Visit to Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva Temple at Kodumudi

Kodumudi is situated in the Erode – Trichy train route and is about 40 Kms from Erode and 25 kms from Karur. It is surrounded by Dharapuram, Thiruchengode, Namakkal and Thiruppur towns.

Wikimapia location link is here

Quick facts:

Main deities: Tri moorthies – Brahma Vishnu and Shiva

• Lord Shiva in the form of Swayambu lingam in the names of Magudeswarar, Paandi Kodumudi Nathar, Malaikozhundheeswarar etc., with Goddess in the names of Soundhravalli, Soudambikai, Vadivudainayagi.
• Lord Mahavishnu is in the name of Veera Narayana Perumal in sayana posture with Goddess Thirumangai Nachiyar (Maha Lakshmi).
• The 3000 years old living Vanni tree itself is considered Lord Brahma of this temple and has no Goddess part.

Theertham: Holy river Cauveri with other Holy water origins inside the temple Bharadhwaja Theertham, Brahma Theertham and Deva Theertham.

Sthala Viruksham (Sacred Tree): Vanni Tree

Significances:

• One of the very few temples which enshrines all the three moorthies – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva – in exclusive shrines with legendary significance (The other one I know is Uthamar Koil near Trichy).
• A highly popular parihara sthalam from ancient times itself
• The Holy and Mystic Vanni Tree, said to be 3000 years old is a living tree with one side of the tree having thorns and the other side without it. The tree is a male version without flower and fruit.
• During the last week of Aavani Tamil Month and the first week of Panguni Tamil Month, the sun light enters through the aperture of the Rajagopuram and falls on Lord Magudeshwara.
• The river Cauvery which flows Southward from Karnataka, turns 90 degrees in front of the temple and flows Eastward.
• One of the 275 important Shiva temples glorified by Thevara hymns. Sambandhar sung 11 songs,  Appar sung 5 songs  and Sundharar sung 10 songs on Lord Magudeshwara of this temple. Sundarar composed his Namachivaaya Patikam here.
• Saint Arunagirinathar sung “Thirupugazh” on Lord Muruga of this temple.

Legend:

In a show of strength battle between Aadhi Sesha and Vaayu (God of ‘air’), some pieces of the holy Meru Kailash was thrown into five different places and these apex pieces change into five Swayambu linga Sivasthalas of different types of precious stones as follows:

EMERALD – Thiru eengoi malai (near Musiri)
RED – Thiruvannamalai
BLUE DIAMOND – Pothiigai, Kuttraalam
MANICKAM – Sivaaya Malai, Rathnagiri, Ayyarmalai (Kulitalai)
DIAMOND – Kodumudi

While all the other four are in the form of hills, the apex at Kodumudi is in the form of lingam, i.e., the lingam here is considered to be the tip of a hill (Kodumudi is 482 feet above sea level).

Brahma (in the form of Vanni tree) and Vishnu who are enshrined here, are said to have worshipped Shiva (Magudeshwarar).

Worshipped by Garudan, Pandu and others

Agasthyar got the marriage dharshan of Lord Shiva here.

Bharadwajar got the dharshan of Lord shiva’s dance here and there is also a Bharadwaja theertham inside the temple.

This is the place where river Cauvery was relieved of the curse of Sage Agasthiar (he had captured her in a kamandalam). Vinayagar, at the behest of Lord Shiva, took the form of a white crow and dropped down the kamandalam here liberating the Cauvery to continue her flow. Surprisingly, in support of this legend, the river Cauvery which flows southwards till here takes an exact 90 degree East turn here.  The vinayagar here in the inner pariharam of Shiva shrine is named as “Kaviri Kanda Vinayagar”. It seems there is a rock in the middle of the river here that has the rock cut image of this legend.

Temple:

The Shiva temple at Kodumudi is on the western bank of river cauvery. The east facing temple is 640 feet in length and 484 feet in breadth. The temple has 3 entrances on the east side and through each gate one can enter the shrines of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma.

Pandiya kings have patronised the temple regularly and because of the connection of Pandiya kings, this shivasthalam is called as Thiruppandi Kodumudi. Malayathvuja Pandian, Maravarman Sundarapandian and Pandiya Kesarivarman are some of the kings who have donated land, jewellery etc. to this temple.

Main Shrines:

1. Shiva shrine
2. Ambal (of Shiva) shrine
3. Perumal shrine
4. Thayar (of Perumal) Shrrine
5. Brahma shrine
6. Anjaneyar shrine
7. Saneeswarar shrine
8. Kala Bairavar

Brahma in the form of living Vanni tree:

Shiva shrine:

Brahma (Vanni tree)Thayar and Perumal shrine:

Temple:

Our Trip:

We boarded the night Mangalore Express train at Chennai and my in laws joined us at Kulitalai, one more relative joined us at Karur in the train. We reached by about 6 AM.

The temple is just about 5-10 minutes walk from the station and it was very nice to walk down in that fresh morning. The temple is a fairly big one with a vast empty (parking) space in front; the temple elephant was standing in front; the wide Cauvery was flowing in front of the temple; there was a good lengthy bathing ghat; big trees with Vinayagar underneath; and more importantly it was not so crowded – with all these when we first sighted the temple in that morning freshness, it was a great ambience  and just beautiful!

We straight proceeded to the Cauvery bathing ghat. It is wonderful to see the Cauvery changing its direction exactly perpendicular. I am from Papanasam (Tanjore dist) and we learn swimming at the age of 5-6 in the river Cauvery and our bath was only at Cauvery. Having left that place 30 years ago, it was a wonderful reconnect with Cauvery.  There are dress changing rooms near the bathing ghat and so no problem for the ladies. There is a Vinayagar under a big tree and you can start the worship with the Cauvery water abhisheham by yourself.

Without any hurry, enjoying each and every moment, we started our parihara pooja and worship. The parihara hall is within the temple premises and it took about an hour and a half for the parihara pooja. We spent the whole morning there and left the place only by 1 PM after lunch.

It is believed to be very prosperous if you can put the vanni leaves of the Brahma tree, some coins and one lemon in a bundle of new cloth and keep in your safe vault. Some times back, the vanni leaves were being sold by the temple authorities but later it was stopped. If you are lucky you can get some leaves automatically falling from the tree when you circumambulate the tree – watch for it.

Parihara Sthalam:

This is a highly popular parihara sthalam from ancient times itself. Pariharam for marriages and child birth are the most conducted ones apart from many others. A nominal amount is being collected by the Devasthanam for various parihara poojas and homams but a bigger amount by the archagars / bhattars. Either you can bring all the materials for the pooja or you can ask them to arrange the same and the rate differs for both. Very importantly, all the parihara poojas are done inside the temple. There are touts waiting outside and don’t fall prey to them. If a specific pooja takes about an hour inside the temple, the outside people will complete it in half an hour. If you donate Rs 500/= to 1000/= to the temple, they give some special privileges like exclusive stage for the pooja / homam.

Parihara Poojas / Homams Details:

Note: The cost given are only indicative and is inclusive of all pooja / homa materials. For exact details, please call up the archagars/ bhattars (phone nos given below).

Marriage obstacles, Swayamvara / Parvathi homam – Each costs about Rs 1200/=

Navagraha dhoshams for each graham:

Rahu Kethu Preethi: Pooja is being done with a stone Punar nahar (two nahars intertwined) or flour nahar. For homam it costs about 1500/= and you can go for either Stone Nahar for Rs 750/= or flour nahar for Rs 150/=

Sevvai Pariharam: The person has to tie the mangal suthra to a plantain tree and after the symbolic marriage, it has to be cut and thrown away. This requires, saree, dhothi, a mangal suthra and the homa items and costs about Rs 1500 /= and you have to leave the dress you were wearing during the homam there itself.

Mrithyanja homam (to get rid of death fear): This costs either 1500/= or 5000/= depending upon the type of pooja.

Prithyangara homam (to get rid of the evil effects from enemies) is a little costlier and it is being done according to the affordability of the person

Dhanvanthri homam (for illness): Minimum Rs 1700/= and depends on the affordability of the person

Gubera Lakshmi Pooja: Costs about Rs 2000/= you have to bring 50 numbers of 1 rupee coins and take them back after the pooja

Durga Soolani homam (to get rid of curse by ladies): Costs about Rs 1500/= Pooja is being done for Nava durga and Sabtha Kannigas

Ayushya Homam costs about Rs 1700/=

Apart from these, Navagraha homams, Ganapathy homam, Pithru Saba homam, Brahma Harthi dosha nivarana homam, Sudharsana homam etc., are being done.

Gurukkals (Shaiva type) :

Mahalinga Gurukkal – 94438 40007
Santhoshi Sivam – 94439 13053

Bhattars (Vaishnava type) :

Sridhar Bhattar: 94881 43403 / 90809 42529

It is said the people suffering from mental illness, after doing the pariharam here, should go to Gunaseelam in the Trichy – Musiri route immediately and continue the pariharam the next day morning by taking a dip before sun rise at the Cauvery there for best cure.

Effect of the pariharam – Our experience:

Lot of my relatives / friends have done the parihara poojas here. As I can see, in 3 cases of marriage pariharams, it was immediate success while in 3 others I am yet to see a result even after 6 months. In another pariharam for husband-wife relation, we witness a miracle after the pariharam here. We are seeing the couple in dual role as ‘before Pariharm’ and ‘after pariharam’ like a dual role movie – such an unbelievable change, touch wood!

While walking down from railway station to this temple, we can see another ancient temple called Malaiyamman temple. This is where Mahakavi Kalidoss attained knowledge from Goddess Malaiyamman. There is a shrine of Pechiamman also in the same temple for curing ENT diseases. Mahakavi Kalidoss is also said to have performed pariharam here to wash out the curses of his previous birth and recover the knowledge gained by him earlier (I am not sure about this since unfortunately I didn’t know about this when I visited).

Kodumudi is the birth place of Mrs.K.B.Sundarambal, the great yesteryear playback singer and actress. KBS Theatre in the town, which was opened in 1972 in the presence of  the then CM M.Karunanidhi, MGR and J.Jayalalitha, stands as a mute testimony for her remembrance.

Oonjalur is 6 kms from Kodumudi in the train route en route Erode and it is the Sookshmayoga Samadhi of Sri Seshadri Swamigal of Thiruvannamalai. Annual utsavam here is highly popular.

Shib Sagar : the ancient capital of the Ahom kings in Assam

Vishnu Dol

Charai Deo (incidentally, this photo is taken from a brochure of Assam tourism)

Rang Ghar 1

Rang Ghar 2

Art work in the wall of Rang Ghar

Art work in the wall of Rang Ghar

Inside Talatal Ghar

Talatal Ghar

Gola Ghar (the magazine where the explosives were stored), near Talatal Ghar

Kareng Ghar 1

Kareng Ghar 2

Inside Kareng Ghar

Decorative pillars of Kareng Ghar

The top portion of Kareng Ghar

Shib Dol 1

Shib Dol 2

Devi Dol

16 armed Durga at Shib Dol

Shiva Dol -- the tallest Shiva Temple in India

 

Shiva Dol

Sixteen-armed Mother Goddess

Lord Vishnu in his boar-headed Avatar Baraha

Shiva Dol -- front view

A devotee performing AARTI with lighted lamps

Saraswati, the goddess of Learning

A Sadhu in front of Shiva Dol

A Sadhu at Shiva Dol

Sculptures on the wall of the main temple

Sculptures on the wall of the main temple

Sculptures on the wall of the main temple

Sculptures on the wall of the main temple

Sixteen-armed Mother Goddess

Bull Temple, A True Dedication To the Vahana of Lord Shiva

Shiva’s mount as the same in the Vishvanath Temple. Also popularly known as “Nandi temple”. The temple bears a massive bull which is 4.6 m in height this is engraved out

of a single boulder, which is a masterpiece of sculpture. It confronts the Shiva shrine, an effigy of Nandi is surrounded by effigies of Goddess Candra and God Surya on their carries that are drawn by the horses.  There are some rules that are followed like no Non Hindus are allowed inside the temple. This temple as something or other to celebrate always. There are musicians performing in the temple during weekends. The Bull Temple is out-and-out to Lord Shiva’s vehicle (Vahana), Nandi the bull. The main drawing card of this place is the huge Bull statue.

Situated in Basavanagudi, this temple is a true example of Dravidian style which was constructed by Kempe Gowda. It is supposed that the spring of the Vishwa Bharathi River has its origin commencing the Nandi’s feet. According to the tradition there is an iron plate on the head of the Nandi that prevents it from throwing away. The idol here in Ganesh temple is made out of butter which is broken up and distributed after every four years. The butter used for building up the idol is 11o kilos.

The original color of the Bull at the Bull Temple was grey but now it has turned to black as the visitors apply coconut oil regularly to the Nandi which turned it black. Shivratri is the festival that is celebrated in the temple with great favor and enthusiasm. Also you will be stunned seeing that the statue of the bull is on a single carved stone. There is no fees for entrance in the temple you can freely enter the temple any time between 6 am to 8 pm.

Vishnu Temple : Gunaseelam : Online Pooja

Vishnu Temple : Gunaseelam : Online Pooja

Gunaseelam Vishnu Temple(Abhimana Sthalam) is a famous Vishnu temple near Trichy, in the state of Tamil Nadu India.It is located on the banks of river Cauvery. An exceptional feature about this temple is that mentally challenged people are taken to the temple and kept in the temple premises for 48 days(mandalam in Tamil).[1] At the end of the 48 days it is believed that their illness is cured by the grace of the Lord Prasanna Venkatachalapathi.
Etymology
The etymology of the name derives from "Gunam" (Cure) and "Seelam" (Place), meaning the place in which all illnesses are cured. This temple is around 20 miles from Trichy.
However a deeper understanding of the meaning of the place is very interesting, gunam also means "Qualitites" seelam also means "Assuming a lower position". Hence gunaseelam is the ability of lord to come down and address the devotees problems, while doing this he chooses himself voluntarily to climb down from the highest possible position he occupies in the universe just for the sake of this baktha.[2]
Viganasar
The temple has a sannidhi for viganasar ( Founder of Vaikanasa aagamam), Legend says he was given Brahminhood by lord Venkateshwara himself alongside Shri Brahma (Creator God)[3]
Renovation
The temple bears absolutely no resemblance to what it was a quarter of a century ago. With devotees’ contribution, the hereditary trustees have been able to transform the temple into a very impressive one. Currently, interesting paintings and photographs adorn the inside of the temple, nice solid flooring welcomes you leading to the handsome Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal seen in a Standing posture facing East. Being a parikara and prarthana sthalam has its obvious advantages in attracting devotees, yet the effort taken by the trustees in giving this temple a complete face lift is commendable. There is written documentation that the temple should be renovated in the 5000th year of Kaliyuga. The renovation was accordingly done.[4]
The story In Bhavishyotra Puranam, one finds reference to the significance of this temple in Gunaseela Mahaatmiyam. Thaalpiya Maharishi along with his disciple Gunaseela Rishi once went to the Himalayas. On his way back, Gunaseela Rishi stayed back at Tirupathi and was so attracted to Lord Venkatachalapathy that he wanted the Lord to appear in Gunaseelam and bless the devotees. [5]
He came back, bathed in the Cauvery and undertook severe penance here in his ashram in Gunaseelam. Impressed with his sincerity, the Lord appeared before him along with Goddess and promised to remain here till the end of Kali Yugam. Pleased with the darshan of Lord Prasanna Venkatesan, Gunaseela Maharishi continued to offer his daily poojas to the lord from his ashram here.
At the end of the Dwapara Yugam, the Gunaseela Maharishi’s Guru wanted him to go to Naimisaaranyam. Gunaseela Rishi designated his young disciple to continue the daily poojas. However, floods in the Cauvery and dangerous animals in the forest led the disciple to flee the place and thus the poojas came to an abrupt end. The Lord decided to hide himself in a pit. [6]
King of Uraiyur builds the temple Several years passed. Later Chola king Nyana Varma, who ruled this place with Uraiyur as the capital, used to visit Gunaseelam regularly. Every day, cowherds would milk the cows from near the pit and carry the milk all the way back to his court.
One day, to everyone’s shock, the milk that was filled to the brim of the pot vanished all of a sudden. An invisible voice wanted the king to dissolve the pit by pouring milk. The king brought in his army and used thousands of litres of milk to complete this exercise. Once dissolved, Vaikunta Vasudevan is said to have appeared before the king as Prasanna Venkatesan. As per the king’s wishes, the Lord agreed to remain here till the end of Kali Yugam and help fulfil all the prayers of the devotees, who visit this temple.[7] . Delighted at the darshan of Lord Prasanna Venkatesan, the King shifted from Uraiyur to Kallur, (this place was then called ‘Badra Chakra Pattinam’) near Gunaseelam and built the beautiful Gunaseelam temple and laid down the process of the daily poojas as directed by Prasanna Venkatesan. He also allocated a lot of land for the temple as well as funds to undertake the daily pooja formalities.
Curing of Diseases One of the special features of the Gunaseelam temple is the power of Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal to cure people from all kinds of diseases. The Lord is also said to help childless couples, if they bathe in the Cauvery and offer prayers for 48 days at Gunaseelam. It is believed that the Lord protects devotees from evil forces and keeps away enemies with the stick he wields in his right hand. Belief also is that sincere prayers to Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal will help remove any negative energy in devotees who visit here.
Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre In addition to the complete reconstruction of the Gunaseelam temple, the trustees have also set up a mental health rehabilitation centre that has the official stamp of the Tamil Nadu Government license. The centre is equipped with individual rooms and toilet facilities. A psychologist visits the centre once every week. There are volunteers who take care of these mentally challenged people on a daily basis.
The curing process Sacred water is splashed on these mentally challenged people each day during Uchi Kaalam (noon) and Artha Jaamam (night) for 48 days. Belief is that one will get cured if they sincerely offer their prayers to the Lord and follow this process. It is today a blend of faith and modern treatment. [8]
Since Tirupathi Lord himself appeared before Gunaseela Maharishi, it is believed that those who are not able to go to Tirupathi can visit Gunaseelam and all their wishes are said to be fulfilled here.
Visiting this temple on a Saturday is special. Lord Prasanna Venkatesan is said to have asked king Nyana Varma to visit the temple every Saturday and offer special poojas.
Festival Puratasi 11 day Brahmotsavam including 9 day Chariot festival Chitrai Theppotsavam Aavani 3 day Pavitrotsavam
[9]
Quick Facts Moolavar : Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal East Facing Standing posture with Goddess Lakshmi on his chest Utsavar : Srinivasan with Sri devi and Bhoo devi Temple Time : 830am-1pm, 4pm-830pm Contact : KR Pichumani Iyengar, Hereditary Executive Trustee Telephone No. : 04326 275210/ 275310 or 94863 04251
How to reach Gunaseelam
1. Take Namakkal/Salem Intercity bus from Trichy (about 45mts)(one bus for about every 50 Minutes), your can choose to board from Chattiram Bustand, Central Bus stand or even Tolgate. 2. Local bus that goes to kaatuputtur or Musiri. (very low freequency say 1 bus for every 2 hours) 2. Car from Srirangam will cost about Rs.400-500. One can also visit Thiruvellarai and Uthamar Koil Divya Desam while visiting Gunaseelam.

SpecialityGunaseelam is the place to perform a sahasranama archanai. Probably the only famous temple in Tamil Nadu that does the archanai with dedication. Guess what all the 1008 Names is rendered. The archanai lasts for half an hour. please contact the above number to book Thaligai (food) in advance as Sahasranama Archanai is done only with Thaligai Booking.
Unlike other perumal temples where tirumanjanam (abishekam) is done one in a week, in gunaseelam peumal has thrumajana sevai daily. The santhana kaappu sevai makes the lord look cuter than guruvayurappan.