Tiruvallam

Shiva as Vilwanatheswarar

Consort வல்லாம்பிகை

lingam

Shaiva temple

According to Hindu legend, Narada handed over a sacred mango to Shiva and wanted him to hand it over to a single person without cutting the fruit. Vinayaga and Muruga, the sons of Shiva, were fighting for the fruit. Shiva held a competition, stating that whoever circled the world three times would receive the fruit. Muruga immediately started on his peacock mount around the world. Vinayaga, who had a smaller rat mount, circled his parents Shiva and Parvathi three times and sought the fruit. He convinced his parents that for him, his parents were his world and he attained the experience of coming around the world by circumambulating them. Since he is believed to have come around (called valam in Tamil) his parents at this place, it came to be known as Thiruvalam, which with time became Thiruvallam. According to another legend, a priest in the temple was troubled by a giant named Kanja as he brought water from the nearby Kanjan mountain every day. He prayed for help, and Shiva sent the bull Nandi to guard the priest. As per another legend, Shiva is believed to called nee vaa meaning come here, on account of which the river came to be known as Neva river. It is also called Ponnai river. This place is believed to have been a Vilva forest (Vilavanam). There seemed to be a termite hill where a cow used to milk water. The termite hill drained and eventually became a Lingam, around which the current temple is built. As per the inscriptions in the temple, the temple is referred to as Theekali Vallam. In the verses of Sambandar, the place is referred as Thiruvallam, while in the 15th century Arunagirinathar refers the temple as Thiruvalam and the presiding deity as Thiruvallam Udaiyar.

Architecture

Dravidian architecture

First attested

7th century

Details are compiled from Wikimedia projects and published temple sources. Send a correction if something is wrong.

• Wikipedia, Paadal Petra Sthalam
• Wikipedia, Vilwanatheswarar temple

More links

• HRCE Tamil Nadu
• English Wikipedia
• Google Maps
• Tamil Wikipedia