The temple is one of the nine Navagraha temples of Tamil Nadu and is a part of the popular Navagraha pilgrimage in the state - it houses the image of Sukra (Venus).Kanjanoor Agneeswarar Temple is the Shukra Navagrahasthalam, associated with Lord Shukra or Planet Venus.
Lord Shiva as Agneeswarar and Goddess Parvathi as Karpagambal forms the presiding deities of this temple. Unlike other Navagraha Temples, the main deity of Kanjanoor Agneeswarar Temple, Lord Agneeswarar resides here in the form of Lingam and depicts Lord Shukra.
One can find no separate shrine for the Navagraha, Shukra here. This is because Lord Shiva Himself is worshipped as Shukra at this temple. Kanjanoor Agneeswarar Temple is renowned as the Parihara Sthalam for ‘Shukra Dosha’. Worshipping Lord Shukra or Planet Venus at this temple is believed to bestow wealth and prosperity in one’s life.
There are numerous legends associated with Kanjanoor Agneeswarar Temple.
Legend is that Siva blessed Parasara muni (sage) here with cosmic dance. It is believed that Shiva appeared in the form of Sukra to propitiate himself off the dosha of Sukran.The temple is counted as one of the temples built on the northern banks of River Kaveri.
Haradatta was born in Kanjanoor in a staunch Vaishnava family and was named Sudarsana during his birth. Despite being born to a Vaishnava family, Sudarsana became an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. Not happy with Surdasana’s devotion to Lord Shiva, His father Vasudeva, and the villagers tried to convince him of the superiority of Vaishnavism.
Regardless, nothing moved Sudarsana from his devotion to Lord Shiva and he used to visit Kanjanoor Agneeswarar Temple despite the fierce opposition from everyone. His father then banished him from his house. But Sudarsana went to Kanjanoor Agneeswarar Temple and slept there.
Pleased with his devotion, Lord Shiva appeared before Sudarsana as Dakshinamurthy and initiated teachings of Shaivism. He also named Sudarsana as Haradatta Sivachariyar.After attaining knowledge, Haradatta took a purificatory bath in the river Cauvery and went to his house and invited his father as well as the villagers for a debate.
The villagers didn’t accept his debate and planned to kill him. Hence, they asked him to prove his devotion to Lord Shiva by standing on a heated iron tripod at Varadaraja Perumal Temple.Accepted their challenge, Haradatta stood on the heated iron tripod and courageously proclaimed that “Lord Shiva is the supreme deity and the life force behind everything on this earth”.
His passionate and zealous devotion made Lord Shiva and his consort Goddess Karpagambal to appear before him and they blessed him. The villagers were also enamored by Haradatta ’s devotion to Lord Shiva that even some of them got converted to Shaivism.
