Chozheeswarar Thiruvelliangudi

Saivite Temples, Thanjavur District

God

Chozheeswarar, facing east

Goddess

Soundaryanayagi, facing south

Other Deities

None

Chozheeswarar Temple, Thiruvelliangudi is a dilapidated old temple and was in bad shape when we visited around 2011. It was locked and apparently no worship was happening here at that time.

Holy Water (Theertham) – Sukra Theertham

Sacred Tree (Sthala Vriksham) – Not known

History

Chozheeswarar Thiruvelliangudi does not have any historical information as on date, though this temple should be old as it is connected with the legend of the nearby Thiruvelliankudi Perumal Temple which is a 108 Divya Desam temple.

Legend

To prevent Mahabali from accepting Lord Vishnu’s request for three steps in his Vaamana Avatar, Sukrachariyar hid in the nozzle of the vessel used by him to perform the rites. When the Lord poked the nozzle for water flow his eyes were blinded. Vishnu advised him to worship Shiva for 48 days in a temple where the moonlight shone brightly. After a long search, Sukrachariyar is said to have found Chozheeswarar Thiruvelliangudi temple suitable and performed his worship and got his vision back. There is a conflicting version of this story where Sukracharya is said to have got his vision back in Thiruvelleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, probably Thiruvelliankudi should be one of the many temples he worshiped to get his eyesight back. The 108 Divya Desam Perumal temple here is also connected with this legend.

Directions

Chozheeswarar Thiruvelliangudi is in Cholapuram near Kumbakonam on the Chennai road. From Cholapuram this temple is about 3 kilometers away.

Stay and Food

None locally. Kumbakonam is the nearest.

Saivite Temples

Tamilnadu Temples