Virudhachalam

Virudhachalam Municipality is a First grade Municipality. It is having a Population of 59300 as per 2001 Census. This Municipality is having 22,57. Sq.Km area.

This Municipality is maintaining 35.489 Km of Roads and 1770 No of Streetlights.

The Ancient Virudagreeswarar Temple is situated in the center of this Town, and the River Manimutha Nathi a holy river of South India is passing in the middle of the town.

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Location : Vriddachalam (Nadu Naadu) விருத்தாசலம்
Shiva : Pazhamalainathar, Virudhagireeswarar (விருத்தகிரீஸ்வரர்)
Ambal : Periya Nayaki, Viruddambika
Vriksham : Vanni Maram (Prosopis tree) (ஆன்மீக சக்தி கொண்ட வன்னி மரம்)
Patikam : Sambandar, Appar, Sundarar
Travel Base: Chidambaram
Tamil Name : Thirumudukundram (திருமுதுகுன்றம்)


Description: This Shivastalam is a hill temple in the town of Vriddachalam, where the hill is believed to be a manifestation of Shiva. It is considered to be a Moksha Stalam on par with Chidambaram, Kalahasti and Banares. This is the 9th of the 22 Tevara Stalams in the Nadu Naadu region of Tamilnadu.Several literary works have sung its praises.

Legends: Shiva is said to have blessed the Devas with a vision of the Cosmic Dance here; it is believed that this stalam will stay untouched through the great deluge. Agasthyar, Surya, Chandra, Bhrama and Vishnu are said to have worshipped Shiva here. Sundarar is believed to have dropped his gold in the Manimuttar river here, and retrieved it in the Kamalalayam tank at Tiruvarur.

The temple covers an area of 4 acres; it has 3 vast courtyards surrounded by tall walls pierced with towered 7 storeyed entrances on 4 sides. The outermost prakaram is referred to as Kailasa Prakaram. A sage by name Vipachit is believed to have built the earliest structure of this temple, and his image is kept under the vanni tree here.

Sembiyan Mahadevi the Chola queen reconstructed the temple of stone in the 10th century. The innermost structures ie. the sanctum and the ardhamandapam belong to her period. The niche images here include those of Vinayakar, Dakshinamurthy, Lingodbhavar, Bhrama, Gangadharar and Ardhanareeswarar.

Panels of miniature sculpture as in Tirukkandiyur, Tirunanipalli and Tiruppullamangai are seen in this temple. The Natarajar and the Bhogeswari bronze images found in this temple go back to the period of Queen Sembiyam Mahadevi (10th century) who was known for her penchant for temple building. The Nandi Mandapam was constructed in her memory.

Festivals: Five annual festivals are celebrated here -
1.The month of Aadi Pooram (ஆடிப்பூரம்),
2.The Vaikasi Vasantotsavam (வைகாசி வசந்தகால உத்சவம்)
3.The Maasi sixth day Bhramotsavam (மாசிமகம் 6ஆம் நாள் திருவிழா விருத்தகிரீஸ்வரர் விபசித்து முனிவர்க்கு காட்சி அளித்தல்)
4.The Maasi Bhramotsavam. (மாசி மகம்,தேர்,தெப்ப உத்சவம் )
5.The Siva Rathri (சிவராத்திரி)

The Rishabha vahana procession lasts for more than 12 hours. The image shown above is that of the Rishabha vahana festival at Tirumayilai in Chennai.


Posted By: Ravikumar Sivamani