Adhi Kesava Perumal Temple, Koovathur – Legends
Koovathur:
As per legend, the eight holy
rivers of India namely Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswathi, Sarayu, Godavari, Narmada, Tungabhadra,
Kaveri felt that they had become dirty due to the bathe of the devotees to get
relief from their sins. The rivers wanted to cleanse themselves. They
approached Lord Brahma and sought his advice for relief. Lord Brahma advised
them to go to earth and meet Sage Vedaghosha for a solution. As advised, the rivers
came to earth in search of Sage Vedaghosha. They found Sage Vedaghosha in his
ashram in a forest worshipping Lord Adhi Kesava Perumal.
The rivers explained their
problems to him and sought him a remedy for their problems. Sage Vedaghosha advised
them to stay in their ashram and offer their prayer to Lord Aadhi Kesava
Perumal sincerely for relief. As advised, the eight rivers took the form of
eight women and prayed to Lord Aadhi Kesava Perumal in the form of service like
abhishekam, cleaning the ashram and vessels, decorating the ashram, creating nandavanam,
growing fruits and vegetables for the offering and singing hymns in praise of the Lord Aadhi
Kesava Perumal.
Pleased with their prayers and
service, Lord Adhi Kesava Perumal appeared before them and promised that their
sins accumulated on the day and night due to the bathing of the humans would be
removed next day by the time of sunrise. They would be in their purest form
again. Before returning to their respective places, they thanked Veda Ghosha
and promised that they will stay in this temple in the form of 8 wells and who
ever take bath in all the 8 wells and pray Adhi Kesava Perumal will get rid of
all their sins. The holy rivers thanked the Lord Adhi Kesava Perumal and Sage Vedaghosha.
In gratitude, the eight rivers
promised to stay here in the form of eight wells. Further, they also promised
that anyone who bathe in these wells and worship Lord Aadhi Kesava Perumal
would be bestowed with the benefits of bathing in these eight rivers. The names
of the rivers are written on the wells in the prakara. It is said that
these rivers worshipped Lord Aadhi Kesava Perumal here and got his dharshan on
a Panguni Uthiram day at sunset. The word Koovam in Tamil means well. As
eight holy rivers took the form of wells here, the place came to be called as
Koovathur.
Matru Shapam Parihara Sthalam:
As per legend, Lord Rama was
afflicted with brahmahatya dosha for killing the Ravana. In order to get rid of
the brahmahatya dosha, Lord Rama wanted to perform Shiva Puja and requested
Anjaneya to bring a Shiva Linga from Kashi. As Anjaneya was not able to come in
time with the Shiva Linga, Mother Sita made a Shiva Linga with the sand and
Lord Rama began the poojas to this sand Shiva Linga created by Sita. When
Hanuman returned, he saw that the lingam had already been installed and the
prayers were complete.
He was upset with Mother Sita as
his Shivalinga could not be used for the puja. Seeing his disappointment, Lord
Rama asked him to install the Lingam he had brought and worshipped that Lingam
as well. Anjaneya realized his mistake and was ashamed of his action. Further, he felt that he had
done wrong to mother and began going places to cleanse himself of the sin of
being angry with Mother Sita. Finally, he reached this temple in Koovathur,
took bath in the eight wells and worshipped Lord Aadhi Kesava Perumal sincerely
for relief.
Pleased with his prayers, Lord
Aadhi Kesava Perumal appeared before Anjaneya and relieved him from the dosha
of being angry with Mother Sita. Further, Anjaneya sought a boon from Lord
Aadhi Kesava Perumal that anyone who had not taken care of their mother, or not
performed service to them while alive, or their rites after their death, can be
relieved of the Matru Shapam by worshipping Lord Adhi Kesava Perumal here.
Yudhistra got relief of his
curse here:
As per legend, Yudhistra came to
know that Karna was his elder brother after the end of Mahabharata war. He got
furious that his mother Kunthi had not revealed tha fact to him and cursed that
no woman could withhold any secrets from others. The curse came down upon all
women in his empire. Due to this curse, all the houses in the kingdom suffered.
The women came together to see Yudhistra and informed him about their troubles.
Further, they cursed Yudhistra
for their problems. The curse given the women of his kingdom pushed him in
eternal misery. On seeing the condition of
Yudhistra, Lord Krishna took pity on him and advised Yudhistra to
worship Aadhi Kesava Perumal at Koovathur. As advised, he came to Koovathur,
worshipped Aadhi Kesava Perumal and was relieved from his curse.
Budhan Parihara Sthalam:
As per legend, Budha worshipped
Lord Aadhi Kesava Perumal here. Hence, this temple is considered as parihara
sthalam for Budha dosha.
People worshipped Lord Aadhi
Kesava Perumal here:
It is believed that Hanuman, Sage
Vedaghosha, Sage Narada, Budhan Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswathi, Sarayu, Godavari,
Narmada, Tungabhadra, Kaveri and Yudhistra had worshipped Lord Aadhi Kesava Perumal
here.
