Thiru Chopuram: Thiru Chopura Nadhar / Mangala pureeswarar
Temple.
The place is about 20 kms from Cuddlore.
The place is also known as Thyagavalli. The temple is on the shore of Bay of Bengal. This is one the Devara Sthalams of Nadu Naadu.
A Temple that was burried and recoverd from sand.
Some thousands of years back the
temple was buried into sand due to fury of the sea.
In the later years of 19th
century the sand was cleared and temple was constructed once again.
Main Deity is Swayambu Lingam Arulmigu
Thiru Chopura Nadhar/ Mangala pureeswarar and his consort Chopura Nayaki Amman
/ Sathyadakshi Amman...
Here Sivalingam is on square peetam
as Avudai and the Lingam portion is made of Sand. Palm print of Agasthya muni
is visible on the Lingam portion. There is a small ball like bulb which is
considered as Ganga. Lord Vishnu and Brahma are
seen worshipping at the back of sanctorum.
Something unique in this temple is
Turmeric and Kumkum is used for worship of Lord Siva here. Hence the Lord is
known as Mangala pureeswarar.
Unique factors
One can here sound of Saptha Swaram from
Dakshina Murthy idol when it is tapped.
Here White Vastram is used for Dakshina
Murthy instead of Yellow which is normal. Dakshina Murthy is seen with Nagam to
left hand and Agni to right hand which is in reverse order.
Teertham is known as Chopura
Teertham and Bay of Bengal.
Sthala Vruksham is Kondrai Tree.
Inside the inner prakaram we see
Vinayakar, Lakshmi, Murugan, Verrateswarare, Kannappar, Navagraham,
Lingothbavar, Dakshina Murthy, Bairavar, and Natarajar sanctums.
Sthala purana says once when a
devotee came here to worship Lord Siva he did not see the temple but a little
portion of Kalasa was visible from within the sand. The residence of the village helped in
removing the sand and the temple was visble.
During the marriage of Lord Siva and
Parvthy the land tilted to one side, due to the weight of complete Mankind and Devas
who gathered to see the function. So Lord Siva asked Agyasthya Muni to travel
towards south to balance.
As the sage was traveling he
installed Siva Lingam in many places for his worship. Once when he came to this
place he had severe stomach ache and he prayed to Lord Siva. He tried to make a Lingam
of sand which was available there. He was not able to do the Lingam. He realised Lord was testing him. He finally
used some herbs found near by and extracted juice from it and mixed them to
sand and made a Lingam out of it. The Lingam has palm print of sage Agasthya
when he installed it. He was relieved from stomach ache.
Agasthiyar and Thyagavalli
worshipped Lord Siva of this place.
Sambandhar sang Hymns on Lord Siva
of this temple.
Sthambadri Sri Lakshmi Narashima Swamy Temple.
The temple of Sri Narashima Swamy is located in the heart of the Town, which is popularly known to local people as guha gudi. The ancient temple is believed t be existing from Tretha Yuga. The town is located on the banks of the River Munneru, which is tributary to River Krishna.
During Tretha Yugam Mouthgalya Maharishi with his disciples penance here in a cave and he was blessed by Lord Vishnu. Mothgalya Maharishi requested Lord Vishnu to stay back in this place along with Lakshmi. Lord came out of the pillar as Sri Lakshmi Narashima Swamy. Hence the place was known as Sthambadri.
The temple is on a vertical rock which is known as Khamba which means Pillar. The temple is on khamba so it was originally known as Sthamba Sikari which later turned into Sthambadri. At present the place is known as Khammam, which was derived from the word Khammam Mettu.
We have to climb steps to reach the temple.
Sri Hanuman sanctum is seen to right side, as we climb the hill.
Main Raja Gopuram of three tier.
We see dwajasthambam as a rock pillar which is covered with kavacham. Dwajasthambam like this is something Unique.
There is a sanctum for Sri Hanuman near the dwajasthambam.
We see a mandapam with 32 pillars.
Garuda is seen opposite to, main Garbha Graham within the mandapam.
Inner sanctum is a Cave. Sri Narashimar is seen with Thayar. He is seen only up to bust. We see Urchava vigrahas, Aandal, Maharishi idol.
There is a separate sanctum for Sri Lakshmi Thayar.
Paduka is seen in front of Thayar Sannidhi.
Sayana Graha, of Lord which is known as Addala Mandapam of this temple.
Sthala Purana says in16th century, King Pratapa Rudra, who was ruling the place was blessed by Lord here. King developed the temple and pooja was arranged according to Vaikasana Agama Sthara. Panaka Abishekam on Sundays is important here. Public believe that all their wishes are fulfilled when they worship here the Lord for 40 days.
Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Temple:
The temple is situated on a hillock know as Indrakeeladri, on the banks of River Krishna at Vijayawada.
Main shrine here is Sri Kanaka Durga. This is one of the 51 Sakthi peetam. Other deities seen in the premises are Lord SriGanapathy, Lord Sri Nataraja and Sivakami ammai.. We have to walk little further to have darshan of Lord Malleswara from Sri Kanaka Durga shrine. On our way out from the temple, to north side we see few steps that lead us to Lord Subramanya shrine. In front of the shrine we see lot of Nagar idols installed.
Purana says once a Yaksha by name, Keela penance about Goddess Durga, who was pleased with him, and she told she would fulfill his desire. Keela requested her to be in his heart always. She asked him to stay back in this place near River Krishna as a hillock, and one day she will reside on this hillock as Durga.
In Kritha yugam, Goddess Durga, after her fight with Mahisha suran, stayed back on this mountain Keela as Mahishasura Mardhini and fulfilled his wishes. Indra worshiped Goddess here, as Kanaka Durga so the hillock, is known as Indra Keeladri from then.
Brahma performed Sata Aswameda Yaga with devotion, by which Lord Siva was pleased and rested on this hillock as Jyothir Linga. Brahma worshiped Lord Siva with Jasmine flowers, so he is known as Mallikeswarar.
Purana says in Dwapara Yugam, Arjuna penanced about Lord Siva to obtain Pasupadastram, which is a powerul weapon. Lord Siva disguised himself as kiratha and fought with Arjuna to test his valour before, blessing him with Pasupadastra. Hence the place is also known as Phalguna Teertha.
His Holiness Sri Jagadguru Adi Sankarar visited the temple. He has installed Sri Chakkram at the feet of Goddess.
The temple was managed by Mogalaya Ruler Taanisha with the assistance of his ministers Akkanna and Madhanna.
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