Information of Thyagaraja Temple, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu

The Thyagaraja Temple is dedicated to the revered Hindu god Lord Shiva. It is situated in a small town called Thiruvar in Tamil Nadu, India. Lord Shiva is adored and worshipped in the temple as Moolanathar and appears in the form of a lingam. Regular sessions of rituals are performed in order to worship the idol of Lord Shiva which is commonly known as the Maragathe lingam. Lord Shiva's wife, Parvati is represented as Kamalambigai. The reigning god of the temple is found to have been respectfully mentioned in a literary work called Tevaram which was written in Tamil during the 7th century by the native saint poets referred to as the 'nayanars'.

Thyagaraja Temple Religious Significance

The schedule of the temple encompasses six rituals that are performed on a regular basis at different times. The rituals are carried out by the temple priests on regular days and also during festivals. The priests of the temple are known to hail from the Shaiva community similar to the other temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. Each of the ritual performed in the temple regularly includes four elaborate steps and they are the holy bath, decoration, offering of food to the god and waving lamps for both Amman as well as Vedaranyeswarar. The rituals are held against a background of music that is created with the help of percussion and pipe instruments. As a part of the ritual, sacred texts or in other words religious instructions are read out loudly by the temple priests along with the devotees kneeling down as an act of paying respect to the god before the temple pole.

Thyagaraja Temple Mythology & History

It is believed by the temple legends that Vishnu, one of the main Hindu gods sat on top a Shiva Lingam to meditate as he desperately craved for his own son. Vishnu was able to satisfy Shiva with his meditation which made Shiva along with his wife Uma appear in front of Vishnu and granted his wish. However, Uma was highly dissatisfied and furious on Vishnu as she felt mistreated by him and thus, cursed Vishnu that his child would die at once. Vishnu immediately indulged in repenting through his prayers by admitting the actuality that Shiva had no existence without Uma and even she was imperfect without him. While these things unfurled, an asura named Kaliyan, attacked the heavens. Indra successfully protected the heavens with the help of the Somaskanda provided by Vishnu. Another attack by an asura followed the previous one which was then defended by the Chola king, Muchukuntan who later asked for the possession of the Somaskanda which was established at Thiruvarur. Somaskanda is learnt to be one of the many forms of Shiva which he took up for the purpose of a heavenly sport on Earth.

Thyagaraja Temple Architectural Significance

The Thyagaraja temple truly demonstrates a typical Dravidian style of architecture and was constructed during the 9th century at the time of the reign of Chola dynasty. The temple occupies a whooping area of above 30 acres and is thus, considered to be amongst the largest temples of the country. The temple includes several places of worship along with Neelothbalambal being the well-known one and Thyagaragar. The temple is known to house one of the country's largest water tanks that is the Kamalalayam tank which is located on the western side of the temple complex. The well planned architecture depicts the beauty of the 9th century Dravidian style of architecture, which makes the temple more popular among devotees in Tamilnadu.