Raja Chozheeswarar, TR Pattinam, Karaikal

Basic information about the temple

Moolavar:	Rajachozheeswarar	Ambal / Thayar:	Abhirami
Deity:	Siva	Historical name:	Tirumalai
Vriksham:		Teertham:
Agamam:		Age (years):
Timing:	6 to 12 & 5 to 8	Parikaram:
Temple group:	Vaippu Sthalam	–
Sung by:	Sundarar	Temple set:
Navagraham:		Nakshatram:
City / town:	TR Pattinam	District:	Karaikal
Maps from (click):	Current location	Nagapattinam (15 km)	Thiruvarur (31 km)
	Mayiladuthurai (41 km)	Kumbakonam (61 km)

Location

Sthala puranam and temple information

This Tevaram Vaippu Sthalam finds mention in one of the pathigams of Sundarar.

Abhirami Amman appeared in the dream of a devotee named Senguntha Mudaliar, and told him about a silver box that would be floating in the sea. The following morning, he found exactly such a box, which contained various parts of an Amman murti, as well as a palm leaf with instructions to carry out worship using 1000 items, every year. Given the meagre resources of the place, this was not possible, so the townsfolk decided to do this every five years.

This continues till today with the 5-year cycle, and the puja is performed as part of a three-day festival in the Tamil month of Vaikasi (May-June). The festivities conclude with dismantling Amman’s murti and putting it back in the silver box. The temple is maintained by the Senguntha sect of people, descended from Senguntha Mudaliar.

King Vidharana Raman of the Vijayanagara Dynasty was a staunch Siva devotee, whose daughter suffered an eye ailment that could not be cured by the king’s physicians. A sage named Solingar advised the king to get the princess to bathe in the temple’s tank (now called the Netra Pushkarini). The princess emerged from the tank, cured of her disease, due to the grace of Parvati, who came to be known as Kann Kodutha Amman after this incident.

In the 15^th century, this place was ruled by king Tirumalai Rayan of the Saluva dynasty. Named for the king and his queen, the twin rivers of Tirumalai Rayan and Piravudaiyal run on either side of the town of TR Pattinam, before reaching the sea. King Tirumalai Rayan is said to have built 108 temples – each with its own tank – in the town, which greatly increased the stature of the town in those times.

The temple is considered equal to Tirukkadaiyur, and devotees often perform similar pujas such as for Sashtiabdhapoorti, Sadabhishekam, etc, here as they would at the Amritakadeswarar temple at Tirukkadaiyur.

The frontage of this temple makes it appear small, but once inside, one can see the relative vastness of the temple complex. The core temple existed at least in the 8^th or 9^th century, going by Sambandar’s lifetime. While the structural temple is believed to have come up in the 15^th century, it is devoid of any of the aspects of the Chola temples otherwise found in the region. Nonetheless, the stonework and limited architecture is pleasing to the eye.