Vaitheeswaran, Chintamani Nallur, Viluppuram

Basic information about the temple

Moolavar:	Vaitheeswarar	Ambal / Thayar:	–
Deity:	Siva	Historical name:
Vriksham:		Teertham:
Agamam:		Age (years):
Timing:	to & to	Parikaram:
Temple group:		–
Sung by:		Temple set:
Navagraham:		Nakshatram:
City / town:	Chintamani Nallur	District:	Viluppuram
Maps from (click):	Current location	Viluppuram (6 km)	Cuddalore (47 km)
	Tiruvannamalai (70 km)	Kanchipuram (120 km)

Location

Sthala puranam and temple information

This architecturally splendid temple, close to 1000 years in age, is located close to Viluppuram, just off the highway from Chennai, and is entirely worth a visit.

The temple has been dated to the early 12^th century, and there is an inscription here from the time of Vikrama Chola, the son of Kulothunga Chola I and his queen Madhurantaki (the place Madhurantakam is named for her, who in turn must have been named for Madhurantakan, the Chola king who conquered the Pandyas a few centuries earlier). Interestingly, Madhurantaki’s other name was Dheena Chintamani, and this place surely has taken its name from hers.

Although referred to as Vaidyanathar or Vaitheeswaran today, in Vikrama Chola’s time, the moolavar was named Kulothunga Chozheeswaramudaiya Mahadevar, after Vikrama Chola’s father, Kulothunga Chola.

Over time, devotees of the region who worshipped Siva here noticed that their diseases were getting cured, and because of this, the moolavar gradually came to be known as Vaitheeswarar or Vaidyanathar.

The best part of this temple are the architectural and iconographic aspects of the koshtam deities on the outer walls of the garbhagriham, which clearly depict the height of Chola craftsmanship.

Typically, in Siva temples, one sees five deities – Vinayakar, Dakshinamurti, Lingodhbhavar (or Vishnu), Brahma and Durga. At this temple, while these usual deities are also present and depicted beautifully, there are also koshtam murtis for Siva as Natarajar performing the Urdhva Tandavam, Uma Sahita Murti, Bhariavar and Bhikshatanar.

In the ardha-mandapam before the garbhagriham, Vinayakar and Murugan are present in place of the dwara palakas.

When it was built, the temple had only a moolavar shrine. In recent times, it is said that Amman appeared in a devotee’s dream and indicated to him that since there was only a Lingam here, a separate shrine for Her should be built. This was duly completed, and Amman is named Thaiyal Nayaki, which is consistent with temples where the moolavar is Vaidyanathar. The Amman shrine is therefore quite recent.

At the entrance to the temple, on the left, is a jeeva samadhi of a siddhar, where a six-sided Lingam, pancha bhoota Lingams (representing the five elements), murtis of Nagar, and Vinayakar are also installed. There is also a large murti of Anjaneyar adjacent to the jeeva samadhi.

As this is a shrine for Vaidyanathar, it is regarded as a Sevvaai sthalam, and there is a separate shrine for Sevvaai (Angarakan) in the temple. However, this temple is not part of any Navagraham temples set.

Vikrama Chola’s inscription (see above) is also visible on the southern wall of the maha mandapam. In addition, there are inscriptions in the temple referring to grants and donations to the temple in general, and in particular to the maintenance of the Urdhva Tandava Natarajar in the koshtam.