Aatheeswarar, Veppathur, Thanjavur

Basic information about the temple

Moolavar:	Aattheeswarar	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:	Veppathur	District:	Thanjavur
Maps from (click):	Current location	Kumbakonam (10 km)	Mayiladuthurai (29 km)
	Tiruvarur (41 km)	Thanjavur (51 km)

Location

Sthala puranam and temple information

This temple is located on the road from Bhagavatapuram to Veppathur, just off the Kallanai-Poompuhar road, even before one reaches the Veppathur Kamakshi Amman (Kailasanathar) temple.

The temple itself is quite small, though reasonably well-maintained by the caretaker who also serves as the priest here. Siva here is named Aattheeswarar, as He is under an aatthi tree (not to be confused with atthi, which is a fig tree).

Today, the temple has only one single room, in which there is a Siva Lingam in the centre, and a murti of Dakshinamurti on the side, along with smaller murtis including Vinayakar. However, at one time, this was a much larger temple – this is further borne out by the fact that this is a west-facing temple, which are hard to come by even otherwise. The original temple is regarded as being over 1000 years old.

In ancient times – possibly over 2000 years ago – Veppathur was considered a centre of knowledge and learning, and was referred to as Ghatika Sthanam, recognised for spiritual and philosophical education and culture. Perhaps because of this, during Chola times, this place was called Chola Marthanda Chaturvedi Mangalam. The Chola king of the time (unknown, but 10^th-12^th century) is also said to have given the adjoining village of Bhagavatapuram for use as residences, while continuing their academic pursuits at Veppathur, which attracted students and scholars from far and wide. For this reason, it is said that the place used to be called Vedamur, which over time has become Veppathur. According to another version, this place was called Nimmagramam in Sanskrit, which became Veppathur in Tamil. The place flourished as a learning centre during Pallava, Chola and even the period of the Vijayanagara dynasty.

This is a prarthana sthalam for those seeking to have children. It is said that even those couples whose horoscopes indicate that they will never have children, can get their fates changed by worshipping here and participating in the Amudhu Padaiyal Tiruvizha of this temple, which involves the narration of Siruthondar Nayanar’s story (where Siva, in the guise of a mendicant, demanded to eat human meat, specifically the Nayanar’s son), followed by annadanam that is performed here.