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Temple Speciality

Temple Name

Sthalam

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Edaganathar, Elavrkuzhali

Edaganathar Temple is a&nbsp;Hindu temple&nbsp;dedicated to the deity&nbsp;Shiva, located in&nbsp;Thiruvedagam, a village in&nbsp;Madurai district&nbsp;in the&nbsp;South Indian&nbsp;state of&nbsp;Tamil Nadu. The temple is located on the banks of&nbsp;Vaigai River. Shiva is worshipped as Edaganathar, and is represented by the&nbsp;lingam. His consort&nbsp;Parvati&nbsp;is depicted as Visalakshi. The presiding deity is revered in the 7th century Tamil Saiva canonical work, the&nbsp;Tevaram, written by Tamil saint poets known as the&nbsp;nayanars&nbsp;and classified as&nbsp;Paadal Petra Sthalam.

The temple complex covers five acres and it houses two gateway towers known as&nbsp;gopurams, each facing the Edaganathar and Elavrkuzhali shrine. The temple has a number of shrines, with those of Edaganathar and his consort being the most prominent.

The temple has six daily rituals at various times from&nbsp;6:00&nbsp;a.m. to 8:30&nbsp;p.m., and four yearly festivals on its calendar. The&nbsp;Muthu Pandal&nbsp;festival is celebrated during the day of the Magam (February &ndash; March) is the most prominent festival.

The original complex is believed to have been built by&nbsp;Pandyan Empire, while the present masonry structure was built during the&nbsp;Nayak&nbsp;during the 16th century. In modern times, the temple is maintained and administered by the&nbsp;Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Government of Tamil Nadu.

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Images of the sculptures in the temple walls

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Puranam

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As per Hindu legend,&nbsp;Jainism&nbsp;was the most prominent religion in the region.&nbsp;Sambandar&nbsp;challenged the Jainist scholars to compete against him. As per the rules of the competition, the scholars had to write their verses in palm leaf, float them in the river and the winner is decided when the leaf floated, while the lower work sunk. Sambandar&#39;s verses on a&nbsp;palm&nbsp;leaf (Edu) is said to have gone against the current of Vaigai and settled here, as opposed to the leaf floated by the once dominant&nbsp;Jains&nbsp;here, hence the name Tiruvedakam.

It is believed that Shiva appeared at the place as Eduganathar, the one who let the leaf float.&nbsp;Vaaduvenra&nbsp;Vinaayakar&nbsp;here is said to have stopped the movement of the palm leaf in the guise of a fish, in response to Sambandar&#39;s patikam. Shiva here is believed to have been worshipped by&nbsp;Garuda,&nbsp;Adiseshan&nbsp;and&nbsp;Vishnu.&nbsp;As per local legend, the place was called Cetanur as&nbsp;Adisesha, the serpent snake of Vishnu worshipped Shiva and later went on the become Edakam.

Varnam

The temple is located on the Madurai &ndash;&nbsp;cholavandan&nbsp;bus route and the nearest railway station is cholavandan. The present structure with spacious corridors and imposing gopurams occupies an area of about 5 acres (20,000&nbsp;m2). Images related to Sambandars episode are seen carved on the stone steps leading to the Vaikai river. The presiding deity lord shiva is called as Edakanatheswarar and the Ambal his consort mother Parvathy is called as Elavaarkuzhali, Sugandha Kundalambika.

The sthala vriksham is Vilvam(Aegle marmelos) and the Theertham is called Bhrama Theertham. Inscriptions from the period of Jatavarman Kulasekhara Pandyan (12th century AD), and&nbsp;Krishna Deva Raya&nbsp;are seen in this temple, speaking of their endowments to this shrine. As per tradition, a Pandyan queen wanted Sambandar to reconvert the king Arikesari Nedumaran to Saivism from his&nbsp;Jain&nbsp;beliefs. Sambandar accepted the plea of the queen and influenced the king to convert to Saivism.

It is also believed that the king slayed around 8,000 Jains in his kingdom. The stone carvings in the temple narrate the tradition.

Highlights

Sevas/Festivals

Images of the sculptures in the temple pillar

The temple priests perform the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puja_(Hinduism)">puja</a>&nbsp;(rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. The temple rituals are performed six times a day;&nbsp;Kalasanthi&nbsp;at 6:00&nbsp;a.m.,&nbsp;Irandam Kalm&nbsp;at 9:00&nbsp;a.m.,&nbsp;Uchikalam&nbsp;at 12:00&nbsp;a.m.,&nbsp;Sayarakshai&nbsp;at 6:00&nbsp;p.m,&nbsp;Irandam Kalm&nbsp;at 7:30&nbsp;p.m., and&nbsp;Arthajamam&nbsp;at 9:00&nbsp;p.m.. Each ritual comprises four steps:&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhisheka">abhisheka</a>&nbsp;(sacred bath),&nbsp;alangaram&nbsp;(decoration),&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naivedhya">naivethanam</a>&nbsp;(food offering) and&nbsp;deepa aradanai&nbsp;(waving of lamps) for Edaganathar and Elavrkuzhali. There are weekly rituals like&nbsp;somavaram&nbsp;(Monday) and&nbsp;sukravaram&nbsp;(Friday), fortnightly rituals like&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pradosha">pradosham</a>, and monthly festivals like&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amavasya">amavasai</a>&nbsp;(new moon day),&nbsp;kiruthigai,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pournami_(festival)">pournami</a>&nbsp;(full moon day) and&nbsp;sathurthi. Sambandar&#39;s miracle is celebrated every year as&nbsp;Edu Ethireriya Utsavam&nbsp;during the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_calendar">Tamil month</a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;Vaikasi. Other festivals include Vinayaka Chaturthi, Aadi Pooram, Navaratri, Aippasi Pournami, Skanda Sashti, Kartikai Deepam, Arudra Darisanam, Tai Poosam, Maasi Magam, Panguni Uththiram and Vaikasi Visakam.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edaganathar_temple#cite_note-dinamalar-4">[4]</a>&nbsp;During the&nbsp;Edu Ethireriya Utsavam, the act of Sambandar is reenacted in the temple. Sankabisheka, performed during&nbsp;Karthikai&nbsp;(November &ndash; December) is considered very sacred in the region.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edaganathar_temple#cite_note-R-5">[5]</a>

It is one of the shrines of the 275&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paadal_Petra_Sthalams">Paadal Petra Sthalams</a>&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_Temples_of_Tamil_Nadu#Sthalams">Shiva Sthalams</a>&nbsp;glorified in the early medieval&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tevaram">Tevaram</a>&nbsp;poems by Tamil Saivite&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayanars">Nayanar</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambandar">Sambandar</a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirupugazh">Thirupugazh</a>, the work of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunagirinathar">Arunagirinathar</a>, a 13th-century saint glorifies the temple.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edaganathar_temple#cite_note-8">[8]</a>

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