vasishteswarar temple is a temple sung in thevaram , about 9 kms from thanjavur in tamir nadu. one can take town buses from thanjavur or get an auto as well. there is a passenger train station in thittai.
thittai is very well known for being a guru sthalam where the guru bhagavan is in his own sannidhi facing south.
At the time of pralayam, Siva and Parvati rode a boat to find a place to stay on Bhulokam, and revive the human race. They came across a place that was dry because it was located on a mound (thittu, in Tamil) between the Vennar and Vettaru rivers. So they decided to stay here, and Siva became a swayambhu murti Lingam here. Later, Brahma and Vishnu also came searching for a place, and found this location. They both worshipped the Lingam here, and were blessed with the tasks of creation and protection of the human race, after pralayam.
The moolavar is named Vasishteswarar since sage Vasishta worshipped Siva here. For this reason, this temple is considered a Guru sthalam.
This is one of only three temples where the moolavar Himself is worshipped as Guru, the other two being at Padi in Chennai, and Tiruchendur (which is primarily a Siva temple, and there is a moolavar Lingam behind the more famous Murugan). In all other cases (even in Guru sthalams like Alangudi), it is only Dakshinamurti who is regarded as Guru.
a temple constructed fully using black stones , thittai dates back to 16th century. the sanctum has a stone known as chandrakantham , which converts dew drops to water and drops it on to the main deity , vasishteswarar.
sthalapuranam
during the time of the great deluge , it is said that sirkazhi and thittai were the only two places that did not drown. thittai in tamir means mound.
when vishnu and brahma worshipped lord shiva , a hum sound was heard and shiva appeared. shiva later directed them to commence creation and blessed them with knowledge to perform their duties.
the place came to be known as kudi thittai.
guru bhagavan
son of angirasa maharishi , guru is one of the nine planets and a subha graham. in jyotisha sashtra.
it is said when guru blesses, no one can stop. if guru sees a rasi , then there will be a crore benefits.
he stands alone with weapons and a book facing south.
temple gets huge crowds during guru peyarchi and chitra pournami.
tamir sthalapuranam
a screen slide show with tamir sthalapuranam is provided for those who can understand.
