place: Tiruchirapalli
goddess: Sugandhakundhalambal, mattuvar-kuzhal ammai.
god: Maathru bhoodheswarar, Thaayum aanavar.
How to reach?
Thaayumana swamy temple is located in Tiruchirapalli. Tiruchirapalli is well connected by airways, railways and roadways. You can go to the temple via buses, for which you should ask for main guard gate bus stop, or in a cab or auto. Ola is also working in Tiruchirapalli.
About the temple
The temple is located in the rockfort hill. In these days the landings in a building, which we call floors, could be visualized to understand that the first landing in the rockfort temple is Thayumanaswamy temple and the second landing is Uchipillaiyar temple, which is the top most point in the temple. Though, you should be ready to climb at least 100 steps to reach the first temple, Thayumanaswamy temple. On the climb, you could see people carrying vaazhai thaar(clusters of plantain fruit on a stalk just like how it grows on plantain tree). This vaazhai thaar is offered to Thaayumana swamy. After offering, they are distributed in the temple. The prime deities Mattuvaar kuzhal ammai and Thayumanaswamy are in two floors in the temple. Even if it is hot outside, it will be cool inside the temple here. The god here is known for showering motherly love on his devotee. Hence he is called Thaayum aanavar, meaning He who became a mother also. The Goddess is called mattuvar kuzhal ammai because her hair smells divinely fragrant. There are other shrines also in this temple. Durga devi is on the left side of Swamy and Dhakshinamoorthy is on the right side. A seperate temple for Nandi is located straight down the hill, opposite to Shiva, very near to temple tank. The nandi is so huge. A shrine for Anjaneya swamy is also present in the temple along with Nandi. During Dusherra, idols for celebrating golu is sold in the super big Nandi temple. The main temple always has a silent atmosphere. The temples opens in the morning and is open till noon, opened again in the evening and is open till Arthajama pooja at night. A ticket should be bought for yourself before climbing the stairs to Thayumana swamy temple and another special ticket for using cameras to take pictures.
History
Worship with sevvandhi flowers
In India, people worship god everyday. Some people do it with flowers of their favourite kind. The people not only worship everyday but also worship at a particular time. For such people, such worship gives abundant happiness. Their heart will become light on all other aspects of life. Slowly they will detach themselves from worldly pleasures and become enlightened.
There was one such Sarama Munivar near Thayumanaswamy. He loved Lord shiva so much that he went to heaven and got Sevvandhi flower seeds from there to earth. He grew the flowers in an exclusive garden for his dear Lord Shiva. Everyday in the morning, he would collect the flowers himself from the garden and prepare a garland with those fresh flowers and worship Lord Shiva with it. He took this task so dearly to him, that it gave him immense happiness and bliss. His worship with the flowers became so dear to him and the lord, that the god was called Sevvandhinadhar also.
Every good people encounters a bad time, jealousy, corruption or sometimes theft. In Sarama Munivar's happy worship also one such incident happened. The garden, in which he exclusively grew sevvandhi flowers bloomed vigorously. The blooms attracted everyone's eye for an appreciation. While good people appreciated it, one flower vendor passing by decided to steal the flowers. He made a garland out of it and gifted those flowers to the king. The Sarama Munivar did not know that the flowers were stolen initially. One day he noticed that the flower count has reduced very much but the buds were in a good number. He should have a fair bloom everyday. So, with the patience and wise mind he had, he decided to hide and see what is happening to the flowers. While he was hidden, the boy came to steal the flowers and started stealing. Seeing the thief, Sarama Munivar caught the thief red handed. He took him to the King's court and made his complain to the king but to his surprise, the king not only refused to punish the thief but also turned insensitive to Sarama Munivar. The poor devotee became heart broken. He had only one person in his mind to pour out the sadness in his heart. He went to Sevvandhinadhar and told him what had happened. Lord Shiva saw the sadness in his devotee. He was angered by the injustice rule of the king and he turned to sit facing west from the east. His change resulted in the city being rained upon by sand instead of water. The king realised his mistake and all the people pleaded vekkaliamman to stop the sand rain. She prayed to Lord Shiva to stop the rain and even till today she does not have a roof for her in the temple.
This story not only tells us the happiness a devotee gets by worshiping but also how important a devotee becomes to his god. So, never lose faith in your worship to god.
God in the form of mother
Very long ago, a devotee named Ratnavathi, worshipped Shiva. She was married to Dana Guptan. It is a custom in Tamil Nadu, even today, for a woman to deliver the first child in the care of her mother. So when the daughter gets conceived, she will go to her mother few months before the due date. So, Rathnavathi also went to her mother. Rathnavathi's mother lived on one side of Kaveri river while Rathnavathi's house was on the other side. Even if she moved to her mother's house, she came to worship Sevvandhinadhar everyday. On her due date, after she crossed the river, she went to worship her god. Meanwhile, the water level increased above the danger level in the Kaveri river. When Rathnavathi returned from the temple, she was devastated to see the flood in the river. The boats were no longer allowed to take passengers or cross the river. The people stopped her from crossing the river after seeing her condition. Helpless and devastated, Rathnavathi goes back to her house. Her mother, on the other bank of the river could not cross the river. She is also heartbroken that she could not be with her daughter at the delivery time. So she prays to help her daughter. Meanwhile, Rathnavathi enter into labor pain. At that time, her mother comes to her house with medicine and a doctor. Her mother takes care of her through the child birth and afterwards, takes care of the baby also. The flood started to recede after a few days and her real mother comes from the other side of the river. All this time, god in the form of Rathnavathi's mother cooks and feed her, bathe her child, give post delivery medicines to Rathnavathi and takes a very good care of her. When the real mother entered the house, she sees god in her form. The daughter looks from her mother to god and god to mother, very astonished. In the end, god decides to reveal his true self and gives darshan as Lord Shiva to both the mother and the daughter. Both of them are dumbfounded and surprised with the love god has showered on Rathnavathi. Hence, from then on, Sevvandhinaadhar is Known as Thayum aanavar(Tamil) or Maathru bootheswarar(Sanskrit).
That's all folks for today. I will see you all soon with another interesting pilgrim.
goddess: Sugandhakundhalambal, mattuvar-kuzhal ammai.
god: Maathru bhoodheswarar, Thaayum aanavar.
How to reach?
Thaayumana swamy temple is located in Tiruchirapalli. Tiruchirapalli is well connected by airways, railways and roadways. You can go to the temple via buses, for which you should ask for main guard gate bus stop, or in a cab or auto. Ola is also working in Tiruchirapalli.
About the temple
The temple is located in the rockfort hill. In these days the landings in a building, which we call floors, could be visualized to understand that the first landing in the rockfort temple is Thayumanaswamy temple and the second landing is Uchipillaiyar temple, which is the top most point in the temple. Though, you should be ready to climb at least 100 steps to reach the first temple, Thayumanaswamy temple. On the climb, you could see people carrying vaazhai thaar(clusters of plantain fruit on a stalk just like how it grows on plantain tree). This vaazhai thaar is offered to Thaayumana swamy. After offering, they are distributed in the temple. The prime deities Mattuvaar kuzhal ammai and Thayumanaswamy are in two floors in the temple. Even if it is hot outside, it will be cool inside the temple here. The god here is known for showering motherly love on his devotee. Hence he is called Thaayum aanavar, meaning He who became a mother also. The Goddess is called mattuvar kuzhal ammai because her hair smells divinely fragrant. There are other shrines also in this temple. Durga devi is on the left side of Swamy and Dhakshinamoorthy is on the right side. A seperate temple for Nandi is located straight down the hill, opposite to Shiva, very near to temple tank. The nandi is so huge. A shrine for Anjaneya swamy is also present in the temple along with Nandi. During Dusherra, idols for celebrating golu is sold in the super big Nandi temple. The main temple always has a silent atmosphere. The temples opens in the morning and is open till noon, opened again in the evening and is open till Arthajama pooja at night. A ticket should be bought for yourself before climbing the stairs to Thayumana swamy temple and another special ticket for using cameras to take pictures.
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| Four Vaazhai thaar |
History
Worship with sevvandhi flowers
In India, people worship god everyday. Some people do it with flowers of their favourite kind. The people not only worship everyday but also worship at a particular time. For such people, such worship gives abundant happiness. Their heart will become light on all other aspects of life. Slowly they will detach themselves from worldly pleasures and become enlightened.
There was one such Sarama Munivar near Thayumanaswamy. He loved Lord shiva so much that he went to heaven and got Sevvandhi flower seeds from there to earth. He grew the flowers in an exclusive garden for his dear Lord Shiva. Everyday in the morning, he would collect the flowers himself from the garden and prepare a garland with those fresh flowers and worship Lord Shiva with it. He took this task so dearly to him, that it gave him immense happiness and bliss. His worship with the flowers became so dear to him and the lord, that the god was called Sevvandhinadhar also.
Every good people encounters a bad time, jealousy, corruption or sometimes theft. In Sarama Munivar's happy worship also one such incident happened. The garden, in which he exclusively grew sevvandhi flowers bloomed vigorously. The blooms attracted everyone's eye for an appreciation. While good people appreciated it, one flower vendor passing by decided to steal the flowers. He made a garland out of it and gifted those flowers to the king. The Sarama Munivar did not know that the flowers were stolen initially. One day he noticed that the flower count has reduced very much but the buds were in a good number. He should have a fair bloom everyday. So, with the patience and wise mind he had, he decided to hide and see what is happening to the flowers. While he was hidden, the boy came to steal the flowers and started stealing. Seeing the thief, Sarama Munivar caught the thief red handed. He took him to the King's court and made his complain to the king but to his surprise, the king not only refused to punish the thief but also turned insensitive to Sarama Munivar. The poor devotee became heart broken. He had only one person in his mind to pour out the sadness in his heart. He went to Sevvandhinadhar and told him what had happened. Lord Shiva saw the sadness in his devotee. He was angered by the injustice rule of the king and he turned to sit facing west from the east. His change resulted in the city being rained upon by sand instead of water. The king realised his mistake and all the people pleaded vekkaliamman to stop the sand rain. She prayed to Lord Shiva to stop the rain and even till today she does not have a roof for her in the temple.
This story not only tells us the happiness a devotee gets by worshiping but also how important a devotee becomes to his god. So, never lose faith in your worship to god.
God in the form of mother
Very long ago, a devotee named Ratnavathi, worshipped Shiva. She was married to Dana Guptan. It is a custom in Tamil Nadu, even today, for a woman to deliver the first child in the care of her mother. So when the daughter gets conceived, she will go to her mother few months before the due date. So, Rathnavathi also went to her mother. Rathnavathi's mother lived on one side of Kaveri river while Rathnavathi's house was on the other side. Even if she moved to her mother's house, she came to worship Sevvandhinadhar everyday. On her due date, after she crossed the river, she went to worship her god. Meanwhile, the water level increased above the danger level in the Kaveri river. When Rathnavathi returned from the temple, she was devastated to see the flood in the river. The boats were no longer allowed to take passengers or cross the river. The people stopped her from crossing the river after seeing her condition. Helpless and devastated, Rathnavathi goes back to her house. Her mother, on the other bank of the river could not cross the river. She is also heartbroken that she could not be with her daughter at the delivery time. So she prays to help her daughter. Meanwhile, Rathnavathi enter into labor pain. At that time, her mother comes to her house with medicine and a doctor. Her mother takes care of her through the child birth and afterwards, takes care of the baby also. The flood started to recede after a few days and her real mother comes from the other side of the river. All this time, god in the form of Rathnavathi's mother cooks and feed her, bathe her child, give post delivery medicines to Rathnavathi and takes a very good care of her. When the real mother entered the house, she sees god in her form. The daughter looks from her mother to god and god to mother, very astonished. In the end, god decides to reveal his true self and gives darshan as Lord Shiva to both the mother and the daughter. Both of them are dumbfounded and surprised with the love god has showered on Rathnavathi. Hence, from then on, Sevvandhinaadhar is Known as Thayum aanavar(Tamil) or Maathru bootheswarar(Sanskrit).
That's all folks for today. I will see you all soon with another interesting pilgrim.