This Siva temple is located close to Tiruppur and is one of the seven Sivastalams in Kongu Nadu

Kongu Nadu

Kongu Nadu is a region comprising the western part of the Tamil Nadu India. The region is bounded on the west and north-west by the Karnataka state, on the west by the Kerala state, on the east by Tondai Nadu, on the south-east by Chola Nadu and on the south by Madurai regions of...

. This temple is commonly known as Thirumuruganpondi temple in that area.

Mythology

According to legend, Lord Murugan

Murugan

Murugan also called Kartikeya, Skanda and Subrahmanya, is a popular Hindu deity especially among Tamil Hindus, worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influences, especially South India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius and Reunion Island. His six most important shrines in India are the...

 got Brahamahathi Dosham after killing the demon king Soorapadman in his heroic Surasamharam. To get rid of this dosham, Lord Murugan erected a Shivalingam at this place and worshipped Lord Shiva. Thus the temple is called by his name as Tirumurugapoondi. Durvasar is said to have brought the Mullai tree – the stala vriksham from Karpaka Lokam. It is believed that worshipping the deity at this shetram relieves those with mental ailments.

Temple structure

The temple has come up in about 1 acres (4,046.9 m²) with high compound walls on the four sides. This temple is facing west and there is no gopuram in front as in other temples. A large Nandi - visible from a distance substitutes the traditional gopuram in a mandapam situated in front of the shrine. The main Lingam inside the sanctum sanctorum is two and a half feet in height and is facing west. The presiding deity lord shiva is known as Muruga Natheswarar or Skanda Natheswarar and the Ambal mother parvathy is called as Muyangu Poon Mulaiyammai or Aavudainayagi . The shrine for the female deity is situated to the left side of the sanctum sanctorum. To the right side of the sanctum sanctorum, there is a statue for Lord Muruga which is 5 feet (1.5 m) in height. The Natarajar's tandavam here is famous and is attributed as Brahma Tandavam. The stala vriksham is Mullai and the Theertham is called as Subramanya Koopam

Poems on this temple

The thevaram

Thevaram

Thevaram is a panchayat town in Theni district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Thevaram located in the border of Kerala separated by western ghats-Demographics:...

 Pathigam about this temple is composed by Sundarar. When sundarar planned to visit this temple, the chera

Chera dynasty

Chera Dynasty in South India is one of the most ancient ruling dynasties in India. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas, they formed the three principle warring Iron Age Tamil kingdoms in southern India...

 king cheraman perumal nayanar gave lot of goods to this temple for the daily puja. But on the way they lost their wealth to a group of bandits. Sundarar sang a song on the praise of lord shiva and by his grace he got the goods back in the temple compound. There are two images of Sundarar here depicting his state of mind prior to and after the incident.

Festivals

The annual Brahmotsavam falls in the Tamil month of Maasi. Brahma Tandavam is the feature of the 10th day of the festival. Other festivals observed here are Arudra Darisanam in January, Kartikai Deepam in December, Vinayaka Chaturthi in September and Skanda Sashti in November.

Location

This temple is situated 5 km from Avinasi on the Avinasi - Tiruppur road and it is also 8 km from the tirupur railway junction.

External links

• http://www.templenet.com/Tamilnadu/s238.html
• http://www.shivatemples.com/knaadu/kn4.html