Sree Lalithambigai Temple –Thirumeeyachur

Last week me and my family went about several temples in and around kumbakonam and one was Lalithambikai temple. I had visited thirumeeyachur along with family while visiting other temples in kumbakonam.This temple was 2000years old.. I do not know the story of the anklet or rather do not have full information about the temple, except that this is a temple for lalitha, I have never visited lalitha temple anywhere before so I was very curious.

 

 Lord Shiva is a swayambumurthi in the temple. Mother Lalithambika is seated on the Sri Chakra Raja Simhasana-throne with Her merciful Abhaya Hasatha Mudra-assuring all protection to devotees- with Her folded right leg placed on the left as an Empress. Mother Lalithambika is all powerful.

In the evening we visited the temple. We got Ekantham' (private)darisanam In siva sannathi no one was there. Kovil Gurukkal narrated the story /Greatness of the temple in front of lord.

Greatness of this Temple:

Lord Shiva Presiding deity Meganatha Swami is a swayambumurthi in the temple is facing east.Mother Lalithambika is seated on the Sri Chakra Raja Simhasana-throne with Her merciful Abhaya Hasatha Mudra-assuring all protection to devotees- with Her folded right leg placed on the left as an Empress. Mother Lalithambika is all powerful. This is the birth place of Garuda, Aruna the charioteer of Sun, Vali, Sugriva, Yama and Saneeswara.  Hence, people perform Ayush Homa and Mrutyunjaya Homa in this temple for longevity.  . Agasthya worshipped Mother with his own hymn Lalitha Navaratna Mala.

Sun worshipped in the temple for relief from a curse and got back His glittering power.  Mother Kali had worshipped Lord and Mother here. Tirugnana Sambandar had sung the glory of Lord in the shrine under the Rajagopuram and Saint Tirunavukkarasar had praised the Lord in the Ilankoil in the north prakara of the temple.  This is a temple of Mother importance. 

Yama the God of death and the deity of Sadhya Star worshipped Lord Shiva performing abishek with 1008 conches.  These conches have the power of granting longevity.  Yama brought the sacred plant Pirandai belonging to the creeper category to earth.  He offered rice nivedhana prepared with this pirandai to Lord.  This is followed now by devotees for relief from diseases and for longevity. So They also offer Pirandai Rice nivedhana placed on a lotus leaf to Lord and eat it for cure from diseases. We feel blessed. 

 

She is marvelous. The moment I lit lamps in Lalithambigai sannidhi and came to have darshan i was mersmerised by the alankaram, her beauty, the divinity. I have never seen Goddess so beautifully giving darshan to her devotees. I sat and chant Lalitha sahasranam in front of Godess.where lalitha sahasranamam emerged. I sat nearly oneand half hrs in front of goddess . Finally Gurukkal came and did archana for us and showed arathi with many lamps in it.It was a sight that had enough force to bring tears in my eyes.I closed my eyes and chant sapthasthi many times.It was a moment I feel the serenity in my heart.

Story of the Temple

This temple is located in Thiruvarur District Nannilam circle ,one and half kilometres west of Peralam village. Rajendra Chola and Sembian Maadevi are said to have renovated this ancient temple. The consort of Lord Meghanatha is Goddess Lalitambika. Her shrine on the right has got a 5-tiered Rajagopuram. The imposing five feet idol of Sri Lalitambika is installed over Sri Chakra in the sanctum sanctorum. The deity is seated resting her folded right leg on the sea in a Abhaya ,Varada Mudra posture t. Her left leg is in Sukhasana posture. She is said to be in Manonmani Swaroopa and hence is also known as Santanayaki. The Goddess is installed over Sri Chakra and is seated with her right leg folded.

Karththuru, vinathai are the two wives of kashyapa maharishi. They had a fight in between them about the black spot on the tail of uchchaisiravas – indra’s horse. Repenting they came to thirumIyachchUr and worshiped the Lord. The Lord blessed then and gave them an egg each, asked to preserve for an year to get splendid sons. They got garudan, arunan respectively.

When arunan took the form of mohini (charming girl) sun despoilt her. When aruNan pleaded to the Lord, He cursed sun to get darkened. As per His advice, sun worshiped the Lord at thirumIyachchUr for seven months.

Surya Bhagavan is believed to have workshipped Lord Siva as Gajaaruda seated on an elephant among thick clouds. Hence the Gajruda Vimana Still as his darkness did not change, he cried in grief, ”he migura”.

Hayagrivar conveyed to Sage Agasthiyar Lalita Sahasranamam

Lord Shiva cursed Surya the sun God whos body was burnt. So Surya does Tapas ( meditation ) here for 7 month. Surya started screaming since he regained the color of his body even after showing such devotion. The Goddess Parvathi who was alone with Lord Shiva got disturbed by Surya’s scream and was about to Curse him.

Since Surya is already suffering by curse , The Goddess got angry at the sun for shouting in Their abode. The God pacified her saying sun was looking for relief.(This Pacifying scene is depicted by the sculpture ) One of the key attraction of this temple is this sculpture where Lord Shiva is holding parvati’s cheeks …its said that Lord is pacifying the mother of universe. In one angle the sculpture godess appears to be in anger on the other angle she looks romantic.

 

Lord Shiva blessed her to be in peace as “Shanta Naayagi” . By His Grace sun was cured. The pacified Goddess does austerities getting the name Shanta Naayagi”

 Since Shiva himself asked Lalithambigai to be calm, the angels called “vasini ” emerged from mouth of Lalithambigai and sung the 1000 holy names in praise of Goddess which came to be known as Lalitha Saharanaamam.

From the mouth of shakti appeared the vachini devatas and they gifted us with Lalitha Sahasranamam Hayagrivar conveyed to sage Agasthiyar lalita sahasranAmam. As told by him Agasthiyar came to this temple and worshiped the God in the Amla Phaladi Krana Puja as done by the sun and saluted Sri Lalithambiga. As told by him agasthiyar came to this temple and worshiped the God in the “Amla phalAdi krana puja” as done by the sun and saluted “srI lalitAmbika”. yama dharma rAja worshiped the Lord here.

Sage Agastya is believed to have sung Lalita Navaratnamala in praise of the Goddess. He has also composed a hymn named Rahasyanamasahasram. Saivite saints Tirugnana Sambandar and Tirunavukkarasar have sung in praise. Asthabhujanga Durga is on the Northern side of the outer Praharam.  A parrot is in her right hand.  The parrot is supposed to be taking the message to Lalithambigai when devotees, who want their prayers to come true. Some lucky devotees can see that spectacle of a Parrot flying from above Durga’s shrine to the dhwajasthambam opposite Lalithambigai’s shrine!!This is believed by the devotees.

 Kshetrapuraneswarar is in the Western side of the outer Praharam.  Lord Shiva is seen holding the cheeks of his consort and pacifying her. We can see the statue with smile and anger from either side of the divine statue. On the Northern side of the outer Prahara near the Sakala Bhuvaneswarar shrine is the Asthabhujanga Durga.

 In the right hand of Durga is a parrot. Devotees, who want their prayers to come true, convey the same to Lalithambigai through this Durga. The parrot is supposed to be taking the message to Lalithambigai.

On the northern side of the praharam, you have the shrine of Sakala Bhuvaneswarar and His consort is Minnumegalaial. This is supposed to be an Ilam Kovil (temple within temple). Since there are two temples side by side, a unique feature of this temple is that you can see Shiva (present as Lingothbhavar) Vishnu and Brahma simultaneously from the North West corner of the outer prahara (Circumambulatory path).

Specialites:

Sun worships the Lord with his rays falling on the Lord from 21st to 27th of chiththirai.

Auspicious place to chant lalitA sahasranAmam

gajapRishta vimAnam

Glorious durgA

Beautiful artworks – service by choza kings

Unmarried women worship lord siva with garland and make an archanai to get married soon.

People who are affected by diseases offer a special food called pirandai satham for pooja which is kept above lotus flower to lord siva .After pooja, food is given as prasadam to the people affected by diseases.

Lalitha sahasranamam and lalitha navarathnamala is read by common people before manonmani amman in sri chakra peedam here to get her blessings as this amman is said to be a very powerful one.

This temple is situated at a distance of 1 km from peralam which is near mayiladuthurai.

The temple is open from 7.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and from 4.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.