Lord Somaskandar - The One Who Feeds His Devotees!



The next temple in the list of paadal petra sthalam is the Thirukkarukavur temply situated in Mayiladuthrai district of Tamil Nadu. Lord Shiva is the presiding deity in the form of Somaskanda Swamy and His consort is Devi Kaviaganni. 

There was a devotee of Lord Shiva, named Sundarar who wished to worship the Lord at the said temple. He wandered along with his group for a long while but could not find the temple as it was covered by a dense forest. Feeling miserable, he decided to give up on the search. Just then, an old man approached him and said that he was feeding devotees of Lord Shiva at a nearby place and invited Sundarar and his group. They followed the old man and enjoyed a hearty meal that was served by him. Feeling tired, Sundarar decided to take a nap. On waking up, there were no signs of any shelter where the feeding had taken place, nor were there any people around. Sundarar realised that Lord Shiva Himself had come to his aid. The Lord appeared before him and Himself directed Sundarar to the temple.

There is also another legend about another devotee of Lord Shiva, named Gyana Sambhandar. When he was just a child, he was invited for a debate where the losing team would be hanged.  Gyana Sambhandar with his sheer brilliance won the debate. However, the losing team was hanged and Sambhandar felt the effects of his karma because of the incident. He prayed to Lord Shiva to give him permission to leave for Kashi to atone for the sin of having caused deaths of the debaters. It is said that Lord Shiva brought Ganga to Sambhandar and told him to take a dip in the holy water to absolve his sins. That is how the temple of Tirukkarukavur came to be. It is believed that for one day in the year, specially on Thayi Amavasya (the Amavasya that comes in the beginning of the year), the holy water of the pond, which is believed to consist of the river Ganga, is opened to the public. It is closed the rest of the year. 

Another festival that is grandly celebrated here is the procession in which Gyana Sambhandar's deity from Sirkali Brahmapureeswarar temple is brought to Thirukkarukavur temple to get the divine darshan of Lord Somaskanda and Devi Kaviaganni. Holy theertham is given to the deity of Sambhandar which is then returned to the Sirkali temple in the evening.

Apart from the main deities, the temple also has shrines for Lord Vinayaka, Lord Muruga and His consorts Valli and Devayani. The deity of Lord Vinayaka is seated on a lotus. Usually in most of the temples Lord Muruga faces east but in this temple, the Lord faces south as He is in the form of Guru Dakshinamurthy here. There is also a shrine for Devi Durga who is in Ashta-bhuja form here (having 8 arms). 

People praying to Lord Somaskanda are said to get absolution from any wrong doings that have been done unknowingly by them. It is also believed that anyone who prays here will never go hungry in life.

Om Namaha Shivaaya! Om Devyai Namaha!

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