Friday, January 22, 2016

Trichy Trip: 11. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval

Indian Bloggers

Date: 2nd Jan 2016

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi, Harsh, Muthusamy and Vijayalakshmi.

Fee: Camera 50, Special entrance Rs 10 and Rs25

Jambukeswarar temple is located 4Kms from Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple. The temple is around 1800 years old and is older than the srirangam temple. This temple is one of the major shiva temple in Tamilnadu. The temple representing water is one of the pancha bootha temples in tamilnadu. There is a constant flow of water in the inner sanctum and the Shiva linga is always wet.
The main sanctum doesnt have a door in the front. There is only a small with with holes and the devotees worship through that window. That is the general darshan. However with special entry the devotees are allowed to enter the sanctum though a narrow door (Story below) on the right side. The temple gopuram is as grand as the gopurams of srirangam temple but these lack maintenance. The painting on the gopurams is half washed away and some parts just peal off. Hopefully someday these beautiful temples will be restored. There is also akilandeshwari shrine inside the same complex but it got closed by the time we went. The temple is a upadesha sthalam. The goddess is a student and the jambukeswarar is the master because of this there is no thirukanyanam conducted in this temple. The extensive art work on the pillars and roofs add beauty to the grand old temple.

Part of the temple story.
Two devotees of lord Shiva in kailasha keep fighting with each other. One day with their fight getting out of control they cursed each other to become a spider and an elephant. They both pray to lord for relief and the lord ask them to perform pooja in earth and he would help. Both the spider and the elephant did pooja to the Linga everyday. The spider would build a protecting net above the Linga but the elephant destroys it thinking it as dust. They fight again on earth and the spider enters the elephant ears and kills the elephant and killing itself. Lord Shiva then gives salvation to the elephant and makes the spider take a re-birth as a punishment for killing. The spider was reborn in the king family and he builds the temple with the narrow entrance to the sanctum so that no elephant can go inside.

Some pics from the visit.

Gopurams in the temple.



Temple elephant.

A  clean walkway.

Story of the temple depicted in many places.

The massive pillars with fine carvings.

Another pillar with intricate art work.


Story of the temple carved in the pillar.

Hall.

Massive wall around the temple.

Few close up shots.


A beautiful temple which is relatively less crowded than Srirangam and one can have a peaceful darshan. 

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