Erattai Thirupathy and Ekantha Linga Swamy  

Posted by Shamala Krishnan

Tholaivilli Mangalam: Two temples together are known as Erattai Tirupathy dedicted for Raghu and Kethu. When nectar was distrubted among Devas and Asuras, two of the asuras were in the Devar group and got the nectar from Vishnu, who punished him but they were given the posts as Grahams. That is the reason why there are two temples with different deities for both relating to the place of Raghu and Kethu. One is Tholaivillai Mangalam Devarbiran and the other one is Tholaivilli Manglam Aravindha Lochanan.




  1. Devarbiran temple:
    This place is one of 108 Divya Desam, it is fourth temple of Nava tirupathy known as Erattai Tirupathy, and the Kshetram is reffered to Kethu Bagawan.







    The place is about 34 kms from Thirunelveli, and 3 kms from Azwar Thirunagari. The temple is near River Thamirabarani with two Prakaram.



    Main deity is known as Devarbiran in standing posture and Thayar known as Karunthadak kanni.
    Teertham
    is Varuna teeertham and River Thamirabarani. Sthala vruksham of the temple is known as Vila maram.




    As we enter into the temple we see Dwajsthambam, and Garudazwar in a small sanctum near it, facing main deity Deverbiran in the sanctum.




    Main Deity Devarbiran Perumal
    is seen with Sanku and chakra in two hands, and the other two hands as Abhya varadha hastham and Kadi hastham. Thirumagal to his heart so there is no separate sanctum for Thayar in this temple.


    Urchavar is seen as Sreenivasan with Sreedevi and Bhoodevi here.



    Importance in this temple is one who worship the Lord of this place the soul attains Mukthi.



    Purana : Once a Gandrava named Vidyadharan and his wife were deeply immersed in love at this place and they did not respect Deva Guru who was passing over the place. He was annoyed and cursed them to become Thulai and Vill. (thulai means Tharusu, balance).


    Once they were out into normal state they realized their mistake, they worshipped Guru and asked for remedy to get out of his curse. He asked them to stay as Thulai and Vill inside the mud and penance at the place known as Kethara Nilayam


    When a muni by name Suprabar, visits the place and clean the place for
    Yagnam to be performed by him, he will find you in the cleaning process and the moment he lifts you will be back to your form.



    As it was predicted Suprabar muni choose this place for his yagnam and he found Thulai and villi, when he took it in hand turned out as gandarva and his wife. Since the Devas (Gandravas) did their penance and blessed, the place was known as Devarbiran. Muni Suparabar requested Lord to stay in this place and bless devotees.


  2. Aravindalochanan:


    This is one of the temples of Erattai Tirupathy and is considered important for Ragu Bagawan. This temple is near Devarbiran temple.



    Main deity is known as Aravindalochanan, Chentamarai kannan and his consort Karundhadang Kanni. Teertham is Aswini teertham.



    Purana says Muni Suparabar was worshipping Devarbiran with Lotus flowers with good fragrance, which Lord liked. He followed the muni to find the place from where he was getting the flowers for him. When he saw the place he was happy and wanted to stay back in the place.


    Muni built a temple for him and worshipped him daily as he did for Devarbiran. Since the lord liked Lotus flower and his eyes are like Lotus he is known as Chentamarai Kannan. When Avirbagam (things which are included in Homam) is given it was taken by Devas.


    Aswini Devar did not get any Avirbagam. He complained and was asked to penance and worship Aravindalochanan. As a result they were blessed and given Avirbhagam. Since they were using the pushkarni it was named after them.





    As per Bramanda puranam Sathya seelar was living near River Ganges. He had three sons and one of his sons Vepidhakan was suffering of leprosy. Naradha muni asked him to have a dip in Aswini teertham at Tholaivili Mangalam and worship Aravindalochanan.



    Vepidhakan did as he told. He recovered and attained moksha.


  3. Azwarthoppu: Ekantha linga swamy


    The place is near Azwar Thirunagari in the route of Thirunelveli to Thiruchendour.







    The temple is about 1000 years old. The place was known as Thirunagari and vaada Kantheeswaram. They say many chittars worshipped the Lord of this place and were blessed.



    A muni named Kanthai who is traced back to chittar worshipped and that is the reason the place is known as Kntheeswaram.


    Main deity is Swayambu lingam known as Ekanthalinga Swamy and his consort Aramvalartha Nayaki. River Thamirabarani is flowing through this place. As we enter in we see Dwajasthambam and nandi devar in front. We see dwarabalakar to the side of the mandapam and a Kasi Viswanadhar lingam to front of the left dwarabalakar. Natarajar is seen in the Artha mandapam.



    In the Maha mandapam Aramvalartha Nayaki in a seperate sanctum were we see dwarbalaki to either side near the entrance. Other deities in the temple are Kanni Vinayakar, Subramanya Swamy, Dakshina Moorthy, 63 Nayanmars, Saneswarar, Bairawar and Chandran.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 03, 2010 at Wednesday, February 03, 2010 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

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