Thiruvaiyaru is a small town on the northern banks of cauvery river about 13 kms from thanjavur. a huge temple and the center of saptha sthaanam heritage , thiruvaiyaru has many puranams to keep one in awe of the temple.
it has many interesting / inspiring characteristics to it like
- the main temple of the saptha sthaanam
- one of the 6 temples that are said to be equivalent of kasi
- the place where thevaram saint appar got a vision of kailash
- where sundharar , another saint had the river cauvery split into parts to allow his safe journey
- where the lord worshipped himself
- where the saint thyagaraja , one among the most famous trilogy of composers of carnatic music lived
and many more
overall architecture and layout can be seen from the photos in the photos section below.
sthalapuranam
worshipped by countless rishis and kings and devotees , thiruvaiyaru is one of the 278 thevaram temples.
it dates before 6th century a.d. the temple was built by karikala choran whose chariot got stuck in mud around this place. when the king dug the chariot using spades , it is said blood came out of the pit. a bemused king then unearthed the shiva lingam and built a stone structure.
thevara padal petra sthalam
thiruvaiyaru is the 105th padal petra sthalam in the thevaram temple list. it is categorized as a temple belonging to cauvery north bank.
thirunavukkarasar , sundharar and gnana sambandhar sung songs in praise of the god here.
appar getting kailash view
thirunavukkarasar known as appar wanted to see kailash with his physical body. he travelled all the way to the foot of the mountain when shiva appeared to him as an old man and said one cannot reach the abode with physical body.
refused to budge , appar continued his journey with foot and when he got tired , would crawl with blood coming out of his body.
pitying his plight , swami told him to dip in a pond nearby and said he would come out in thiruvaiyaru. the pond where appar came out is to the north west of this temple and called ‘uppankuttai’ . it is still there.
then he got the full glorious view of kailash darshan. there is a sannidhi in the temple to signify that.
saptha sthaanam
one of the 7 sapthasthana temples. sapthasthanam means 7 places where shiva himself took out nandhi and his wife on a marriage procession after he performed nandhi’s marriage in thirumazhapadi. this festival is a grand festival that is performed on the chitra month visakam natchathram.
other temples which form the saptha sthanam heritage are thiruppoondhuruthi , thiruvedhikudi , thiruvaiyaru , thillaisthanam , thiruchchotruthurai and kandiyur .
a much more detailed tamir sthalapuranam is available as a slide show if you can read..
