The Sirkazhi temple is a must see for all. While it has a lot of significance in history and mythology, what really amazed me was the Thonee Appar Sannidhi in that temple.
At the outset, the temple is like any other old temple you find in that section of Tamizh Nadu. But what really separates this temple from any and every other temple, is the depiction of Lord Shiva in the form of a person and not as a Lingam. Of course, my knowledge in such matters is quite limited, but I've never seen Lord Shiva being represented in any form other than a lingam. The Chidambaram temple does have the Nataraja idol, but that has a separate story line attached to it.
The sannidhi for Thonee Appar, is placed some two stories above the ground level. And if I am not wrong, it is above the Shiva Lingam sannidhi at the lower level. Once you climb up the stairs, you reach a very big sanctum sanctorum. The garba graham itself must be some 20 feet high and easily some 20 feet wide. There is a very huge statue of Lord Shiva. He is in a sitting posture with his consort Parvathi by his side.
These two statues themselves must be some 10 feet high. I could very well be wrong with the numbers in the previous paragraphs, but then all I am trying to present to you is that what you see at this Thonee Appar sannidhi is something that is unmatched in terms of size and representation. And the best part is that you get to see the garba graham standing at its entrance!
One has to go one more steep flight of stairs to see the Sattai Naadhar sannidhi. That is another unique thing in the temple and the legend is also quite interesting. Here, one is not allowed too close to the deity and can him at a slightly lower level and only through a small window.
I never knew any of this about the Sirkazhi temple and all in all I felt very happy that I made it there. Initially my parents didn't come up, since they were not ready for the climb. But bhakthi got the better of my mother and she came up just as I was returning down and she was also quite happy that she made it. I still feel bad that my father couldn't make it since he was really tired. Perhaps, I will make another trip in the near future and take him to the sannidhi.
We then had a quick darshan at the other sannidhis and headed back to the hotel. We found our taxi waiting for us. My parents had a quick breather in the room and then, we headed out to Chidambaram.
1 comment:
One more place where you would find shiva depicted as a statue is suruttupalli near nagalapuram on the chennai tirupati route. You will find Mr "Palli Konda Eashwaran" there
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