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Temple Speciality

Temple Name

Sthalam

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Vadukeeswarar

Vadukeeswarar Temple&nbsp;(also called&nbsp;Thiruvandarkoil Temple,&nbsp;Thiruvandarkoil&nbsp;and&nbsp;Panchanadeeswarar temple) is a&nbsp;Hindu temple&nbsp;dedicated to the deity&nbsp;Shiva, located in&nbsp;Thiruvandarkoil&nbsp;, a village in Pondicherry - Villupuram highway in&nbsp;Pondicherry&nbsp;in the&nbsp;South Indian&nbsp;state of&nbsp;Tamil Nadu. Shiva is worshiped as Vadukeeswarar, and is represented by the&nbsp;lingam.

His consort&nbsp;Parvati&nbsp;is depicted as Thiripura Sundari. The temple is located on the Chennai - Villupuram highway. 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;nayanmars&nbsp;and classified as&nbsp;Paadal Petra Sthalam.

The temple complex covers an area of two acres and all its shrines are enclosed with concentric rectangular walls. The temple has a number of shrines, with those of Vadukeeswarar and Thiripura Sundari being the most prominent.

The temple has three daily rituals at various times from 6:00&nbsp;a.m. to 8:30&nbsp;p.m., and many yearly festivals on its calendar. Sivaratri festival during the&nbsp;Tamil month&nbsp;of&nbsp;Masi&nbsp;(February&ndash;March), Vaikasi Visagam during May&ndash;June, Skanda sashti during October - November, Thaipoosam during January&ndash;February and Navaratri during the month of&nbsp;Purattasi&nbsp;(September - October) are the most prominent festivals celebrated in the temple.

The original complex is believed to have been built by&nbsp;Cholas, with later additions from different ruling dynasties. In modern times, The temple is maintained and administered by the&nbsp;Archaeological Survey of India&nbsp;as a protected monument.

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Puranam

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As per&nbsp;Hindu&nbsp;legend,&nbsp;Brahma, one of the three Hindu trios, got proud of his accomplishments and power. Once&nbsp;Parvathi, the wife of the other trio&nbsp;Shiva, got confused with the five heads of Brahma thinking it to be that of Shiva&#39;s. Shiva removed one of the five heads of Brahma as a punishment. Brahma realised his mistake and pleaded with Shiva. Shiva came to be known as Vadukeeswarar as he quivered the head of Brahma.

The original structure is believed to be existent from time immemorial, while the later additions are believed to have been built by&nbsp;Cholas,&nbsp;Pallavas, while the present masonry structure was built during the 16th century.

There are inscriptions from later&nbsp;Chola&nbsp;emperors like&nbsp;Rajaraja Chola I&nbsp;(985&ndash;1014),&nbsp;Kulothunga Chola I&nbsp;(1070&ndash;1120),&nbsp;and&nbsp;Rajendra Chola III&nbsp;(1246&ndash;1279).

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Sculpted images on the walls

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Sculpted images of&nbsp;Bhikshatana&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ardhanarisvara.

Vadukeeswarar temple is located in a village called&nbsp;Thiruvandarkoil&nbsp;located 21&nbsp;km (13&nbsp;mi) from&nbsp;Pondicherry&nbsp;on Viluppuram - Pondicherry highway. The temple has a flat entrance tower facing east, and all the shrines of the temple are enclosed in concentric rectangular granite walls. The shrine of Thripurasundari is housed in a shrine facing north in the second precinct. The central shrine housing Vadukeeswarar is approached through pillared halls.

The shrine houses the image of Vadukeeswarar in the form of&nbsp;Lingam&nbsp;(an iconic form of Shiva). The central shrine is approached through a Mahamandapam and Arthamandapam. As in other Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu, the shrines of&nbsp;Vinayaka,&nbsp;Murugan,&nbsp;Navagraha, Chandekeswara and&nbsp;Durga&nbsp;are located around the precinct of the main shrine.

&nbsp;The stucco images on the four sides of the vimana of the temple were plastered by Archaeological Survey around 1994.

The temple is originally believed to be built by the&nbsp;Cholas&nbsp;-&nbsp;Parantaka I. The inscription is dated 1048, the 30th regnal year of Rajaraja.

&nbsp;There are inscriptions from later&nbsp;Chola&nbsp;emperors like&nbsp;Rajaraja Chola I&nbsp;(985&ndash;1014),&nbsp;Kulothunga Chola I&nbsp;(1070&ndash;1120),and&nbsp;Rajendra Chola III&nbsp;(1246&ndash;1279). The region along with the temple briefly switched hands to&nbsp;Pandya&nbsp;empire as indicated by the inscriptions in the temple.

The regions changed hands from&nbsp;British&nbsp;to French colonial Empire during the 17th century. Most temples in the place were destroyed during the French invasion, but the temple was spared.

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Varnam

Highlights

Sevas/Festivals

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It is one of the shrines of the 275&nbsp;Paadal Petra Sthalams&nbsp;-&nbsp;Shiva Sthalams&nbsp;glorified in the early medieval&nbsp;Tevaram&nbsp;poems by Tamil Saivite&nbsp;Nayanars&nbsp;Thirugnana Sambandar.

The temple priests perform the&nbsp;puja&nbsp;(rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. The temple rituals are performed three times a day;&nbsp;Kalasanthi&nbsp;at 8:00&nbsp;a.m.,&nbsp;Uchikalam&nbsp;at 11:00&nbsp;a.m. and&nbsp;Sayarakshai&nbsp;at 5:00&nbsp;p.m. Each ritual comprises four steps:&nbsp;abhisheka&nbsp;(sacred bath),&nbsp;alangaram&nbsp;(decoration),&nbsp;naivethanam&nbsp;(food offering) and&nbsp;deepa aradanai&nbsp;(waving of lamps) for Vadukeeswarar and Thiripurasundari.

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Image of the central shrine

There are weekly rituals like&nbsp;somavaram&nbsp;(Monday) and&nbsp;sukravaram&nbsp;(Friday), fortnightly rituals like&nbsp;pradosham, and monthly festivals like&nbsp;amavasai&nbsp;(new moon day),&nbsp;kiruthigai,&nbsp;pournami&nbsp;(full moon day) and&nbsp;sathurthi. Sivaratri festival during the&nbsp;Tamil month&nbsp;of&nbsp;Masi&nbsp;(February&ndash;March), Vaikasi Visagam during May&ndash;June, Skanda sashti during October - November, Thaipoosam during January&ndash;February and Navaratri during the month of&nbsp;Purattasi&nbsp;(September - October) are the most prominent festivals celebrated in the temple.

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The temple is maintained and administered by the&nbsp;Archaeological Survey of India&nbsp;as a protected monument.

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