Sundhara Gujambiga sametha Akshaya Lingeswarar temple
keervelur is a village about 12 kms from thiruvarur in thanjavur district on thiruvarur – nagappattinam state highway. known in ancient times as keezh velur , the village is called as keevalur these days colloquially.
architecture and temple layout
a very big temple with many prakarams and rich in architecture.
temple is kept in very good condition with a lot of sannidhis , some of the pecial ones being kuberan , panchaboodha lingams , anjuvattathu amman etc. idols are also in great class.
overall architecture and layout can be seen from the photos in the photos section below.
temple legend aka sthalapuranam
known in thevaram times ( 6th century a.d ) as kedili meaning the place when worshipped removes all troubles from one’s life.
akshaya lingeswarar
shiva in his divine grace invoked kubera the lord of wealth to this great place in keevalur to bestow wealth of all sorts ( ishwaryam ) and eliminate poverty. hence the lord is known as akshaya lingeshwarar meaning the lord the provides bounty.
akshaya lingeswarar is a swayambu murthy about 21 feet tall and most of it is under the storeyed structure.
when vayu and adiseshan fought for superiority, adiseshan hugged tight the meru mountain and vayu tried to break the mountain into pieces. adiseshan when relaxed the tight hug for a brief moment, vayu broke few of the peaks and they fell around in different places. one of the peaks is said to be the present day location of keervelur although it is in a flat terrain. the peak is a small mound on which the temple is built. it is called a ‘maada koeyil’ in tamir meaning ‘a temple which has stories’.
also when the devas and asuras churned the milky ocean , some drops are said to have come sprinkled here. hence the place had a lot of indian berry plants known as ilandhai in tamir and badhari in sanskrit. still the sthalavruksham is ilandhai.
anju vattaththu amman
after murugan killed soorabadhman in thiruchendhur, he was possessed with the veerahatthi dosham which happens when a great warrior is killed. to break out of it he came to this place and using his lance made a pond for worship and installed 9 lingams around this place. then he started his penance.
at that time, beerahaththis ( maayaa shakthis ) about 5 of them started to destroy the penance. karthikeya invoked his mother to protect him and she took the form of 5 elements and protected her child from all 5 of them. she then destroyed all of the maya shakthis. she was still very angry after the killing, then shiva calmed her down and made her take a place here in the name of a shantha swaroopini. that form is called anju vattaththu amman and it is a very famous goddess around here.
the story of displaced kodi maram and bali peetam
once a priest of this temple died when his wife was 2 months pregnant. she left to her mother’s place for the child birth and returned to keervelur once the kid attained age to perfrom pujas. she would go to the temple to reclaim the right for her son when others refused doubting her chastity. she cried in front of the god when he threw his axe killing the doubters. for the axe to go free , balipeedam and kodimaram and nandhi moved to a side. one can still see this.
muthuswamy dheekshithar
a 100 years ago one of the three great carnatic song composers called muthuswamy dheekshithar came to the temple to see the lord. he was a little late and the temple doors were shut. a distressed dheekshithar then composed a song in the name of the lord starting with ‘akshaya linga vibho’ . it is said that the temple doors opened for him and worshipped to great pleasure.
agasthyar
sage agastya who had this boon of seeing shiva perform the cosmic dance and his divine marriage vision anytime he wanted, came to keevalur and wished to see them again. shiva performed the cosmic dance with the change of leg unlike what is seen normally.
a lot of other saints and rishis and kings have come to worship here.
festivals and other details
every festival is conducted with utmost passion and a regular worship of anju vattaththamman is performed at 6 pm every sunday.
worshipped by all 3 thevaram saints.
temple is open from 7 to 12.15 pm and from 4.30 to 9 pm.
nearby towns are thiruvarur , nagappattinam , velankanni and karaikkal.
nearby town : thiruvarur
railway station : keezhvelur
contact details : 91- 4366 – 276 733 , 99944 40478 , 98941 02731
