The temple is praised
in the Thevaram hymns of Saint Gnanasambandar. This is the 82nd Shiva temple on
the southern bank of Cauvery praised in Thevaram hymns.
The fruits of the
Mango tree taste citric, sweet and bitter.
Viewing the tree from the southeast prakara, it looks like a Nandhi.
Emperor Mushukunda
got seven Lingas from Indira for the helps he had rendered
him. These Lingas were small ? Vidanga in size. The
Emperor installed the Linga in Seven Places called Saptha Vidanga
sthalas. This is one such Sthalas with a Linga so beautiful made of
Ruby. Hence, the Lord is named Sundara (beautiful)
Vidangar. Lord Thyagaraja is in a separate shrine right of the sanctum
sanctorum. In majority of the temple, people can see only the face
of Lord Thyagaraja. During the Vaikasi Visaka and Margazhi
Tiruvadirai festivals, Lord is dressed (Alankara) showing His right hand and
feet. Lord comes in procession waving His hands to and fro and in a
dancing form. This dance is called Paara Vaara Natanam.
The eyes of Mother
Ambica is blue in colour as sea showing Her mercy as vast and deep as
sea. Hence, named Neelayadakshi-blue eyed. She is also
Karundhadanganni. She has Her own shrine with a flag post-Kodi
Maram. Ambica graces as a virgin. Aadi Pooram is very
grandly celebrated in the temple. Her shrine is designed as a
Rath. On the festival day, Mother comes in procession in a Rath made
purely in crockeryware.
As Ambica is a
virgin, Lord sent Nandhi Deva to be Her guard. But Nandhi expressed
his wish to be with Lord for ever seeing Him. Lord said that he can
have His darshan though with Ambica. Nandhi in the temple is seen
with its neck turned towards Lord with one eye on Ambica and other on the Lord. Hence,
the Nandhi is known as Twin View Nandhi (Irattai Parvai in
Tamil). Those having vision problems pray to this Nandhi.
Generally, temples
are closed if a death occurs in a nearby place. In this place, the
garlands and the clothes ? vastras used for the Lord is placed on
corpse. A fisherman, Adhipathar attained salvation with the grace of
Lord Shiva in this place. Remembering this event, as a mark of respect to
the community, this practice is followed in this temple. The body is placed
before the temple without closing the doors. The garland and the
vastras used for the Lord are placed on the body.
During festival
procession, Lord goes round the Mada Veedhis (Streets) and return to the
temple. But Lord beginning his procession from this temple, goes to
seven places ? Poigainallur, Poravacherry, Sikkal, Palur, Vadagudi, Thethi and
Nagoor. Maharaja Salija worshipped Lord Shiva and performed puja in these
seven places. The present system is to remember this history.
Against the practice
of Lord coming in the Vrushab vahan on Pradosham days, Lord Vishnu
too accompanies Lord Shiva in the guise of Mohini. When the milk
ocean was churned, Nectar came out and was served by Lord Vishnu to
Devas. Devas failed to pray to Lord Shiva who swallowed the Halahala
poison to save the world. Realizing their folly, they begged the
pardon of the Lord. Showing His mercy to them, Lord Shiva danced on
Nandhi. This dance took place at the Pradosham time. Lord
Vishnu?s Mohini Avtar took place a little before this time. This
Vishnu darshan is available to the devotees on Pradosham day only.
Emperor Dasaratha
came to know that Planet Saturn would be splitting the Rohini star causing
severe famine in his country. He planned to fight Saturn to prevent
him from doing so. Sun God advised Dasaratha to drop his plan but to
beg Saturn to change his transit route in public interest. Saturn
also admired the earlier plan of the emperor to meet him in war for the sake of
his subjects without any selfish motive personally. The planet
yielded to the emperor?s wish. Remembering this event, all the
planets (Navagrahas) in the temple are facing west-the Lord.
Fisherman Athipathar
was a staunch Shiva devotee. When he went for fishing, he would
offer the first to Lord Shiva. At a stage, he was getting only one
fish each day but did not break away from his commitment. He offered
them to Lord and returned without any catch. He got a golden fish
one day. Though every one prevented him from throwing it into the
sea, Athipathar resolutely stood by his commitment and threw it into the
sea. He was awarded with salvation and a place among the 63
Nayanmars. The event is celebrated on the Ayilyam star day in Aavani month
(August-September). Athipathar goes in catamaran when fishermen
place two gold fishes in the net as if caught in the net. Lord Shiva
will appear on the sea shore. Athipathar performs pujas to Lord Shiva with
the golden fishes. Shiva will grace darshan to
Athipathar. So goes the festival grandly.
As a child adamantly
demanding the mother to get its wish, there was a Siddha in the place called
Azhuguni Chithar ? crying adamantly for a wish. He used to cry in
the shrine of Mother Neelayadakshi demanding salvation. He was the
disciple of Gorakka Siddha. He stayed in the temple, cried for
getting his demand. Mother spoke to Lord Shiva of the
issue. Lord granted salvation to Azhuguni
Chithar. His Jeeva Samadhi is in this
temple. Special pujas are performed to Siddha on Vaikasi Visakam
day. Also special pujas are performed here offering porridge
(Payasam in Tamil) as nivedhana on poornima ?full moon ? days.
Lord Vinayaka graces
His darshan wearing a serpent around His body with another one another one
above His head as an umbrella. He is worshipped as Nagabarana
Vinayaka. Those facing adverse serpent planet effects perform milk
abishek to Nagabarana Vinayaka at Rahu Kalam times. Also during the
transit of these planets in the zodiac circle, special pujas are performed here
to please the planets.
Lord Bhairava,
usually appearing with His dog vehicle, has Lion ? Simha as his
vahan. When Sage Pundarika worshipped Lord Shiva here,
Holy Ganga sprang up in this place along with Lord
Bhairava. He is gracing as Kala Samhara Bhairava in this
temple. The Simha vahan is behind Him. It is believed that Lord
Shiva Himself is gracing the devotees who hit Yama the God of
Death. As Lord Kala Bhairava is facing South, devotees pray to him
for longevity. As He looks furious, two smiling Vinayakas are
installed before Him.
There is a shrine for
Mother Ashta Bhuja (eight hands) Kali in the temple.
The deities for the
eight directions have their due place in the temple. Mother
Gajalakshmi in Her sitting form graces the devotees with two elephants offering
abishek. Lord Dakshinamurthi is in the ghoshta wall with His four
disciples. As the temple is on a sea shore, it is said that Lord
Shiva is ruling the region as a king, hence the name Shiva Rajadhani ?capital
of Shiva Kingdom.
The temple is greatly
praised by the three celebrated saints Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar in their
Thevaram hymns. Sundarar received gifts of pearl and diamond chains,
a horse and cosmetic things. Sages Markandeya, Gauthama, Vasishta, Kashyapa,
Pulasthya, Agasthya and Angirasa (Saptha Rishis) had worshipped Lord Shiva in
this temple.
Behind the Linga in
the sanctum sanctorum is the Somaskanda form of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva
comes to the sea for a bath on the Masi Magam day in February-March.
The idol of Lord
Muruga is made with 12 hands with weapons. He is praised in
the Tirupugazh hymns of saint Arunagirinathar. The Zodiac circle is
in the Mandap. People pray from here for relief from planetary problems.
The event of sage Pundarika entering the shrine of Lord Shiva and merging with
Him is celebrated during the Arthajama Puja (the last puja of the day) on the
Ayilyam star day in the month of Aani-June-July. Sri Chandikeswara
shrine is on the side of prakara.
Sage Pundarika as
advised by Sage Kanwa performed penance on Lord Shiva seeking salvation. Granting His darshan, Lord embraced the sage
and granted salvation. As a rule, the soul
merges with the Lord attaining salvation.
But in this case Lord embraced with the body (Kayam in Tamil) with that
of Sage (Aaroganam). Hence Lord is named
Kaya (body) Aarogana (embracing) Easwarar-Lord ? Kayaroganeswarar.
King of serpents
prayed to Lord and got a girl child. It
had three breasts in birth itself. The
king was sad to see this abnormality. Lord Shiva assured the king that one breast will disappear when a king
of Surya dynasty visited his place. When
king Shalisuhan came there, one breast of the girl disappeared. Happy Naga king gave his daughter to
Shalisuhan in marriage. As Naga king
worshipped here, the place came to be known as Nagai Karonam. Now it is Nagapattinam.
Moolavar: Kayaroganeswarar, Adhipuraaneswarar
Urchavar: Chandrasekharar
Amman / Thayar: Neelayadhakshi,
Karuntadankanni
Thala Virutcham : Mango
Theertham: Pundarikaksha
Theertham
Agamam / Pooja: Kameekam
Old year:1000-2000
years old
Historical Name: Nagai Karonam
This sivasthalam temple is located in
Nagapattinam town. A Divya Desam shrine of Lord Vishnu is also located at
Nagapattinam in the vicinity of Shiva temple.
Nagapattinam Kayarohanaswamy temple is one of the sapthavitanga
sthalams. It is better known as the temple of Neelayadakshi. The main deity in
this temple is Kayarohanaswamy. It is believed that the lord blessed his
devotee Sage Pundari to attain moksha with his body. The rishi also asked for
moksha for his descendants, and till this date, when anyone from the sages
family passes away, the body is brought to the temple gate, where the lord's
clothes and garlands are brought to adorn the body, thus blessing it.
The goddess here is Neelayadakshi. Neelayadakshi means the one
with the blue eyes. She is in the form of a pubescent girl, and is believed to
be one of the Shakti Peetams. She is also considered to be one among the five
most important goddesses, all in different stages of life. These are -
Visalakshi (Kashi - Child), Kamakshi (Kanchi - young girl), Neelayadakshi
(Nagai - pubescent), Kamalambigai (Thiruvarur - young woman) and Meenakshi
(Madurai - married woman).
The Vidangar in this temple is the Sundara Vidangar and the
Abhishekam is performed at 9 AM and 8 PM everyday. However, this one is not one
of the original lingams, which was stolen ages ago, and recently replaced by a
Gomedakam lingam.
Lord Shiva as a Swayambumurthy appears very handsome.
Vaikasi
Wedding festival in May-June; Aadi Pooram in July-August
Shivrathri in
February-March
Aipasi Annabishekam in October-November
Tirukarthikai in
November-December are the festivals celebrated in the temple.
People pray for relief from the sins committed and for
salvation. Devotees perform abishek to Lord and Mother and offer vastras.
The temple is open
from 6.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and from 5.00 p.m. and 9.30 p.m.
Sri Kayaroganeswarar
Temple, Nagapattinam-611 001. Contact Number - +91- 4365 - 242 844, 98945
01319, 93666 72737.
Do:
- Do pray your Ishta Devata before pilgrimage to Temple.
- Do contact Temple Devasthanam information centre for enquiry, temple information and for Pooja details etc.
- Do reserve your travel and accommodation at Temple well in advance.
- Do bath and wear clean clothes before you enter the temple.
- Do concentrate on God and Goddess inside the temple.
- Do maintain silence and recite Om Namahsivaya or your Istamantram to yourself inside the temple.
- Do observe ancient custom and traditions while in Temple.
- Do respect religious sentiments at Temple.
- Do deposit your offerings in the hundi only.
Don't s:
- Do not come to Temple for any purpose other than worshipping of God and Goddess.
- Do not smoke at Temple.
- Do not consume alcoholic drinks at Temple.
- Do not eat non-vegetarian food in the Kshetram.
- Do not approach mediators for quick Darshanam. It may cause inconvenient to others.
- Do not carry any weapon inside the temple.
- Do not wear any head guards like helmets, caps, turbans and hats inside the temple premises.
- Do not perform Sastanga Pranama inside the Sanctum Sanctorum.
- Do not take much time while performing Sparsa Darshanam to God in Garbhagriha.
- Do not buy spurious prasadams from street vendors.
- Do not encourage beggars at Temple.
- Do not spit or create nuisance in the premises of the temple.