Perumpuliyur Shiva and Vishnu Temples

Perumal Temple entrance

Deepalankaram seen from outside

Chakarathu Azhwar

Shri Narasimhar

Shri Sundararajaperumal with Thayars

Sundaravalli Thayar

Perumal Temple inside view

Perumpuliyur Temples: Perumpuliyur is very close to Thiruvaiyaru ( around 5 Kms) about which I have already written. Though this place is well known as a Shiva Kshetram, there is also an equally important Perumal temple here. We will first cover the Shiva Temple. Thirugnana Sambandar sang on this Lord. Arunagirinathar had sung Thirupugazh on the Murugan of this temple. This temple was totally neglected for long and was covered by wild bush. Thanks to the efforts of Shri Sundara Swamigal of Madurai Adheenam, it was restored to its normal glory. The sthala Vruksham is Sarakondrai and the theertham is Cauvery. Since very few devotees visit this temple, it is preferable to contact the priest (he is coming daily from Thiruvaiyaru) over phone (94434 47826 and 94427 29856) and make necessary arrangements for Pooja. Pooja is conducted thrice a day.

It is an east facing temple with a 3 tiered gopuram. There is no Dwajasthambam in this temple. It is relatively a small temple (as per Tanjavur standards). The Lord is installed in a four step Lotus petal type platform (Kamala Peetam). The Swamy is a Swayambumurthy and is called Vyakrapureeswarar or Puliyurnathar. The Lingam is relatively large in size. Ambal is called Soundaranayaki or Azhagammai and Her shrine also faces east. In the prakaram, we find the shrines of Vinayakar, Murugan with His consorts, Dakshinamurthy, Natarajar, Ardhanareeswarar, Navagrahams etc. Like some of the other temples in this region, the remaining eight Navagrahams face Surya in their shrine.

Readers might be familiar with Sage Vykrapadhar. He is also called Pulikal Munivar in Tamil. He was a contemporary of another legendary Rishi, Shri Patanjali. He was a child with normal body. He learnt the story of Shri Chidambaram Natarajar from his father Shri Mathiyandan and from that time onwards, he was totally devoted to Shiva. He was going around various places, visiting Shiva temples. As he wanted to get fresh flowers, he used to climb trees and creepers and pluck the flowers. As the human form was a hindrance in climbing trees, Lord provided him with the feet of tiger ( Vykrapadhar or Pulikal) so that he could easily climb.

After plucking the flowers, he used to test them thoroughly ( Lord had provided eyes in his finger nails for examining the flowers!) before using them for archana. As per available legends, he had worshipped in five Shiva Temples and hence all these five temples end with a suffix Puliyur- Thirupadiripuliyur (Cuddalore), Perumpetrapuliyur (Chidambaram), Erukathampuliyur, Omam Puliyur and Perumpuliyur. Finally he attained Moksham after praying to Vishnu at Thirusirupuliyur near Mayiladuthurai ( as advised by Natarajar of Chidambaram). He occupies a place in the Nataraja Shrine of Chidambaram along with Patanjali.

Perumpuliyur also hosts another famous temple which is that of Shri Sundararaja Perumal. This temple is associated with Shri Thirumazhisai Azhwar. Azhwar after having darshan of the Lord at Sri Rangam and Anbil, was going towards Kumbakonam. This village comes en route. As he wanted to have some rest, he sat on the thinnai (outside platform ) of a house. At that time, he heard the vedic chanting in the agraharam near the Perumal temple. When Azhwar approached them, the scholars thought that he was an illiterate mendicant who was trying to reach the Lord’s temple. They immediately stopped the chanting. Azhwar got the message and feeling bad, he retracted his steps and once again sat on the Thinnai.

The scholars wanted to resume the vedic chanting from the place where they had stopped. Despite their scholarship, suddenly they forgot their lines and could not proceed. Seeing their plight, Azhwar took two grains of paddy and cut them into pieces with his nail. ( symbolic of breaking their arrogance/ignorance). Immediately, the scholars got back their memory and re-commenced their chanting. They also noticed that the Lord from the temple came out and was moving towards the Azhwar. This made the scholars once again unhappy. Seeing their discomfort, Azhwar sang a pasuram ( Akkarangal Akkarangal….) requesting the Lord to open the eyes of the Pandits. Perumal immediately disappeared and appeared on the chest of Azhwar and gave darshan to everyone. The scholars realised their folly and apologized to the Azhwar and took him inside the temple with all honours.

The Lord is in standing posture with the two Thayars in the Moolasthanam. It is believed that originally the Lord was facing East and in order to receive the Azhwar who was coming from the west, He also changed directions and is now facing west! In several temples, the Sun rays used to fall on the Lord in the mornings. As the Lord had turned west in this temple, the rays of the Sun fall on Him on the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th March every year during sun set. The fact that the Sudarshana Sannadhi, where He appeared on the chest of the Azhwar is also in the western direction, is to be noted. Sundaravalli Thayar is in a separate east facing shrine. There is also a shrine for Shri Yoga Narasimhar facing south. There are also shrines for Chakrathu Azhwar and Ubaya Nachiyars.

In the centuries past, this temple was in the midst of forest. Hence people used to come here for Vanabojanam and it was a grand function in this temple. Since the old environment is gone, Vanabojanam festival is no longer being celebrated in a big way. For the past few years, the family of one of the devotees from Sri Rangam, arranges for Sahasra Deepam lighting in this temple on the Thirukarthigai day (Nov-Dec).Though this temple is from the medieval Chozha period, the inscriptions available are only in Telugu and Tulu, perhaps indicating the influence of Nayak and Vijayanagar Dynasties who had done lot of improvements in this temple. For performing special poojas in this temple, devotees may contact Shri Navaneetha Krishnan Bhattar @ 90954 13417. Note: Photos and some of the inputs were collected from various web sites.