Ramblings and Musings: Tirukadayur Temple

Monday, December 18, 2017

Tirukadayur Temple

Day 3: 12 December 2017
Visited Tirukadayur Temple in the forenoon. Reached around 11.00 am. It was generally a bright & sunny day. Many Sastiapthapurthy & Sathabhishekam celebrations were in progress. But it was not unduly crowded. Prayed at the Temple at the sanctums of Amritagadeswarar, Abhirami, Kalasamharamurthy & Vinayaker. Amazingly fulfilling darshan on my 69th Star Birthday (Nakshatra Poranthanal). The legend is that the Lord crushed Yamadharmaraja (God of Death) in order to save his young fiercely ardent devotee Margandeyan.The Lord is also known as Mritunjayamurthy as the annihilation of Yama depicts victory over death.This is a Padal Petra Sthalam.
Legend:Sage Mrigandu and his wife Maruthuvathi were praying to Lord Shiva for child. The sage performed severe penance. Lord said that the sage couple would have a son with all wisdom and noble qualities but his life would too short spanning just 16 years. He was named Markandeya. When he entered the age of 16, his parents were sad. Knowing the problem, Markandeya took a pilgrimage to all Shiva Sthalas. He came to Tirukadayur. This was the 108th temple of his pilgrimage. That also happened to his day of destiny. While he was praying to Lord, Yama directly came there to take his life. Seeing Yama, Markandeya embraced Lord Amirtha Kadeswara with all his might. When Yama threw his rope on Markandeya, it fell and covered Lord also, who in all fury hit him and destroyed him with His trident. Turning to Markandeya, Lord said that he would ever be 16 only without death.
By 1.00 pm we completed our tour of the temple and proceeded for lunch at Hotel Sadabhishekam. The lunch was a typical South Indian style comprising rice curries vegetables curd butter milk etc served on banana leaf. We then returned to Kumbakonam for a well deserved afternoon nap.