Pushpavaneswarar, Mela Tirupoonthuruthi, Thanjavur

Basic information about the temple

Moolavar:	Pushpavaneswarar	Ambal / Thayar:	Soundranayaki
Deity:	Siva	Historical name:	Tirupponthurutthi
Vriksham:	Vilvam	Teertham:	Surya Teertham, Kashyapa Teertham
Agamam:		Age (years):
Timing:	6.30 to 11.30 & 4.30 to 8.30	Parikaram:
Temple group:	Paadal Petra Sthalam (Kaveri Then Karai)	–
Sung by:	, Appar	Temple set: Tiruvaiyaru Sapta Sthanam
Navagraham:		Nakshatram:
City / town:	Mela Tirupoonthuruthi	District:	Thanjavur
Maps from (click):	Current location	Thanjavur (14 km)	Ariyalur (38 km)
	Kumbakonam (44 km)	Tiruchirappalli (55 km)

Location

Tirupoonthuruthi is located 6 km from Tiruvaiyaru and 13km from Thanjavur.

Sthala puranam and temple information

The river Kaveri was born out of the water from Sage Agastyar’s kamandalam. As it flowed eastwards, it covered places like Sendalai, Tiruvalampozhil, Tirupoonthuruthi, Kandiyur, Thillaisthanam, Tiruvaiyarum Tirupazhanam, Tiruchotruthurai, etc, right up to Konerirajapuram. Indra, the Lord of the devas, seeking relief from a curse, prayed to various temples in this list. At Kandiyur, he made the river turn course. This resulted in the place where today’s Tirupoonthuruthi is, to become like a hillock or mound which was fertile due to being surrounded by the river, and flowering tress grew in abundance. Indra worshipped Lord Siva here with flowers, and hence the place is called Pushpavanam, and the Lord here is called Pushpavananathar.

The place between two rivers is referred to as Thuruthi. This place was likely filled with flowering trees, and hence gets the name Poonthuruthi (the ancient name of Kuttalam, located between Kumbakonam and Mayiladuthurai, is Tiru-thuruthi). The place is also referred to as Pushpavanam or Poonthurai.

It is believed that Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi have worshipped at this temple. There are sculptures in this temple of this event.

After Sambandar left Appar at Vedaranyam to go to Madurai, Appar came here and established his own mutt, and was performing his duties of cleaning the temple, here. After Madurai, Sambandar wanted to meet Appar, and came here looking for him. A huge crowd gathered, and unbeknownst to anyone, Appar (who was much advanced in age to the 7-year old Sambandar), merged with the crowd and became one of the bearers of Sambandar’s palanquin. When Sambandar asked the crowd where Appar was, the latter himself responded that he was underneath the palanquin. Sambandar immediately stopped the palanquin, got down, and fell at Appar’s feet, and Appar did the same to Sambandar; such was the mutual bhakti and respect of the two saints.

Since Appar had sanctified this temple through his uzhavar pani (maintenance), Sambandar did not want to defile it, and wished to worship the Lord from outside. It is said in the sthala puranam that Siva asked Nandi to move a little bit so that Sambandar could worship Him without having to come into the temple. The Nandi at this temple is aligned slightly to the line of sight of the moolavar Lingam from the gopuram.

This is one of the temples in the Tiruvaiyaru Sapta Sthanam festival, and this temple provides the flowers for Nandi’s wedding.

This is a Chola temple, structurally dating back to perhaps the 8^th or the 9^th century – this is evident from the simple pillars throughout the temple. There have been additions in the later Chola periods as well – the Veenadhara Dakshinamurti and Ardhanareeswarar in the koshtam are indications of later and more refined Chola architecture. There are also clear indications of the Thanjavur Nayaks’ influence on the temple.

Other information for your visit

This is one of the temples forming part of Tiruvaiyaru Sapta Sthanam festival, which celebrates Nandi’s wedding. Read our separate feature on the festival, here. All seven temples are located relatively close by, and except for Tiruvaiyaru (which is a large temple) they could be covered in about 6 hours. Alternatively, an entire day can be spent leisurely visiting all seven temples, including Tiruvaiyaru.

Other narby temples include Agneeswarar at Mela Tirukattupalli (15km), Atmanathar at Tiruvalampozhil (3 km) and Hara Saaba Vimochana Perumal Divya Desam temple.