Om Namah Shivaya
Nattrunaiyavadhu Namachivayame
With divine grace, Annamalaiyar Arappani Kuzhu is involved in Uzhavarapani of dilapidated temples since 2006. Today’s post is about one such revival activity done in 2019.An ancient dilapidated Shiva temple probably as ancient as 1900 years was lying in ruins in Koogaiyur around 250 kms and 12 kms from Chinna Salem on Salem-Perambalur road in Tamilnadu.
Inscriptions say that the Lord is called as Sri Karyampureeshwarar. With glorious linga thirumeni, the Lord’s presence & divinity was undeniable there. One could feel His presence. With no roof, He was drenched in sun, rain, wind continuously for several centuries. From inscriptions, we also learned this temple was built by King Malayaman Thirumudikari (90 CE - 122 CE). Hence Lord is called Karyampureeswarar here. King Malayaman Thirumudikari is one of the Kadai Ezhu Vallal, one of the last seven patrons of ancient Tamizhakam which includes the well known Adhiyaman Nedimananchi who ruled the nearby Thagadoor (present day Dharmapuri). Thirumudikari ruled over a part of Thondaimandalam (Northern Tamizhakam) with Thirukovilur as its capital.
Malayaman Thirumudikari was also a great patron of art and architecture. Nobody left empty handed after visiting him. Kapilar praised him in one of the Puranaanuru verse (Song 123).
Anyone, if he drinks toddy in the morning
and gets happily drunk by the time he holds court,
can give away chariots.
But Malaiyan whose good fame never lessens,
gives without getting drunk more tall ornamented chariots
than there are drops in the clouds
that form over the rich Mullūr mountain
An ancient temple built by such a glorious king was in ruins. The temple seemed to an habitat of poisonous snakes and we could see snakes skin and a huge ant hill. On 07.04.2019, around 70 Kuzhu members and devotees did Uzhavarapani. Gau puja was conducted before commencing to ward off any evil and successful completion. Activities included removal of unwanted vegetation on walls and roof, cleaning the temple and its surroundings, removal of sand and dry leaves accumulated inside. The temple pond which had gone dry was also cleaned. Women volunteers cleaned the temple and drew beautiful Kolams.
After Uzhavarapani, puja was conducted and a tarpaulin sheet was placed above the Lord. On 8th, 9th, 10th Apr 2019, a devotee from Athur around 40 kms away constructed metal roofing above Garba gruha. Daily Pooja has commenced in the temple with divine grace. However, this temple needs to be restored to its glorious past. Such a time is long awaited.
Credits to V. Ramachandran (Annamalaiyar Arappani Kuzhu)
Source: Wikipedia (Malayaman Thirumudikari)
The google map location is https://goo.gl/maps/mWgAFbypCzL5KWNy9
How to contribute to this.