Veeratteswarar Temple at Tirukoilur is one of the eight Veeratta Sthalas, where Lord Shiva destroyed asuras. In this particular place Lord Shiva killed Andhakasura.
Once Mother Durga was playing with Lord Shiva, and she covered his eyes with her hands. The entire universe is illuminated by the jyothi that emanates from the eyes of Lord Shiva, thus when she had covered his eyes, the entire universe became dark. From the darkness arose ignorance, and out of that emerged the asura named Andhakasura.
There was a great battle between Lord Shiva and Andhakasura. Lord Shiva struck the head of Andhakasura and blood began to pour to the earth, but every drop of blood that touched the earth turned into another demon. In order to stop the demons from manifesting, Mother Durga caught the blood in a pot. As the lines of blood collected in the pot, it formed a pattern of 64 squares which later became known as the Vaasthu Mandala. Lord Shiva manifested 64 Bhairavas, one for each square, to help him in his battle with these demons. This combination and the worship of the 64 Bhairavas became known as Vaastu Shanti Puja. Thus science of Vaastu originated from this temple.
This temple is praised in the Thevaram by Thirugyana Sambandhar, Appar and Sundarar. Inside this temple the Sangam period poetess Avvaiyar composed her famous prayer to Lord Ganesh. He was so pleased with her that he carried her to Kailasha in her own body. The story is that the great shaivite saint Sundarar was being taken to Kailasha by a white elephant, which had been sent personally by Lord Shiva to take him. At that time Avvaiyar was performing worship in this temple.
She became eager to quickly finish the puja and also go to Kailasha along with Sundarar, so she started to rush through her puja so as not to be late. At that time Lord Ganesha appeared and told her to perform the puja slowly and not to rush through it. She worshipped Lord Ganesha and patiently completed the puja. Afterwards Lord Ganesha took a gigantic form and carried her to Lord Shiva’s abode of Kailasha, reaching even before Sundarar could arrive.
This temple is also connected to the sangam period poet Kapilar, who fasted till death on a rock in the river next to this temple (those pictures will be in a separate post). Another historical story is that this city was originally named Thiru-kai-vel, which indicated the place where Mother Durga’s Vel fell from her hands.
Location of Temple:
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Sir
I thank you very much
i shall visit this temple shortly
Thank you!! I really enjoyed reading this post !
yes, noted with interest to visit
Dear Jahnava Nitai Das (Julian Parker)
Thank you for your lucid narrative of this sacred place. I have worked with many older accounts of this famous holy place in South India. Every Sivasthala also has an accompanying Vaishnava sthala, as the two are variants of ONE single truth, in keeping with the Upanishad sentence which is Ekam Sat, vipra bahuda vadanti (The truth is one, told by great learned being in many ways). Every time it is read, it never gets old! Well done and thank you.
If lord shiva give me a way I will see my lord shiva
S.Ganesan
I will go to the temple with my family on my next tour.Thanks for the information
A very powerful and miraculous temple
Good information. I will visit the temple at the earliest oppurtunity.
Very good I am intrested to visit the temples Pl let me know the programme and details of the trip
Thank you
Thanks for the information about the temple.I will try to visit & worship.
Very good and sensitive story.i will visit the temple day.
Superbly done. The write up is lucid and one feels ss if one is sitting and listening to a satsanga. Thank you.
Thank you
THANK YOU FOR GOOD INFORMATION,IF LORD SHIV, IS WILLING, AND KIND ENOUGH, WE MIGHT VISIT THIS AND OTHER TEMPLES,ONE NEVER KNOWS, A PERSON PURPOSES, GOD–PRABH JEE DISPOSES,PERSONAL EXPERIENCE,MANY TIMES,UNEXPECTED/MIRACULOUS, EPISODES/ANECDOTES, HAVE HAPPENED,LEAVING ME STUNNED,FLABBERGASTED,NO EXPLANATION
Hai Jahnava Nitai Das,
Thanks for the divine news of this sacred which some of our people doesn’t know. Once again thanks for the same.
Very useful and inspiring post. It took me back by thirty five years when I visited this temple. I understand there are seven other temples related to this mythology and visit to those temples could also be inspiring.
wonderful
Sir,
Thank you for information
This is a fine work and would like to cooperate with you whenever you need.
Narasimhan
Please do not forget to visit the JagatGuru Shri Gnananandha Swamy Adhishtanam at Tirukoilur
Thirkoilur is also one of the divyadesam of Vishnu where the first three Alwars have met and created the three sets of Prabandhams submitted to Lord Narayanan. Thirkoilur is a Punniyadesam in Centre of Tamilnadu.
i must thank the originator of this mail
we were not knowing the mythological facts
about this temple and its origin and how
shiva could kill asuras a great significance
about the vasthu shastra also coming out
from this information
we once again appreciate the task taken by the
mailer to disseminate this knowledge to all
with regards, venugopal, bangalore
Great write up and narrated very well. Thank you to the author for sharing this message. I would like to be part of your spiritual exploration in future.
Thank you for this information.Hope Lord shiva will bless me to visit this sacred temple!
kindly download Veeratteswara Manthras