Swetharanyeswarar Temple

Swetharanyeswarar Temple [Bhudhan Temple]
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Swetharanyeswarar Temple [Bhudhan Temple] Location in Tamil Nadu
Name
Other names	Aadhi Chidambaram
Tamil	திருவெண்காடு
Geography
Coordinates
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Nagai
Location	Sirkazhi, Tamil Nadu, India
Culture
Primary deity	Swetharanyeswarar (Shiva)
Consort	Brahma Vidya (Parvathi)
Poets	Appar, Sundarar, Sambandhar and Manikavasagar
Important festivals	Tamil Masi Month 10 days
Architecture
Architectural styles	Dravidian architecture
History and governance
Date built	1000-2000 years old

Swetharanyeswarar Temple is a Hindu temple located in the town of Thiruvenkadu near Sirkazhi. The main deity is Shiva - Swetharanyeswarar ("lord of white forest") and the goddess is Brahma Vidya ambal. There is a separate Sannidhi for Budha (mercury). The temple is quite large and all four important Saivite saints have sung in praise of this lord.

This temple is especially known for its unique incarnate of Lord Shiva called "Agora Murthi". He is one of the main god who is being prayed in this village.

Thiruvengadu village is also famous for its unique structure of pools in temples. This temple has 3 pools, 3 Gods. It is a belief that who takes bath in all these pools, the one will be free from their problems like diseases, delay in marriage, etc,.

Swetharanyeswarar

Swetharanyeswarar is the main God in this temple. It is said that Agora Murthi was one of the furious incarnation of Lord Shiva. There was an Evil named "Maruthuvasuran" in Thiruvengadu. He had a deep meditation on Lord Bhrama for power. Being satisfied with his meditation, Lord Bhrama offered him many powers. But he used those powers in a wrong ways. He started to torture the saints and innocent people. Having nothing to do, all the saints and people requested Lord Shiva to put an end to this evil. As they asked, Lord Shiva took his incarnation 'Agora murthi' and killed the 'Maruthuvasuran under a tree (which is now in Thiruvengadu temple, back to the entrance of Agora murthi). All the people thanked Lord Shiva for saving them.

Festivals

File:Chariot Festival Celbrated in Thiruvengadu.jpg

Chariot festival at Thiruvengadu

There are many festivals which are being celebrated in this village. It includes the chariot festival which is celebrated every year in the month of February. This Chariot festival is celebrated for 10 days. On 5th day a special occasion is celebrated for Lord Agora Murthi. People from many surrounding villages would come here and pray here for their better life.

Shiva and Buthan Temple

This Shiva temple is one of the 6 most sacred places on the banks of river manikanigai and Cauvery which is considered as equivalent to the temple at Varanasi. The other 5 shivasthalams are Thiruvaiyaru, Chaayaavanam, Mayiladuturai, Tiruvidaimarudur and Tiruvanchiyam.

Indiran, Airavatam, Budhan, Sun God Sooriyan and Moon God Chandiran are said to have worshipped God Shiva here. From the stone inscriptions found inside this temple, it is seen that the earlier chola kings Aditya Chola and Rajaraja Chola have made a lot of contributions to this temple.

There are several shrines of significance in this well visited temple, including those to Durga and Kali. The image of Natarajar here is of great beauty. Worship to Aghoramurthy - (Veerabhadrar) is said to be of significance on Sunday nights in this temple. As found in Chidambaram, there is also a shrine for Lord Vishnu near the shrine for Natarajar. This is adi (first) chidambaram because before dancing shiva in chidambaram he done the first dance here.

Gallery

• Thiruvenkadu temple.jpg

  Old image of the temple