*

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:

Shiva shrine
Ambal (of Shiva) shrine
Perumal shrine
Thayar (of Perumal) Shrrine
Brahma shrine
Anjaneyar shrine
Saneeswarar shrine
Kala Bairavar

Brahma in the form of living Vanni tree:

Shiva shrine:

Brahma (Vanni tree)Thayar and Perumal shrine:

Brahma (Vanni tree), Thayar shrine and Perumal shrine

Brahma (Vanni tree), Thayar shrine and Perumal shrine 1

Temple:

Shiva shrine on the left and Ambal shrine on the right

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.

Three Entrances to the temple - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva

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.