Tirupattur temples
In the previous post, Sri Brahmapureeswarar temple was covered in detail. Within few kilometers of this temple, Tirupattur is home to these famous temples.
Sri Kasi Vishwanathar temple
The saint is an ardent devotee of shiva. He immerses himself when doing shiva pooja. He loves to worship shiva with bilva leaves (Bel tree) non-stop. He lived in a dense forest. The saint collected all the bilva leaves he can within hands reach. His desire to gather more leaves and dedicating to the supreme lord never ended.
He prayed to Shiva, Oh Lord, i do not know when i will attain moksha and reach shivaloka. Before the day come, can you grant me a wish? I wanted to climb on this bilva tree till the top and gather all the leaves to do archana for you. To climb such trees with agility, can you transform my legs like a tiger leg?, he cried to the Lord.
Shiva, always kind to his devotees, that too when someone asks not for himself, but to worship me, will be quiet? He granted his wish immediately. The sage's legs transformed into tiger legs. Satisfied with this, the sage thanked Shiva and climbed on the tree - he was able to climb to the top at ease. Gathering more leaves, he was constantly doing archanas to shiva. Slowly his real name was forgotten and the village people started calling him Vyakrapathar (vyakram - tiger, one with tiger foot).
He travelled to many temples in south and worshipped Shiva. He preferred to stay inside forests and make barnasalai ---- and performed tapas. The town puliyur got its name from the great sage worshipping there. However, most of his tapas was in tirupattur area. The Kasi vishwanathar temple in this town has a sacred pond which is special. Apart from washing away ones sins, its appearance is unique. when you see in bird's eye view, this pond will appear in the form of tiger's foot - resembling this great saints' tiger foot. There is an interesting story behing this.
Tirupattur was famous for its bilva trees. Vaykrapathar continued his prayers to Shiva by offering bilva leaves all the time. There is some sorrow in his mind. the lakes around this places are drying soon and water is becoming scarce. One day, he could find no water to perform abhiseka and hoped it'll rain. He was looking up at the sky in vain. He saw an elephant carrying ganges water and is hurrying to go somewhere.
Theerthakulam:
Upon seeing the elephant, he felt happy. God always tests his subject and places obstacles. Luckily, my obstacles are now gone, he thought. He pleaded with the elephant to give him some water to do the pooja. The elephant refused saying, sorry Great saint, i'm in a hurry to go to do abhisheka for Jambukeswarar fetching this water from ganges. I do not want to give you any, nor do i want to delay my journey. With that, the sage saw the elephant flying far away and disappear. Heartbroken, he pleaded with god, i know that you like to play these games. I even went begging to the elephant to get you water. If my devotion to you is true, there should be water now in this barren land. That too, i want the holy Ganges water in this place. Otherwise, i will no longer perform shiva pooja here. Having said that, he kicked the ground as hard as he could and started digging with his bare hands. Water started to flow slowly. Within short while, it became a pond. He was very happy and completed the abhisheka till this hearts desire.
Since the Ganges water appeared here, he said to the lord, you are vishwanathan who rules kasi. so this place is kasi vishwanathan temple. Since this place has ganges and the ruler of kasi, whoever comes to worship you will get the same merits as if they visited kasi and bathed in ganges. Slowly, the rain clouds gathered and poured and the water levels were restored.
This temple has Lord Kasi Viswanathar as the presiding deity, and has a separate shrine for Visalakshi amman. Sri Vaykrapathar's jeeva samathi is within the temple grounds.
[Source: Sri V. Ramji's Tirupattur miracles book in tamil]
Sri Dharma Sastha temple
Sastha - Also commonly known as Ayyanar, Sevugan, Saathappan or Masathanar is prevelant in villages. Normal sculptures are huge, usually standing with a big sword and predominately found in village boundaries. They are to protect the villages from evil and harm.
In Tirupattur, the Sastha temple is located in the middle of the village with other temples and has a special significance. The deity is in seated pose holding flower in the right hand and palm leaf scriptures in the left. He appears with Sri Poornakala and Sri Pushkala devis.
Story:
Sri Cheraman perumal (Seraman Nayanar) was a Chera king whose devotion to shiva know no bounds. He became good friends with Sundara Nayanar. Cheraman nayanar wrote Thiru Kailaya Jnana Ula and wanted to present it to Lord Shiva. He wanted Sundarar to accompany him to Kailash, but heard sundarar was already on his way to Kailash in Iravadham (white elephant). Wanting to reach their faster, he uttered the sacred shiva mantra (Om Namasivaya) to his horse, and it reached Kailash before Sundarar was able to. But the Ganas at the frontdoor refused him entry. Feeling sad, he was wondering what kind of sin he would've committed to come here but not see the Lord.
Finally, when Sundarar came he saw cheraman waiting at the gates to be let in. They embraced and both went in. Sundarar requested the Lord, that his friends poem be released in kailash. Lord Shiva said, there is a place on earth equal to Kailash and it'll be the perfect place to launch.
He summoned Sastha and asked him to take Cheraman and Sundarar to Tirupattur for launch of Thiru Kailaya Jnana ula. The temple has a beautiful mandapam with 18 pillars where this was supposed to have happened.
Sri Varadharaja Perumal Temple
Sri Vishnu is with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhoodevi in this temple. The temple also boasts as sacred place to change or rewrite ones fate.
Story (as told by the priest and by writings): When Shiva plucked one of Brahma's head to teach him a lesson, the skull was stuck to his head as he was cursed by Saraswathi with Brahmahasti Dosham (killing of Brahman). All the efforts to remove the head went no where. The curse caused immense hunger and he roamed everywhere looking for solution. Finally, in this temple, he came to the Krishna (in Bala krishna form) in search for the solution. Krishna gave him some theertha and advised him to go to Thirukandiyur where the kapalam was set free.
Long time ago, Madhukaida asuras stole vedas from Brahma and disappeared in the ocean. Brahma, Iswar and others were stumped not knowing what to do next. Vishnu set out to recover the Vedas and handed them over to Brahma here. Krishna here with the swan flag raised preached Brahma.
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