi made the arm of Indra
paralyzed and neutralized his weapon thunderbolt. Lord Shiva got angry
on the action of Indra and his eyes turned red, frightening Indra.
The anger caused his third eye to open, nearly killing Indra. Brihaspati
recognized Lord Shiva and prayed to him, requesting him to
pardon Indra. To avoid killing Indra, Lord Shiva sent the
fire from his eye towards the ocean and upon meeting with the ocean it assumed
the form of a boy.
The boy cried terribly, which
caused Brahma to descend from his abode. The ocean
told Brahma that he did not know where the boy came from. Brahma then
told him that the boy would one day become the emperor of the asuras, that
he could only be killed by Lord Shiva and that after his death, he would
return to third eye. Then, Brahma named him Jalandhara. Jalandhara grew up
to be a handsome man and was made the emperor of asuras by Shukra, their
guru.
Jalandhara was exceedingly
powerful and was considered to be one of the mightiest asuras of all time. He
married Vrinda, the daughter of the asura Kalanemi. Jalandhara ruled with
justice and nobility. One day, the sage Bhargava (Shukra) came to meet
Jalandhara. He narrated the tales of Hiranyakasipu and Virochana. He also
told him how Vishnu had severed the head of Rahu during the episode of
the Samudra Manthana. The asura came to believe that the devas had
treacherously taken the treasures of his father Varuna.
He sent one of his messengers,
Ghasmara, to Indra to ask him to return the treasures of his father. However,
Indra refused to return the treasures. A fierce battle ensued between the devas
and the asuras. Many warriors were killed on both sides. Shukra revived the
asuras using his amritajeevini vidya. Brihaspati revived the dead devas by
using the medicinal herbs from the Drona mountain. Shukra counselled Jalandhara
to uproot the mountain so that Brihaspati would be unable to employ the
medicinal herbs to revive the devas.
Jalandhara acquiesced and hurled
the mountain Drona into the ocean. Demoralized, the devas requested Lord Vishnu
for his aid. A fierce battle was fought between Jalandhara and Lord Vishnu, who
rode upon Garuda and wielded his divine sword, Nandaka. Vishnu was
impressed by the valiance of Jalandhara in battle and granted him a boon of his
choice. Jalandhara requested Lord Vishnu to stay in his eponymous city,
bringing with him his followers and his consort, Lakshmi.
Without the help of Lord Vishnu,
the devas were defeated by asuras and Jalandhara became the lord of the three
worlds (heaven, earth, and the underworld). He confiscated all the jewels that
the devas and the gandharvas had hoarded during the Samudra Manthana and ruled
virtuously, with nobody in his realm sick or lean. The devas were unhappy about
their defeat, dejected at their being stripped of their authority. The divine
sage, Narada, upon consulting with the devas, went to see Jalandhara.
On being asked the purpose of
his visit by Jalandhara, he described the beauty of Kailasha where Shiva lived,
and that he wondered if any other place matched its beauty. In response,
Jalandhara showed off his riches to Narada, who commented that he did not have
the most beautiful woman as his wife. Narada then continued to describe the
residence of Lord Shiva and also described to him about the beauty of goddess Parvati.
Jalandhara sent his
messenger Rahu to Shiva and accused him of hypocrisy, pointing out
that Shiva claimed to be an ascetic but kept a wife, Parvati. He
proposed that Shiva hand over Parvati to him. Upon hearing these insults, Lord Shiva
became so angry that a fearsome creature (Kirtimukha) sprang from his brow and
nearly killed Rahu, the messenger who had delivered the demand. War being
determined, Jalandhara marched first to Kailasha; but finding that Shiva had
forsaken it and taken up a position on a mountain near Lake Manasa, he
surrounded the mountain with his troops.
Nandi marched against them,
and spread destruction; however, the army of the gods suffered many losses.
Parvati then urged Lord Shiva to enter the war. Lord Shiva carefully warned
Parvati to be on her guard during his absence, as it was possible asuras in
some disguise might visit her; after this, accompanied
by Virabhadra and Manibhadra, two forms of his anger, Lord Shiva went
to the battlefield. Kartikeya came to fight with him but was
defeated.
After his
defeat, Ganesha tried to attack him but was badly defeated by him and
was left unconscious on the battlefield. Upon seeing Lord Shiva and his avatars
dominate the battlefield, Jalandhara created an illusion of beautiful apsaras
singing and dancing. This illusion distracted his army, but not himself.
Meanwhile, Jalandhara disguised himself as Lord Shiva and went to Parvati in
order to trick her. Parvati recognized him and fled, growing beyond infuriated.
The goddess meditated
on Vishnu, and when he appeared, she demanded that he deceive Vrinda, just
like Jalandhara had tried to deceive her. Lord Vishnu caused Vrinda to dream
that Jalandhara had been killed by Lord Shiva. Posing as an ascetic, he creates
the illusion that Jalandhara is then restored to life by him. Delighted to see
her husband restored to life, Vrinda sported with him for many days in the
forest.
She recognized that it was
Vishnu in disguise, and curses him that someday someone would trick his own
wife (which becomes true when Sita is kidnapped by Ravana) just
like how he had tricked her, that he would roam about in distress with Shesha (Lakshmana),
and that he would seek the help of monkeys (Vanaras). Saying thus, she entered
the fire to immolate herself. After her death, her soul left her form from the
funeral pyre, joining Parvati.
Jalandhara, hearing of this
deception and his wife's death, was enraged and left Mount Kailasha,
returning to the battlefield. The illusion ending, Lord Shiva and his forces
realised the truth. Lord Shiva engaged Sumbha and Nisumbha in battle,
but they soon fled. They were later killed by Parvati. Jalandhara then engaged
Shiva in battle. Towards the end of the battle, when most of the army of
Jalandhara had been slaughtered, Lord Shiva beheaded him with a chakra (discus)
created from his toe.
Upon his death, his soul merged
with Shiva, just like the soul of Vrinda had merged with his consort. Lord
Vishnu mixed himself in the ashes of Brinda. Vaikunda the abode of Lord Vishnu
became dark. Mahalakshmi was sad. Parvathi came to Mahalakshmi and advised
her to perform penance on Shiva with Shiva Theertha to get back Lord Vishnu her
husband. Mahalakshmi followed this rigidly for a Mandalam (48 days) when Lord
Shiva appeared before them.
They went
to Vegavathi River (now Vaigai) and worshipped Lord Shiva. Lord
Shiva gave them some seeds to be sowed on the ashes of Brinda from which Tulsi
appeared. Lord Vishnu worshipped Lord Shiva with the leaves and also
made a garland and wore it himself. This happened on a Monday (Somavaram).
Since then, pujas to Lord Shiva in this temple is performed with Tulsi leaves.
As Lakshmi worshipped Lord Shiva here, Lord Shiva came to be called as
Thirunokkiya Azhagiyanathar.
Thiruppachethi:
As per legend, Koon Pandiyan was
the Pandyan ruler during 7th century CE. He followed Jainism but his
wife, Mangayarkkarasiyar and his minister, Kulachirai Nayanar, were both
Shaivites. When the king suffered from boils and incurable fever
and also had a hunch back, the two invited the Shaivite saint, Sambandar,
to Madurai. Sambandar offered to help the king. The Jains monks opposed this,
arguing that a Brahmin from the Chola country should not be trusted. The Jains
sought to demonstrate the incompetence of Sambandar by challenging him to a
debate.
Further, they declared that they
would become his slaves if defeated. Sambandar rejected the condition about
slavery. Sambandar proposed that the Jains be impaled if defeated. In the fire
contest, two manuscripts, containing Jain and Shaivite hymns respectively, were
thrown into fire. The Jain manuscript burned, while the Shaivite manuscript
remained unscathed. In the water contest, the Jain manuscript was carried away
by the river, while the Shaivite manuscript came back to the shore undamaged.
It is believed that the Shaivite
manuscripts reached Thiruvedagam against the river water and the Jaina manuscripts
were washed away by the river and reached this place. As the Jaina manuscripts
(Thiruppakkal) reached this place, the place came to be called as
Thiruppachethi. Sambandar defeated the Jains in the ensuing debate and he
miraculously cured the hunched back of the king, transforming him into a
handsome man. The king converted to Shaivism, and the Shaivite devotees impaled
the defeated Jains.
Emperor Nala worshipped Lord Shiva here:
As per legend, Emperor Nala had
lost his kingdom and was separated from his queen Damayanti due to the adverse
aspects of Sani. Sage Durvasa advised him to visit this place and worship Lord
Shiva for relief from Sani dosha. As per his advice, Nala came here, took bath
in the theertham, worshipped Lord Shiva and got back his kingdom and wife. In
gratitude, Emperor Nala constructed the Punniya vimana of this temple.
Unnathapuri:
It is believed that Emperor Nala
and Sage Durvasa worshipped Lord Shiva here, the place came to be called as
Unnathapuri.
Lakshmipuram:
It is believed that goddess
Lakshmi worshipped Lord Shiva here, the place came to be called as
Lakshmipuram.
Parijatha Vanam:
As the place was a forest dense
with Pavalamalli, the place came to be called as Parijatha Vanam.
