Yazhmoorinathar Temple, Dharumapuram, Karaikal – Legends

Yazhmoorinathar Temple, Dharumapuram, Karaikal – Legends

Dharmapuram:

It is believed that Lord Shiva stopped Yama, the lord of Death, and punished him before he could take the life of Sage Markandeya in Thirukkadaiyur. As Yama had already thrown his noose around Sage Markandeya, he is believed to have repented for his sin by worshiping Lord Shiva here.

Yama came to this place, created a spring and performed penance. Lord Shiva granted darshan to Yama and told him that he would be restored of his position as the lord of death in due time. As Yama is also known as “Dharman”, this place gets the name Dharmapuram.

Yazh Moori Nathar:

Another legend associated with this temple is that of a Shiva devotee by the name of Thiru Neelakanda Yazhpanar. He was a renowned musician and his preferred instrument was the “Yazh”. Yazh is a string instrument similar to the Veena or violin. Neelakanda Yazhpanar and his wife Madanga Soolamani joined Saint Thirugnana Sambandhar on his pilgrimages.

Yazhpanar would compose the music for Sambanthar’s hymns. Since Yazhpanar was a maestro in the art of composition, a sense of arrogance rose in the minds of his relatives as they felt that Sambanthar’s popularity was mostly because of Yazhpanar’s music. Yazhpanar harboured no such thoughts and was distressed when this came to this light. He apologized to Sambandhar who readily forgave him.

Sambandhar then expressed his desire to visit Yazhpanar’s mother and seek her blessings. For this reason, they came to Dharmapuram. However, when Sambandhar sang “Yaazhmoori Padhigam” in this temple, Yazhpanar was not able to compose music for it. In his frustration, Yazhpanar decided to break the Yazh but Sambandhar stopped him to do so. Lord Shiva intervened, took the Yazh from Yazhpanar, composed the music for the hymn and also danced to it.

It is for this reason that Lord Shiva of this temple is praised as “Sri Yazh Moori Nathar”. It is believed that when Lord Shiva composed the music for Sambanthar’s hymn, Goddess Parvathy sang in a voice that was “as sweet as nectar”. For this reason, she is praised as “Sri Then Amirthavalli” (“Then” means honey and “Amritam” means nectar in Tamil).

People worshipped Lord Shiva here:

It is also believed that Lord Mahavishnu, Lord Brahma and Yudhistra have worshipped the lord here. Yudhistra is also known as Dharmar. This is another reason why this place is called Dharmapuram. 

Dakshinamurthy is seen in a leaning position here:

When Lord Shiva played the Yazh, it is believed that Lord Dakshinamurthy learned back to enjoy the performance. For this reason, Lord Dakshinamurthy is seen in a leaning position here.