By The beauty of the sculptures in the temple located in Madam Pakkam, Chennai, India bear testimony to the unparalleled skill of our sculptors. There are Lord Sarabeswara, Vinayaka with Veena, Lord Muruga on an elephant holding his cock on one hand, Lord Vishnu worshipping Shiva along with Brahmma the Creator, Shiva with Ganga and Parvathi, Shiva on Vasuki snake, Lord Dakshinamurthy with His consort, Bhairava, Sri Hanuman worshipping Lord Rama with Mother Sita on his lap, Brhamma with five faces are the sculptures, one should not miss to see and enjoy. Pujas are performed to Lord Sarabeswara on Sunday evenings. Those facing problems due to planetary transitions pray to Lord Sarabeswara.
The Lord is placed on a seat about 8-9 inches high and is too small measuring about just 2 inches. It also bears the scar caused by the cow’s rear leg and also the stone attack. The sanctum sanatorium or the womb chamber also is small. The snake jewel head cover is placed on the Linga.
Those facing any adverse planetary effects astrologically worship the Lord offering jasmine garland. Dhenukambal:Mother Thenukambal graces from a shrine facing south. Sage Kabila in the front hall (mandap) appears on a pillar holding the Linga on the left hand and a garland on the right hand. A woman is holding a water pot on her head. Lord Muruga graces with His Consort Valli and Deivanai from a shrine. He is praised in the hymns of Arunagiriar. Those having no child pray to Lord Muruga here. On the roof above Nandhi, are the paintings of Ashtathikpalakas – the authorities of the eight directions.
Beauty of the sculptures: The beauty of the sculptures in the temple bear testimony to the unparalleled skill of our sculptors. There are Lord Sarabeswara, Vinayaka with Veena, Lord Muruga on an elephant holding his cock on one hand, Lord Vishnu worshipping Shiva along with Brahmma the Creator, Shiva with Ganga and Parvathi, Shiva on Vasuki snake, Lord Dakshinamurthy with His consort, Bhairava, Sri Hanuman worshipping Lord Rama with Mother Sita on his lap, Brhamma with five faces are the sculptures, one should not miss to see and enjoy.
Pujas are performed to Lord Sarabeswara on Sunday evenings. Those facing problems due to planetary transitions pray to Lord Sarabeswara.
Speciality: There are twin Vinyakas in the inner corridor (prakara). There is no banyan tree in the Dakshinamurthy shrine. Mother Durga appears with a parrot on Her hand. In the place of Lingodhbava behind the sanctum sanctorum, Vishnu is installed. Lord Varadharaja graces with consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi. Mercury (planet Bhudha) is facing North. Those suffering from stammering offers green pulse as nivedhana to him. They also offer Tulsi Garland and light ghee lamps. Vaduga Bhairava is worshipped with Banana fruits and cashew garland. They light lamps in coconut shell and pumpkin on the Ashtami days – 8th day either from new moon or full moon day. The garland is made in sets of one cashew and a red flower known as Arali flower. There will be 12 cashew fruits in the garland.
Temple History:
Emperor Sagara performed a great Aswamedha Yagna and sent his Royal Horse alone to go round the world. According to traditional rules of the yagna, the horse thus sent should return to the starting point victoriously without being captured by any body. Indira, jealous of Sagara caught the horse and tied near sage Kabila who was in penance then. Sagara’s son seeing the horse, suspecting that Kabila had captured the horse, began to torture the sage, who, on opening his eyes cursed him. The curse continued to affect the succeeding generations of Sagara. As advised by Guru Sage Vasishta, King Baghiratha, belonging to the subsequent generation performed severe penance, brought River Ganga to Earth, performed Shiva Puja, relieved all his ancestors from the grip of the curse and liberated himself also from the curse.
Sage Kabila too, felt very much that he had cursed the Sagara dynasty. He began to worship Lord Shiva to atone for the sin of cursing the Sagara family and to attain salvation. He held a Shivalinga on the Left hand and offered flowers by the right hand. Lord Shiva appeared before the sage and asked him why he was following a strange type of Puja. Kabila said that considering the sanctity of the Lord, he did not like to place it on impure earth. Lord Shiva told him that he was in many places on earth and there was no such part not loved by him and said what the sage did was not right. He told the sage to be born on earth as a cow, worship him as a swayambu Linga and attain salvation. So saying the Lord disappeared.
Sage Kabila, as ordained by Lord Shiva was born a cow. He was pouring the milk on a Sivalinga in a hidden place. The shepherd threw a stone on the cow. It did not move. Then he pinned on the milking part of the cow. Unable to bear the pain, the cow moved. While moving, the rear leg of the cow hit on the Linga from where blood came out. The shepherd fainted on seeing this. Lord Shiva appeared before Kabila the Cow. Kabila was absorbed within the Linga. As Kabila in his cow form (Cow means Thenu or Kamadenu in Sanskrit) worshipped the Lord, He is known as Thenupureeswarar. A temple was built later here.
Do come here to have the Dharshan of Blessings of Lord Shiva. Sambo Maha Dev !!!
