Thiruvanai Kaval Margamudaya Ayyanar
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
During the time of
King Kari Kala Chozhan , the paddy crops
from Trichy to Tanjore used to dry in season of lean rain and used to
drown in water when the rainfall was in
excess. So the king raised both the banks of Cauvery river and on the northern
shore in Thiruvanalkaval consecrated an
Ayyanar temple. And prayed him to show the way to solve the problem. He
suddenly got an idea of Building Kallanai (stone dam)
and took the water stored there
using canals to the paddy fields . When this solved their problems , people believed that Ayyanar was the cause of it and so called
“Margamudaya Ayyanar.(Ayyanar who has the path to solve problems) .” From then on thousands of people in living
very large number of villages started worshipping him as their God. Apart from
them large number of people of all
religions and caste visit this temple
and worship this God and get their problems solved. People believe that
many Sidhas have come and lived in this temple which is many hundred years old.
The temple faces the east and besides it in a Mandap are the temples of Maurai veeran, SAraswathi,
Mahalakshmi, Durga, Kamakshi, Ganesa
Subramanya with his consorts Valli and Deivanai , Dashinamurthy etc.. On
the northern side of the temple is the makizha tree which is the
temple tree , Pavadai Chami , Uchimalai Karuppu , Changili Karuppu , Karaikkal Ammayar , Chandana Karuppu , Manapparai
Mamundi, Pechi amman, Agjora Vera BHadrar, Irulappan , Chappani Karuppu ,
Periya Karuppu , Malayal;a Karuppu and Periyanna Chami.
In the sanctutm
sanctorum, Ayyanar sits with a pleasant smile. Near to him is the
temple of Panayadi aandavan. There is a
very peculiar story about this God. It seems that with one of the Chozha lkings who was ruling in
Urayur , Adhi Raghava Pillai was working as an accountant. He had seven
sons and a very pretty daughter called Rajathi. The king wanted to posses
Rajathi. Raghava Pillai and his family members ran from Urayur to protect
Rajathi. The king chased the, Rajathi jumped in a maize pond (chola kuzhi) and committed Suicide , giving her red cloth
to one of her brothers. Raghava Pillai
and brothers jumped in the river Cauvery and started swimming. Six
brothers and Raghava Pillai reached
different places on the other shore. But one remaining son who was named as
Pandyan could not swim properly. He
prayed Goddess Kamashy and suddenly a
palm tree came floating in the river.
He tied himself to it with the red cloth and reached the other shore near
Tiruvanaikaval. There he and his father
buried the red cloth given by his sister
on the earth and prayed
Margamudaya Ayyanar. All brothers got united. Later the brother Pandyan
was called as Panayadi Andavar and people started worshipping him too. Opposit the temple of
Ayyanar are huge statues of Elephant and horses., The first
day of month of Margazhi, Shiva Rathri, Eighteenth day of the month of Adi are
festival days in the temple On Sivarathri day from 8 Am to 8.30 Pm, continuous
free feast is held at the tempe. People celebrate their 60th,
seventieth and eightieth birthday in
the temple . It is believed that this Ayyanar cures all those people affected
by black magic. People believe that the
Pechiyamman God of this temple is extremely
powerful. Young girls who do not
attain puberty come and worship Prechiamman and
attain puberty soon . The Palm tree in this temple is full of flowers
and bears fruits throughout the year. People
come and anoint this palm tree with milk and pray that it should protect them
similar to the way it saved Panayadiyar. This temple is one km away from
Thiruvanai Kaval temple on the Kallanai road.
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