Tiruvottiyur Tyagarajar and Vadivudai Amman Temple - Part 4

I have been writing three posts on the gigantic ancient temple of Tyagaraja and Vadivudai Amman of Tiruvottiyur near Chennai. I continue to write about the temple structure in this post.

Let me resume from where I stopped last time. I covered till Tyagaraja shrine. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, the Tyagarajar shrine is on its way to the main shrine. There is a mandapa in-between. The mandapa has a shrine of the processional metal icons of Subramanya with his consorts Valli and Devasena. Opposite this small shrine is an icon of Murgan's devotee Arunagiri Nathar. There is a big beautiful stone image of Ganesha called Veramba Gunalaya Vinayaka. There is a prominent icon of Chandikeswara near the magnificent images of Dwarapalas. The icons of Vinayaka, Chandikeswara and Dwarapalaks are artistically beautiful.

The mandapa also houses a big icon of Nandi (the bull). The shrine of Nataraj, along with his consort Sivakami is also located in the same mandapa. 

Let me brief you about a legend of this temple associated with Nataraja and Nandi. Nandi requested Shiva to perform a unique dance, so it should not be possible for anyone, mortal or immortal, to imitate it. Per Shiva's advice, Nandi came to Tiruvottiyur, created a tank near the sanctum of Adi Pureeswarar, immersed himself inside the water, and performed penance. Hearing this, Vishnu and Lakshmi also made a teerth in this temple and started doing penance. They were followed by Romasa Rishi too. Brahma also joined them. Ultimately, they all witnessed Lord Shiva's cosmic dance at this temple. 

Let us move inside the main sanctum. The sanctum enshrines the presiding temple deity, which is present in three forms I described in a previous post. The God, which you can see as a snake pit covered by kavacha (covering), is named Adi Pureeswarar or Padampakka Nathar. As per legend, the Ayodhya king Mandata levied taxes on all townships. When his orders inscribed in palm manuscripts arrived at Tiruvotriyur, an additional line was added by Shiva, stating that Tiruvottiyur was exempted from taxes. Hence, the Lord also got the name 'Ezhuthariyum Peruman' ('He who chose to write').

I will write about more shrines, icons, and the temple structure of the temple in the forthcoming posts.

Till then...Happy travelling.

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