Thiruvidaimarudur-Mahalingeswaraswamy Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to
the deity Shiva, located in Tiruvidaimaruthur, a village in the South Indian
state of Tamil Nadu. It is significant to the Hindu sect of Saivism as one of
the seven major Shiva temples. Shiva is worshiped as Mahalingeswaraswamy, and
is represented by the lingam, with his idol referred to as Jothimayalingam. His
consort Parvati is depicted as Pirguchuntaragujambigai. The lingam of the
temple is believed to be the focal point for the seven consorts of Shiva. The
presiding deity is revered in the 7th century Tamil Saiva canonical work, the
Tevaram, written by Tamil saint poets known as the nayanars and classified as
Paadal Petra Sthalam.
The 9th century Saiva saint poet Manikkavasagar has
sung praise about the temple in his works.
There are 149 inscriptions associated with the temple
indicating contributions from Pandyas, Cholas, Thanjavur Nayaks and Thanjavur
Maratha kingdom. The present masonry structure was built during the Chola
dynasty in the 9th century, while later expansions are attributed to Thanjavur
Nayaks during the 16th century.
The temple complex is one of the largest in state and it
houses four gateway towers known as gopurams. The temple has numerous shrines,
with those of Mahalingeswaraswamy, Pirguchuntaragujambigai and Mookambigai
being the most prominent. The temple complex houses many halls and three
precincts; the most notable is the second precinct built during the Vijayanagar
period that has many sculptures. The temple has six daily rituals at various
times from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., and twelve yearly festivals on its calendar.
The temple is maintained and administered by Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, a South
Indian monastic institution.
The name "Kumbakonam", roughly translated in
English as the "Jug's Corner", is believed to be an allusion to
the mythical pot (kumbha) of the Hindu god Brahma that contained the seed of
all living beings on earth. The kumbha is believed to have been displaced by a
pralaya (dissolution of the universe) and ultimately came to rest at the spot
where the town of Kumbakonam now stands.The drops of nectar are believed
to have fallen onto five shrines around Kumbakonam, namely Mahalingeswarar
temple at Tiruvidaimarudur, Tirudharasuram, Naganathar Temple at
Tirunageswaram, Tiruvorgam and Tirupadalavanam.
The legend of a Chola prince who killed a Brahmin and was in
turn, pursued by his spirit (brahmahatthi), is associated with the temple. The
Chola prince, it is believed, entered the Mahalingeswarar Temple and prayed to
his favourite God, Shiva for relief from the clutches of the spirit of the dead
Brahmin or brahmahatthi. The Chola prince made his way out through another
entrance thereby saving himself. Some sources associate the legend with
Pandya king Varagunapandian. It continues till day where people take the
second entrance to exit the premises after worship. There is a sculpture of
Chola brahmahatthi on the eastern premises in one of the inner gopurams (tower
gateway).
Shiva is believed to have appeared as a flame to please
Agastya and other sages who were performing penance. Shiva is said to have
emanated from the heart of Parvathi. It is also believed that several other
deities like Rudra, Vinayaga, Murugan, Parvathi, Kali, Lakshmi, Saraswathi,
Brahma, Airavata (the elephant of celestial king Indra) and Vishnu worshipped
Mahalingaswamy.
he temple has a five-tiered Rajagopuram and three precincts,
each enclosed inside huge walls and having gateway towers for each of them.The temple is rectangular in plan with East-West orientation and has four
entrances in each of the four directions. Mahalingam, literally meaning big
lingam, is the presiding deity and is considered the centre of all consort
deities of Tamil Nadu. There are five temple tanks inside the temple, namely
Karunyamirdha Theertham, Soma Theertham, Kanaga Theertham, Kalyana Theertham
and Iravatha Theertham. There are 27 other water bodies that are associated
with the temple. There is a separate shrine for Mookambiga and it is built in
north Indian style. The shrine of Mookambiga is where Parvathi is believed
to have performed her penance.There are stone images of Pattinathar and
Bhadragiriyar in the eastern and western gateways of the temple
respectively. The central shrine of the temple is that of Mahalingaswamy
facing East. The shrine of Ambal faces the east and is situated close to the
Mookambigai Amman shrine. The temple was widely expanded during the Nayak
period in the 16th century with the development of twin Mahalinga and Devi
shrines. The shrines of Muruga and Nataraja are enshrined in the spaces
between the pier. There are other shrines for Padithurai Vianayagar and
Agora Veerabadrar.
The three precincts are called Aswametha Pradakshina,
Kodumudi and Pranava. The Vinayagar in the Southern side is called Anda
Vinayagar and as per Hindu legend, the Vinayagar ruled the world and hence
obtained the name. Pranava precinct has lot of sculptures dating back to the
Nayak period of the 16th century. One of the notable among them is the
sculpture of a chariot having twelve pillars, each denoting the twelve lagnas.
In the northern portion of Kodumudi precinct, there is an image of
Chokkanathar.
The piers standing has attached colonettes, lotus beams and
suspended beams are atypical of Nayak style though the attached hall and
innermost compound are recent additions. Govinda Dikshitar, the minister of
Nayak is believed to have built the Pushyamantapas (halls) in this temple. Achyutappa also added gift of a village to the temple, the income of which was
to be utilized for the temple car festival for the goddess in Adipuram day.
Thanjavur Marathas ruled the region during the 18th century.
Pratap Singh (1736–63) was a patron of the temple after his paryer to
Mahalingaswamy to marry love was fulfilled. He is believed to have donated one
lakh metal lamps to the temple. His concubine Theepanachiar is believed to have
personified as one of the lamps. An ornamental metal image of a lady called
Pavai Nonbu holding a lamp is still present in temple. The base of the lamp has
an inscription indicating the gift of Marathas to the temple.
In modern times, the temple is maintained and administered
by Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, a South Indian monastic institution. A Saiva
Siddantha library inside the temple maintains palm leaf manuscripts and Saiva
literature. The temple is one of the most visited temples in the
district.
Worship and festivals
Historic image of temple car of the temple
Modern image of temple car of the temple
The temple priests perform the pooja (rituals) during
festivals and on a daily basis. Like other Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, the
priests belong to the Shaivaite community, a Brahmin sub-caste. The temple
rituals are performed six times a day; Ushathkalam at 6:00 a.m., Kalasanthi at
8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 10:00 a.m., Sayarakshai at 6:00 p.m., Irandamkalam at
8:00 p.m. and Ardha Jamam at 9:00 p.m. Each ritual comprises four steps:
abhisheka (sacred bath), alangaram (decoration), neivethanam (food offering)
and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Mahalingeswarar and
Pirguchuntaragujambigai. The worship is held amidst music with nagaswaram (pipe
instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument), religious instructions in the
Vedas read by priests and prostration by worshippers in front of the temple
mast. There are weekly rituals like somavaram and sukravaram, fortnightly
rituals like pradosham and monthly festivals like amavasai (new moon day),
kiruthigai, pournami (full moon day) and sathurthi.The most prominent
festival of the temple, Thaipoosam, is celebrated for ten days during the Tamil
month of Thai.The festival deity of Mahalingeswarar and his consort
circumambulate the temple and the streets in the village in different vehicles.
The festival ends with Theerthavari on the last day. During the Tamil month of
Vaikasi, Tirukalyanam (sacred marriage), Ambal Tapasu (penance of Ambal), Ambal
Thannai thaane festivals are celebrated.
Religious significance
According to legend, Mahalingaswamy is the centre of all
Shiva temples in the region and the Saptha Vigraha moorthis (seven prime consorts
in all Siva Temples) are located at seven cardinal points around the temple,
located in various parts of the state.The seven deities are Nataraja in
Chidambaram Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram, Chandikeswarar in Tirucheingalur
Temple at Tirucheingalur, Vinayagar in Vellai Vinayagar Temple at Tiruvalajuli,
Muruga in Swamimalai Murugan Temple at Swamimalai, Bhairava in Sattainathar
Temple at Sirkali, Navagraha in Sooriyanar Temple at Suryanar Kovil and
Dakshinamoorthy in Apatsahayesvarar Temple, Alangudi at Alangudi, Papanasam
taluk.The other deities of a Shiva temple associated with
Mahalingeswaraswamy are Durga in Thenupuriswarar Temple at Patteswaram,
Somaskanda in Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur at Tiruvarur and Nandi at
Tiruvavaduthurai Temple at Thiruvaduthurai. The temple is also referred as
Pancha Linga stala due to the presence of five lingams, four of which in the
cardinal directions and the fifth one at the centre. The temple of Viswanatha
lies in the east street, Rishipuriswara in the west, Atmanatha in South street
and Chokkanatha in North street.
