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| Temple Tower front view |
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| Inside view of the temple |
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| View of the Mukha mandapam |
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| Lord Brahma in the sanctum |
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| Brahmapureeswarar idol |
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| Nandi statue |
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| Brahma Theertham |
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| Goddess Gajalakshmi |
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| Lord Kalabhairava |
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| Lord Umamaheshwara |
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| Sculpture on the pillar |
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| Shrine of Vinayaka |
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| Patanjali Samadhi |
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| Temple tree |
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| One of twelve lingas in the garden |
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| Statue of Brahma in temple premises |
Temples for
Brahma are vey rarely seen. This temple of Brahma is located very near to
Srirangam at nearly 35kms. People believe that their destiny will become better
by having darshan of Lord Brahma here. This temple is more than one thousand
years old.
According to legends, Lord Brahma thought Himself superior to Lord
Shiva and felt very proud of His creative powers. Lord Shiva cut off Brahma’s
fifth head and cursed him to lose His powers of creation. Brahma realized His
mistake and went on a pilgrimage to various Shiva temples. He came to this
temple worshipped and did penance, On Parvati’s request, Lord Shiva appeared
and liberated Him from the curse. He also said that Brahma would have a
separate shrine here and devotees would first take His darshan before
worshipping Shiva.
Since Brahma had His destiny re-written here, He should also
re-write the destiny of devotees who visit His shrine. Hence Lord Shiva in this
temple is called Brahmapureeswara and His consort is called Brahma
Sampathnayaki as She has helped Lord Brahma in getting back His lost wealth and
creative powers. Lord Brahmapureeswarar is a Swayambhu Lingam. The idol of
Brahma is nearly six-feet tall and is seen seated in a meditative pose on a
lotus. The idol of Brahma is coated with turmeric. The shrine of Dakshinamurty is seen next to that Lord Brahma.
Adjacent to
the temple, there is a garden with twelve lingams in separate shrines around a
pond “Brahma Theertham”. Brahma installed these twelve lingams here. One can
also see here the grave of sage Patanjali who attained Samadhi through Yogic
meditation. This temple has a
five-tiered Rajagopuram on the east side. The Veda mandapam at the entrance has
a dwajastahmbam and Nandi statue. The main enclosure of Brahmapureeswarar
lingam in the sanctum is surrounded by seven gateways each representing a day
of the week. Abhishekam to Lord Brahma is at 6.00 a.m. on Thursdays and at 8.00
a.m. on other days of the week. A ten-day festival is celebrated in the month
Panguni. Full-moon days and on the day of Satabhisha (Sadayam) Nakshatra are
auspicious days to worship Lord Brahma. Mondays and Thursdays are favorable days
for visiting this temple. The temple timings are from 7.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m
and from 4.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. Just one km from this place is the
Kailasanathar temple where Sage Vyaghrapada attained Jeevasamadhi.
The eighth
century saint Sundarar praised about this temple in his hymns. Chola kings constructed
the oldest parts in the 9th century. Later expansions were done by
later kings like Nayak kings. People believe that a visit to this temple
provides good health and bestows immense peace to their ancestors. Other
deities in this temple complex are: seven Vinayak shrines, Lord Subrahmanya,
Lord Dakshinamurti, Sapta Matrikas, Sri Gaja Lakshmi, Sri Chandikeswarar, Lord
Brihaspati and Nava Grahas. Here The devotees are asked to stand in front of
Brahma instead of on either side as it is believed that Brahma would bring
changes in the fate of devotees.
Sunlight falls on Brahmapureswarar Lingam for
three days in a year on 15th, 16th and 17th
day of the Tamil month of Panguni(March-April). People visit this temple to
seek good marriage alliance, or to solve their marital problems and have good
progeny.
The garden area and the pond look shabby and untidy. Improvements have to be made. The statue of Brahma also is slightly damaged and the paint id fading off. So proper maintenance of the temple is necessary. The temple history and labels may be written in English along with Tamil for the benefit of non-Tamil pilgrims. The importance of this unique temple may be given wide publicity through media and sale of devotional books.
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14th May, 2023. Somaseshu Gutala
