Tirunallar Saniswaran Temple (Dharbaranyeswarar Temple), Karaikal – Legends

Tirunallar Saniswaran Temple (Dharbaranyeswarar Temple), Karaikal – Legends

Thirugnana Sambandar reconverted Ninra-seer-Nedumaran from Jainism back to Shaivism:

Ninra-seer-Nedumaran converted to Jainism. During this time, Jainism was spreading its influence in South India. Soon, all but his queen Mangaiyarkarasi and his minister Kulacchirai Nayanar - both staunch Saivites (worshippers of Lord Shiva) had embraced Jainism, forsaking the old religion. This caused immense agony to the queen and the minister who were anxious to reclaim both king and kingdom back into the fold of the traditional religion (Saivism).

To these two grief-stricken individuals came news of the camping of boy saint Thirugnana Sambandar at Vedaranyam. Having heard of the miracles performed by this young Saivite saint in Thanjavur district, they sent an urgent invitation to him to visit Madurai and extricate the king and his subjects from the clutches of Jainism. The arrival of the Saivite saint irked the Jains, who are said to have then set fire to his holy dwelling.

But by his yogic powers, Sambandar had the heat transferred to the king, who consequently suffered in agony. Upon the Queen's request, the young saint then sang the Padigam 'Mandiramavadu Neeru' and sprinkled a few grains of holy ash on the right side of the king's body to alleviate the pain. In contest, the Jains in turn chanted the Aruga Mantra (Jain Mantra) and stroked the left side of the king's person with peacock feathers, but it only aggravated the pain.

In response to entreaties by the king and his ministers, Sambandar applied a few more grains of the sacred ash to the king's left side also. The poor Pandian monarch, who only a little while ago was the very picture of suffering, misery and distress, now smiled gaily and was free of his burns. But the Jains challenged the Saivites further, asking that the Mantras of both religions be written on palm leaves and consigned to flames to see which one survived the ordeal of fire (thereby showing superiority over the other).

The Jains first placed their palm leaf onto the fire but it was soon consumed by the flames. Saint Thirugnana Sambandar placed on the flames one leaf containing the forty-ninth Padigam of the Thevaram hymn which was sung at the shrine of Lord Dharbaranyeswarar at Thirunallar. The leaf remained untouched by the flames and maintained its evergreen freshness, reestablishing Saivism as the true religion in Pandian capital. Hence the glory of the Thirunallar temple.

Etymology:

The name Thiru Nallar(u) is believed to represent the association of King Nala of the Nishadha country who was delivered from the bad effects of Shani (Saturn) by invoking the Lord's mercy here (Nala + Aru = Nallaru). The word "Aru" here denotes "to heal" and the two words taken together means the place where Nala was redeemed from the (malefic) hold of Saturn through the Lord's Grace.

Others are inclined to read the meaning 'between rivers' in the name Nal-Aru, as this place is situated amidst rivers Noolaru and Vanchiyaru in the north, and Arasalaru in the south. And this name as such occurs in the earlier patikam as well as in the Inscriptions. Besides, the name of Nallaru this sacred place has also other name such as Aadhipuri, Darbharanyam, Nagavidangapuram, Naleswaram etc.

Dharba Aranyam:

The place was originally a forest of Dharbai grass and it is stated that the Lingam even now has impressions left by the Dharbai weeds within which it was situated.

Naimisaranya:

In days of yore, when the sages implored to suggest to them a suitable site on earth to perform the Satra Yaga, the latter rolled out a Chakra (nemi) made of Darbha (Kusa grass) which stopped at a forest (Aranya) thus indicating that it was an ideal place for them to do their penance. The became known as the Naimisaranya. According to another version it was called Naimisaranya. Because of the annihilation by the Lord here of holds of Asuras in minute (Nimisha).

Kalinga King got relieved of his curse here:

A king of the Kalinga country who was cursed to take the form of a wild elephant along with his queen and prince and roam about in the wilderness because of an unpremeditated slight he offered to Sage Bhagava. Sage Narada directed the cursed king to go to Dharbaranyeswarar for relief. And, he said if he managed to get a drop of the water fall on his body from the head of a pilgrim who just had a dip in the sacred Brahma Theertham. Accordingly, the King, his Consort and son were transformed to humans, when a drop of sacred water fell on them from the head of a pilgrim who was mopping his wet hair just after a bath in the sacred tank.

Story of Nala & Damayanti:

As per legend to this temple, King Nala of Nishadha kingdom married the beautiful princess of Vidarbha, Damayanti, in a swayamvaram arranged by her father. Lord Shani was desirous of marrying Damayanti and since Nala married her, he became jealous and furious with him. As is the nature of Shani, if Shani enters some one's life, they suffer ill health, misfortunes and downfall in their life. Since Nala was very pious and never wavered from dharma, Shani could not get hold of him to trouble him. After a few years, Nala washed his legs to perform his morning pooja, did not wash his feet properly and left one his heels dirty and dry while cleaning rest of his feet. Shani who was waiting for an opportunity all these years, entered onto him through this dry patch on his heel.

Due to Shani's bad influence, Nala lost his kingdom in gamble and lost all his poverty. He became a pauper and started wandering around the streets with his family. He sent his sons to his uncle’s house and went into a forest with his wife. As Shani's influence was high, he also left his wife in a lurch in the dark forest and went away. Damayanti was later rescued by a king and had escorted her back to her parent's kingdom. Meanwhile, Nala while wandering in a forest, rescued a big serpent from a forest fire. The serpent called Karkodan, instead of thanking him, bit Nala, and Nala turned ugly because of the venom. The serpent Karkodan said that this transformation is for a reason and gave Nala a cloak made of serpent skin and asked to wear that in an appropriate time and it disappeared.

Damayanti, fretting for loss of her husband, asked his father to arrange for another swayamvaram hoping that Nala would come back. Nala changed his name to Vagunan and became employed as a charioteer to king Irudhupannan. Irudhupannan came to the Swayamvaram with Nala as the charioteer. As he was not allowed to participate in the swayamvaram, he went to the backyard and into the kitchen, where he saw his children and started playing with them. Damayanti who happened to see this recognized this ugly man to be Nala. Realizing that the time has come, Nala wore the cloak given by Karkodan and the next instant he regained his real personality and became the beautiful king that he was. Becoming confident, he defeated king Putkaran and regained his kingdom all his properties back.

Though he was united with his family and regained his kingdom, he was still feeling depressed. Sage Narada, who was visiting him said that his mental agony was due to the influence of Shani and asked Nala to take a pilgrimage. On his pilgrimage, he met sage Bharadhwaja in Vridhachalam, a small town in Tamilnadu, and the sage asked Nala to go and pray to Lord Shiva in the name of Dharbaranyeswarar to get rid of Shani's influence.

As soon as he entered Thirunallaru, he bathed in the tank and went inside the temple. Shani realizing that he should not torment Nala anymore and being afraid of Lord Shiva, went inside the temple and hid himself in a corner. Lord Shiva, answered Nala and Damayanti’s prayers, bestowed them with all prosperity and happiness. He also found out the hiding Shani and told him that henceforth everyone entering the temple after worshipping him will also worship Shani and get his blessings. Since then, whoever comes to this shrine and seeks the blessings of Lord Shani, their influence by Shani is reduced and they are absolved of their miseries.

A Brahmin got relieved of his sin for committing Gohatya:

King Thooyakanda, ruler of Vedavarthana situated on the banks of the river Godavari, begot a son after long penance and fulfilling many vows and presented riches and cows to the Brahmins who had conducted a Yaga (Putrakameshti) for the birth of an heir apparent to the King. Two Brahmins who were also recipients of cows found that one of them had a bigger size cow than the other. Smitten by jealousy and envy they both quarreled violently which ended in mutual exchange of blows with sticks.

Unfortunately, a severe blow landed on one of the animals which died instantaneously. Gohatya or the sin of killing a cow, though unpremeditated, overtook the Brahmin who immediately became transformed into a low-class human being and was blind too. The unfortunate Brahmin sought the advice of Sage Romasa who directed him to go to Darbharanya and seek redemption for his sin from the Lord after taking a bath in the Hamsa Tirtha.

Accordingly, the Brahmin went there and a drop of water from the head of a woman pilgrim who had just bathed in then sacred waters of the tank and was drying her hair landed on him. And immediately he got back his original form and sight, the sin of killing the cow having been absolved.

Uruchi, the King of Avanti:

Sage Bharadhwaja with other sages visited the court of Uruchi, the King of Avanti, the king asked the sage Bharadhwaja to advise him as to which and of the numerous forms of charities were most superior to the others. This sage suggested Annadhaana or serving food to the starving and added that if this service was performed in Darbharanyam Kshetra the donor would earn plenty of merit. Following this advice, the king processed to Darbharanya and worshipped the Lord and offered him sincere prayers.

The Lord appeared before him and asked him to ask for a boon. The king requested the Lord to bless him with his everlasting grace and the means to offer food to those who sought of him. Lord granted the boon. After that, king stayed in this place devoting himself to the service of the poor and feeding the hungry.

Agnivannar:

Two sons of a merchant prince bearing the same name of Agnivannar got into lustful ways and ran through their fortunes in no time and became penniless. Having nothing to feed for themselves and they turned into highway robbers, and hiding in jungles overpowered stray travellers, killed them and seized their possessions. Once a sage happening to pass by their area, was also subjected to the same inhuman treatment by the robbers. The sage after giving them wise, counsel advised them to lead a normal life he took them to Darbharanyam where these brothers attained salvation after taking a bath in the Hamsa Theertham and worshipped the lord to get relief from the sins.

Balipeedam:

The Balipeedam in temples usually faces the sanctum at a distance directly in front of the Lord. But the one here is not facing the sanctum directly but is a little away from the line of the usual position. An interesting legend is attached to this alignment. A milkman was supplying milk to the temple daily on the orders of the local king. But the accountant of the temple asked the milkman to deliver the milk at his house and enter it in the temple accounts. But the honest milkman refused accountant’s instructions.

Hence accountant threatened the milk man with drastic actions. The helpless milkman could only seek justice from Lord Dharbaranyeswarar. Lord was irked by the accountant's misdeeds and wished to punish him. He released his lance in his direction. And as the Balipeedam was in line with the course of the lance it is said to have moved a little away from its position to clear the way for the passage of the lance.

Shani Parihara Sthalam:

The only temple where Lord Saneeshwara lost all his power to Lord Shiva (Dharbaranyeswarar) which saved his devotee Nalan from Saturn's curses. It is believed that by bathing in Nala Theertham here, one washes off all kinds of misfortunes and afflictions caused by one's past karmas. According to astrology, Saneeswara moves from one sign (house) to the next in the Zodiac once in 2-1/2 years and the day of his transit is observed as a festival in Thirunallar. Saniswaran is reputed to be both, a giver and destroyer. A person who prays to Saniswaran will be blessed with not only riddance from the problems and worries faced, but a life that one desires. Worshipping of Lord Shani helps people to develop a positive mindset even during the harshest of Shani periods.

Story of Shani Bhagwan:

Suryan has got Vavaisthamanu and Yaman as sons and Yamuna as Daughter through his wife Sanjikai. Since she couldn’t bear the heat of Suryan, she left her shadow called ‘Sayadevi’. Sayadevi also got Savarni alias Manu, Sani and Pathirai as Daughter. Sayadevi behaved as stepmother and Yaman tried to kick her with his leg. Sayadevi gave sabam to break his legs. On hearing this Suryan gave blessing to Yaman to get rid of sabam and he went in search of Sanjikai. After he found out Sanjikai Suryan lived with both wives. He made Manu as King, Yaman as ‘Kaalan – Yamadharman’, Yamuna as river and Sani as one of the planet.  Sani has got his full power after worshiping Sri Kasi Viswanathar. 

Sani has got names as Maandhan, Sanaicharan which turned as ‘Saneeswaran’. Yaman hit/kick Sani, after he got angry with his stepmother. Due to this Sani’s leg was broken.  During Dhakshan’s Yagam he lost one of his eyes also. Even though black eagle as Vahana, in Agamam Black crow is also treated as Vahanam. His wife is called as Jyeshta Devi. His friends are Budhan, Guru and Sukran. And his enemies are Suryan (His father), Chandran and Chevvai.

People worshipped Lord Shiva here:

Thirumal, Brahma, Indiran, Ashtathik Balakas, Agasthiyar, Pulasthiyar, Arjunan, Nalan worshiped Lord Shiva of this temple. It was here that Lava and Kusa, the twin sons of Sri Rama sang the Ramayana and the sage Parasara's son was conferred the title of Veda Vyasa also Balarama was felicitated by the sages on his annihilating the Asura. Balvanan and Srimad Bhagavata was retold at the commencement of Kali Yuga by Sage Suka.