asta veeratam

8/16/2019 Asta Veeratam

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ASHTA VEERATTA STHALAMS(Thiruvathigai, Tirukkovilur, Tirukkadavur, Tirukkurukkai, Tirutturutti,

Vazhuvur, Tiruvirkudi and Tirukkandiyur)

Strength has always been one of the most admired qualities and one

has only to read history or mythology to see how much importance has been

given to strength and the display of strength !ne can "nd many temples all

over #ndia, all testifying to a victory of a god over a demon, or some special

e$hibition of greatness There is a set of eight temples in the south of #ndia,

situated near %ayiladudurai, Thiruvarur and Thiruvannamalai, all of which are

associated with displays of the strength and greatness of Shiva &t all these

temples, Shiva has either vanquished a demon, or punished another god

These are collectively called the 'Ashta Veeratta Sthalams’ ach of these

temples is fascinating, and has special points of interest specially interesting

is that of these * temples have bronze statues depicting the story of the

temple These are statues that are absolutely invaluable and must be seen to

be believed +ets take a tour of si$ of these temples that are situated around

%ayiladudurai and Thiruvarur These are-

1. Vazhuvoor

2. Thirukkorukkai

3. Thiruvirkudi4. Thiruari!alur

". Thirukkadai!ur

#. Thiruka$di!ur

The other two temples are in the vicinity of Thiruvannamalai

VA%H&V''R Vazhuvoor was the most interesting among the &shta Veeratta Sthalams

.ust before we started on our trip, we chanced upon a photo of

/a0asamharamoorthy of Vazhuvoor in a Tamil magazine, and # was fascinatedby it # feel fortunate to have been able to view the bronze image with my own

eyes, and have been waiting to share my e$perience with all of you Lo$(

lo$( a(o, when Vishnu took the form of %ohini during the churning of the

ocean, Shiva was also enamored of the beautiful form, and arrived in the

handsome form of )hisha$davar or )hikshata$ar The union of these two

great ones resulted in the birth of a child we know of as 1A!!aa$2 Shiva

continued to roam around the forests of the south in the same form, to where

a group of sages were performing homams Their wives, on seeing the

beautiful form of Shiva, were absolutely lovelorn, and the sages were 0ealous

http://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Vazhuvoorhttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thirukkorukkaihttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thiruvirkudihttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thiruppariyalurhttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thirukkadaiyurhttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thirukandiyurhttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Vazhuvoor%3C/a%3Ehttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Vazhuvoorhttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thirukkorukkaihttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thiruvirkudihttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thiruppariyalurhttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thirukkadaiyurhttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thirukandiyurhttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Vazhuvoor%3C/a%3E


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and angry #n their anger, they forgot themselves, and performed the sacri"ces

usually performed in black magic, and brought forth terrible creatures and wild

animals to scare away the handsome stranger, without realizing who it was

The most terrible of these creatures was a wild elephant who charged at

Shiva, who took a miniscule form and entered the elephant 3hen Shiva

entered the body of the elephant, the world grew dark at his absence, and

everyone was frightened 4arvati, who was playing with %uruga at the

moment, started carrying her son and began to run, when suddenly, Shiva

appeared with arms, holding di5erent weapons in for of them, tearing open

the body of the elephant, standing on the elephants head, and holding the

torn skin with two of his hands #n such a form, he is known as '*a+a Samhara

Moorth!’ 6 the destroyer of the elephant, which symbolizes all our negative

desires and actions

This form has been beautifully depicted in a bronze statue in this temple

&n interesting point of this image is that the inner side of the left foot of the

lord is visible This is the only image with such a feature, and this par is

usually kept closed and opened only during the aarti &ccompanying Shiva in

this form here is a statue of 4arvati, holding %uruga in her arms, 0ust running

away The statues are so life7like, one feels they will come to life at any

moment Though # wasnt allowed to take a photo of the original sculpture,here is a photo of the image on the gopuram of the temple This bronze image

is kept secure and covered, and opened only when devotees arrive to see the

deity 8ehind this deity is a yantram, installed by the 4aramacharya of 9anchi,

to safeguard the potency of this powerful image Thou(h the mai$

deit! here is /a0asamharamoorthy, the main deity in the sanctum is as usual,

a Shiva lingam, where the lord takes the name of ,irtivasar, kirti being

another name for elephant The goddess here has a separate sanctum, and

she goes by the name of )alakuram-i(ai #t is believed that she blesses

those who pray to her with progeny

There are a $um-er o other i$teresti$( thi$(s a-out this temle

There is a Sahasralingam (lingam with :;;; lingams inside) which,

surprisingly, is placed outside the temple Since this is apparently the birth

place of &yyappan, there is a small shrine about a few meters from the temple

dedicated to him


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/Vazhuvoor is a-out 0 ,ms rom Ma!iladudurai o$ the Thiruvarur

road a$d due to the o$ditio$ o the roads the +our$e! takes a-out

a$ hour -! ar


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THR&,'R&,,A

The stor! o ,ama being burnt to ashes for daring to shoot his arrows of

love on Shiva, trying to get him to fall in love with 4arvati is a famous one

!ne would imagine that this place would be somewhere in the north, near the

=imalayas where 4arvati was born =owever, the site associated with this

story in the south is a small village near Vaitheeswaran 9ovil named

Thirukkorukkai, originally known as Thirukurungai 5hile this lae is

rather o-sure, and we really had to search for it, the temple is an e$tremely

beautiful one, with the gopuram decorated with stunning works of art,

depicting the gods in beautiful forms The main deity in this temple is Shiva

as 6o(ees7arar, since he was deep in meditation =is consort

is *!a$am-i(ai, who bestows knowledge on her devotees The main/anesha in this temple is known as ,uru$(ai Vi$a!akar, probably derived

from the name of the village This temple does not have a bronze depiction of

the story of 9ama

288 meters rom the temle, is a pit in a sort of garden, which it is said,

is "lled with the ashes of 9ama 3hile vehicles can approach this place, we

elected to walk the short distance, and were rewarded by the sight of unspoilt

countryside, both sides of the path covered by trees and >owering plants,

butter>ies by the hundreds milling around the >owers The pit itself was

overgrown with plants, since it had been raining till a few days back, and the

earth was too wet to leave any remnants of dry ash =owever, the local who

accompanied us, took some mud from the centre of the pit and gave it to us

3hile it was wet, it still had the distinct odour of holy ash, or vibhuti, and over

the ne$t few days, as it dried, we saw it turn white in colour The man

e$plained to us that it was only in the pit that this white ash was found? the

surrounding areas had red coloured mud/Thirukkorukkai is a-out 1" ,ms rom Ma!iladudurai via 9idur a$d:alakkudi. t is $earer to Vaithees7ara$ ,ovil

THR&VR,&;


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bronze statue depicting the lord has him in a standing posture, holding a

discus in his hand The mai$ deit! i$ the temle does not have a separate

name, and is simply called Veeratta$es7arar The main deity is a lingam,

while the Btsava moorthy is the bronze statue described above The goddess

is called :arimala 9a!aki

There are also other le(e$ds connected to this temple .alandrans wife

8rinda is believed to have been a great devotee of Vishnu, and also a

righteous wife #t is believed that Shiva was able to kill .alandran only after

Vishnu took .alandrans form and deceived his wife, so that he would be

deprived of her "delity, thus rendering him mortal 3hen 8rinda learnt of this

ruse, she immolated herself, and Vishnu gave her the boon that she would

appear as the Tulsi plant and would remain forever dear to him Supporting

this story is the sthala vriksham of this temple, or the temple plant, which is

the Tulsi

#t is also believed that this is the place where &r0una concealed his

weapons during the year of concealment =e was granted a boon that the

weapons would appear as snakes to anyone who approached them, and thus

would remain safe

/Thiruvirkudi is a-out 22 ,ms rom Ma!iladudurai a$d a-out 38 ,msrom Sirkazhi

THR&::AR6AL&R

The stor! o Sati, her marriage to Shiva, and her fathers insulting her

husband resulting in her self immolation is quite well known #t was then that

Shiva danced his Tandava and killed Aaksha, Satis father Thiruppariyalur is

dedicated to this episode in Shivas life, where he is known as Aaksha

Samhara %oorthy &s in the temple at Thiruvirkudi, here also the main deity,

the lingam is named Veerattaneswarar and the Btsava %oorthy is a bronze

idol of ;aksha Samhara Moorth!, depicted as having Aaksha under the

lords feet

/Thiruari!alur is a-out 13 ,ms rom Ma!iladudurai a$d $earSem-a$$ar ,ovil

THR&,,A;A6&RSa(e Mrika$du and his wife prayed to Shiva for a child Shiva gave them a

choice 6 they could have a foolish son with a long life, or a short lived, but

intelligent child They chose the latter, and soon had a smart child, who came

http://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thiruppariyalur%3C/a%3Ehttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thirukkadaiyur%3C/a%3Ehttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thiruppariyalur%3C/a%3Ehttp://anushankarn.blogspot.com/2008/12/diwali-tour-part-14-ashta-veeratta.html#Thirukkadaiyur%3C/a%3E


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to be known as %arkandeya 3hen, 0ust before his :th birthday, he learnt

that he would die soon, he left home, and stayed in the temple, praying to

Shiva, who was the one who had brought him to life &t the appointed hour,

Cama (or 9aala) arrived to take his soul, and threw his noose of death over the

child %arkandeya at once embraced the Shiva lingam, and the noose fell over

the lingam Shiva was furious and came out of the lingam, kicking Cama to

death, thus stopping all death and saved %arkandeya =owever, with Camas

death, there were no more deaths on earth, and 8hoomi Aevi could bear the

burden no more


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creation, 8rahma had F heads, and as he created one form of life after

another, his ego grew, until he felt that he was the greatest of the gods Shiva

decided to teach him a lesson, and cut o5 8rahmas "fth head, which stood on

top of the other four 8rahma at once realized his error, and prayed to Shiva,

asking for forgiveness This temple also "gures among the Saptha Sthaanam

temples The main deity here is the )rahma Shira ,a$dees7arar There is

no bronze idol depicting the story of this temple The goddess is

%angalambigai There is a nig statue of 8rahma and Saraswati to the left of

the lingam, facing it, in a separate sanctum

(Thiruka$di!ur is 3 ,ms rom Thiruvai!aru o$ the Thiruvai!aru = Tha$+avur

road)

3hile all these temples are situated near Than0avur and 9umbakonam, the

two other temples are in the vicinity of Thiruvannamalai The town nearest to

these is 4anruti

THR&,,'VL&R

The Vaish$ava temle o Vama$a or Trivikrama is a amous o$e

=owever, the same village also boasts of a Shiva temple, one of the &shta

Veeratta Sthalams, where Shiva is believed to have vanquished the demon

&ndhakasuran

(Thirukkovilur is a-out 3> ,ms rom Villuuram a$d a-out 38 ,ms

rom Thiruva$$amalai. t is a-out 28 ,ms rom :a$ruti

THR&VA;*A

Thiruvadigai is believed to be the place where Shiva vanquished the

asura Tripura

(Thiruvadi(ai is a-out 3 ,ms rom :a$ruti)

G G G Thiruchitrambalam G G G


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ti$erar! or Ashta Veeratta$am


9/13

தரககறகககம சமக தத: அடடவடடததலஙகளல இங சவபரமன கமன எதத எனபவலற.கம தகன தத எனற அழககபபக. கம தகன தத இடககல மத,வலககலத தஙகவட வலகக அபய தத!டன, இடககய மடககய கல ம வதஅம"த "லயல தசனம அளகக.இங லவன சவபரமன #யம$வக எ%"தரள!ளள.

இவன &ய&க'வ எனறம, அமபள (னமபக எனறம அழககபபகனன. இங சவன&யக ததயக இரபபதல "னதத)டன சனற எளதக பகக இயல . எபபயவ தடஙகலவ" வம . அத!ம ம "ம #வமய தசத வடடல "மக &யக "ல க*ம எனககள.#வம அ+ககக ததயக இரபபதல, தயமல தவற சயபவகள இவ வ,ஙகனல "மதவ மனனத அ+கககம $க. அன$, பயம, &"சம, வரபபம, மறம பசததல -ஙபவகளஇததல ததயன கமதகன ததய வழபடடல தஙகள வரபபபபம "படம அன$, பயம, &"சம,வரபபம, மறம பசம கடகம. இததலததல வரகம லவ வட&ட#வவ,ங&வக.க யம "ஙக மனஅமத கடகம அதடன /டல பலம பறம.&"ய "வலம. தயன பலம, ம&னபலம கடகம . &ம0ம &வல வயப$ , தழல வரதத , /தத&யக/ய) 1கயவறககக)ம இங பததன சயதல #வம பகதகள &வ,தலகள "சசயம"&வ கபப1)டயல தம மல இரபப பபடததகக சபபமசம. அடடவடட தலம என சப$மபரம!ம ப &கயல இ. சவபரமன வசசயலகள $"த அடட வடடததலஙகளல 2னனஇங கமன எதளள. த, மனமதன /சவத தர&மனகள இததலததல /ளளன. தததவனவ என னவ இவ+க தர%ககடட கஙகய க, வ"த சப$ பதலம.சவனன &தவபபடல ப 274 சவலயஙகளல இ 26 வ &தவததலம 1ம.

மயல - ம,ல&ம - க,டல மககததல 3 க .ம. தலவல தரககறகக /ளள

தரபபய3சவபரமன தனன வ,ஙகத தககனன &வளவய அழகக எதத தத&ம "தடசயக(4த ததயம. இவன தர"மம வட&டச எனபம, இவ தர"மம இளமகமபனயள எனறமஅழககபபககள. வலவசசன!ம, பல "&வததயம தஙகள, ப&த4ம அனற கககபகவ தலலத தரம. &கட வழக சதகமம. தமபதய 2றம 2ஙம.தஙகமப - சமபன &கயல அர&க /ளளத தலம தரபபய3 1ம.


10/13

தரவஅரளம வட ட&ன'வ தரக&கயல , தரவ5&க$ம 6" "லகள!டய, எதல சகக தததம /ளள. "லலபதக.ம #றச#வரமக,ட பய ளம, தததககயல வ"யக &கயல /ளள. &க$ வயலக கட" /ள&ள7ழ"தம, எதல வலப$மக /ளள தல 8,ல "கலஙகசசபம அழகக)ளள.வளபபகததல, பர"தய, தரம0ககக இவன ளசயக எ%பபய இடம, தரமல

வழபடட சவலயம /ளளன. /ளபகததல வலமக வரம &ப மகலட#ம, வளள தயவன!டன#பபம,ய, பளளய, பவ, சனகவன, தனக&கயல க,ளள பவ, "வகககஙகள,9யன, ச"தன, (னதததமமன+ம க,ற, பட தலய சனனதகள /ளளன.வ கடம ன -ம பசன எனல, இஙகர" கல எத சனற, அ"த கலல வத கடனல&த4 "வதத கடகம.

இங லவ வடட&ன'வ. அமமன பமள"யக. பர"த என+ம சல0க "ளச' எனபபரள. கபச"த அபப,ம,யன "னவக, ளச தன இங தல வரடசம.இ 2ர வ'&த4 "வதத தலம.1(ச&"ய வழப இங சப$.

தரவ:ல இர" மயல சல0ம &டல தஙகல(&சயல இஙக சலல &வ,ம.

க,;அரளம பமமசக,


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12/13

; Halt @ :ala$i

I;:;I;:F(Tuesday)

;H;

;

4alani I;:;I;:F(Tuesday)

:;; 4uducherry @;

:I*;


13/13

?rom To Aistance

AateMAay Time 4lace AateMAay Time 4lace:K:;I;

:F(Saturday)

I;;

;

4uducherr

y

:*:;I;

:F(Sunday)

;F;; Suruli JF;

:*:;I;:F(Sunday)

;K;

;

Suruli :*:;I;:F(Sunday)

::;; 4amba :@F

Halt @ Sa-arimala:H:;I;:F(%onday)

:;;

;

Sabarimal

a

:H:;I;:F(%onday)

;I;; 9umily ::;

;J;

;

9umily ;*;; 4alani :H;

Halt @ :ala$iI;:;I;:F(Tuesday)

;H;

;

4alani I;:;I;:F(Tuesday)

:;; 4uducherry @;

:IJF

asta veeratam

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