Thiruppampuram Sri Seshapureeswarar Temple 59th of 129 on the south bank of the Kaveri · Chola Nadu · Temples near Mayiladuthurai

Visited on: 10^th December, 2016 and 10^th April, 2017.

Location

Thiruppampuram is situated at a distance of about 3 kms from Karkathi. Karkathi is 28 kms away from Kumbakonam on the Kumbakonam to Karaikkal road.

From Peralam, Thiruppampuram is about 9 kms. Peralam is about 15 kms from Mayiladuthurai on the Mayiladuthurai to Thiruvarur route.

Other Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams near this place are –

Thiru Sirukudi, Thiruvizhimizhalai, Ambal Maahaalam, Ambar Perunthirukkoil, Thirumeyechur and Thirumeyechur Ilangkoil.

General Information

Moolavar

Sri Seshapureeswarar, Sri Pampuranathar

Ambal

Sri Vanduserkuzhali Ammai, Sri Bramarambigai

Theertham (Holy water)

Adhishesha Theertham/ Naga theertham

Sthala Vriksham (Sacred Tree)

Vanni tree

Pathigam (Hymn) rendered by

Saint Thirugnanasambanthar

• This is one of the 276 Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams and 59^th Shiva Sthalam in Chozha Nadu on Southern bank of the river Cauveri (Thenkarai).
• Lord Shiva in this temple is a Swayambumurthi (self-manifested).
• This is a very popular parihara sthalam for “Raghu-Kethu” dosham. It is also popularly known as “South Kalahasthi”.
• This east facing temple has 2 corridors and it has a 3-tiered main tower (Rajagopuram).
• The last Consecration ceremony (Kumbabishekam) took place on 10.04.2017 and prior to that on 11.09.2002.

History of the Temple

This place’s name “Thiru Pampuram” is derived from “Pampu” + “Puram” – “Pampu” means snake and “Puram” means place in Tamil. “Thiru” is a respectful prefix.

There are 28 stone inscriptions available in this temple which are from the periods of Kings Kulothunga Cholan-III, Rajaraja Cholan, Rajendra Cholan, Thiribhuvana Veera Devan, Sundara Pandiyan and Saraboji Maharaja.

The historical names of this place are Pampura Nannagar, Sheshapuri, Uragapuram and Pampuram.

Legend

The significance of this temple is that Raghu and Kethu worshiped the lord here intertwined with one another. They can be seen holding Lord Shiva near their chest.

The legend is that once Lord Vinayakar worshipped his father Lord Shiva in Mount Kailash. Vasuki (Nagaraj), the king of serpents, who can be seen on Lord Shiva’s neck thought that Vinayakar was worshipping him instead of Lord Shiva. On knowing this, Lord Shiva cursed the serpent for his arrogance. Due to his curse, the entire serpent community lost their strength and powers.

All the “Ashtamaha” serpents – the eight great serpents- (Ananthan, Vasuki, Thatchakan, Karkodakan, Sankapalan, Kulikan, Padman and Mahapadman)

prayed to Lord Shiva to seek forgiveness for the mistake committed by Vasuki. Lord Shiva advised them to go to earth and worship him on the night of Maha Shivratri. During Mahashivratri the night is divided into 4 parts (“kaalams”).

Serpents headed by Adhisheshan visited four different temples on that night in each of the 4 kaalams to worship Lord Shiva. These four temples are as follows:

Sri Nageswarar at Kumbakonam,

Sri Naganathar at Thirunageswaram,

Sri Sheshapureeswarar at Thiruppampuram and

Sri Naganathar at Nagore.

One of the legends of Hindu mythology states that the serpent king Adisheshan holds the earth in its place. Once he was tired and was unable to hold the earth. He pleaded to Lord Shiva to give him enough strength to continue doing his job. Lord Shiva advised him to go to earth and worship him at Thiruppampuram to regain his strength. Adisheshan visited Thiruppampuram on a Mahashivratri day and worshiped the lord. Due to unavailability of flowers that time, Adhisheshan tied “akathi” flowers in “alamvizhudhu” (banyan tree twigs) and finished his pooja. It is believed that this is the reason why in this village akathi plants don’t flower and the stems of the banyan trees don’t touch the ground.

As per the sthala puranam, Goddess Parvathy, Lord Brahma, Indra, Agni, Ganga, Suryan, Chandran, Dakshan, Sage Agasthiyar, Serpent Karkodakan, King Kochengat Cholan and King Sunithan (a king from Northern Indian kingdom) have worshipped Lord Shiva here.

There are many idols of snakes in this temple. The predominant one is where Raghu and Kethu are intertwined.

Deities in the temple

Other than the shrines of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy, shrines and idols of lords Rajaraja Vinayakar, Murugan with his consorts, Natarajar, Somaskandar, Dakshinamurthy, Sattanathar, Durgai and Chandikeswarar can be seen in the corridors.

There is a separate shrine for Lord Malaieswarar which is in the form of a “Maadakkoil”. Lord Adhi Pampureswarar’s shrine is under the Sthala Viruksham.

There is also a separate shrine for Raghu and Kethu. In this shrine, idols of Lord Vishnu, Brahma, Suryan, Adisheshan, Bairavar, Saneeswaran, Five Shivalingams and Devara Nalvars can be seen.

Salient Features

In the sanctum sanctorum, there is an idol of Adisheshan in front of the shivalingam. Adisheshan is seen in a worshiping form.

Both Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy’s shrines are facing east. Another significance of this temple is that Goddess Parvathy is on the left side of Lord Shiva. They are depicted in their wedding posture and this is considered to be very auspicious.

As per the “sthala purana”, worshiping Lord Shiva in this temple alone is equal to worshiping the lord at these five famous temples – Kumbakonam, Nagore, Thirunageswaram, Kalahasthi and Kezhapperumpallam.

Often large snakes appear in this temple and shed their skin. In this temple, there are photographs of such occurrences. On 21.03.2002, a snake shed its skin (length 7.5 feet) on the idol of Goddess Vanduser Pungkuzhali. On 26.05.2002, another snake shed its skin (length 8.3 feet) in the form of a garland on the idol of Lord Sheshapureeswarar.

Both these occurrences were witnessed by a large number of devotees. It is believed that these snakes came to worship Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy here.

There has been no recorded incident of anyone dying due to a snake bite in this village.

The sanctum sanctorum is in the form of semi-circular tank (akazhi in Tamil).

This temple is considered to be significant for its three important attributes – Moorthy, Sthalam and Theertham - glory of Lord, sacredness of the land and the auspicious temple tank.

Greatness of this temple

This temple is very famous as a parihara sthalam for Raghu-Kethu doshams such as “Kaala sarba dosha”, “Puthira dosha” and “Kalathira dosha”. A large number of devotees can be seen performing poojas to seek relief from the ill effects of such doshas.

Important Festivals

Some of the important festivals celebrated here are as follows:

Raghu-Kethu transition days (Peyarchi),

Maasi Maham in the Tamil month of Maasi (Feb-Mar),

Mahashivratri in the Tamil month of Masi (Feb-Mar),

Vinayakar Chaturthi in the Tamil month of Aavani (Aug-Sept),

Navarathri in the Tamil month of Purattasi (Sept-Oct), and

Thiruvathirai in the Tamil month of Markazhi (Dec-Jan).

Pradosham is also observed regularly.

Temple Timings

From 07.00 AM to 12.00 Noon and 04.00 PM to 08.00 PM.

Temple Address

Sri Seshapureeswarar Temple,
Thiruppampuram Post,
Kudavasal Taluk,
Thiruvarur District,
Tamil Nadu – 612 203.

Tele: +91 435 2469555.
The temple priest Sri Prem Kumar Gurukkal can be contacted at 94439 43665 and 94430 47302.