Adavalleeswarar Temple, Munnur – Legends

Adavalleeswarar Temple, Munnur – Legends

Guru Parihara Sthalam:

Brihaspati / Guru Bhagavan, son of Angirasa Rishi and grandson of Lord Brahma, supposed to be the master of 4 Vedhas, forgotten everything due to his ego. Brihaspati, on the advice of Brahma, came here took bath in the Brahma Theertham and prayed to the lord to rid himself of the curse and regain his lost glory and name. This Temple is considered as a Parihara sthalam for Guru.

Adavalleeswarar:

On the request of Kulothunga Chola, Lord Shiva and his consort are believed to have danced here and hence Lord is came to be called as Adavalleeswarar.

Swayambhu Lingam:

A King by name Adavalli Koothan ruled this place,  noticed that the quantity  of milk given by the cow was very low. When the same was checked and he found the  cow mulched on a Shiva Lingam in the forest.  Later the King built a temple on that place.

Lord Murugan saved Nalliyakodan from Cholas Onslaught:

Nalliyakodan, a local chieftain was ruling over this area. He heard the news that the mighty Chola Empire wanted to annex his kingdom. He was worried and knew that his forces were no match to Chola Army. He prayed to Lord Murugan of this Temple about this impending danger to his Kingdom. Lord Murugan appeared in his dream and advised him to make weapons from Lotus flower.

Lord Murugan instructed him to keep these weapons at his shrine and worship him. After worshipping, he instructed to proceed to war with these weapons. As instructed, Nalliyakodan went to war with these weapons. To his surprise, when sunrays fell on these weapons, a swarm of bees appeared from lotus flower and started attacking the Chola Army. Chola army retreated notwithstanding the bee attack.

Parvathi worshipped Lord Shiva here:

As per the advice of Vishnu, Parvathy came to this place Munnur created a Shiva Linga with Neerazhi mandapam ( always to keep cool ) and worshiped Lord Shiva. Shiva gave dharshan to Parvathi with Anandha Thandavam.

Munnur:

Once 300 Brahmins are said to have performed Yaga here at Adavalleeswarar Temple. Hence, the village came to be called as Munnootru Mangalam / Munnur.

Various Kings worshipped Lord Shiva here:

Rajaraja Chola, Sambuvarayar, Nalliyakodan, Thirubhuvana Veeran, Nandivarman, Pulikesi II, Athiyaman, Kopperunchingan and Pangalarayan had worshipped Lord Shiva here.

Lord Dakshinamurthy gave Dharshan to Sanakathi Rishis here:

It is believed that Dakshinamurthy gave Dharshan to Sanakathi Maharishis in Yoga Mudra Stage in this place.

Lord Shiva gave Mukthi to the Tharuka Vana Rishis:

Lord Shiva gave Mukthi to the Tharuka Vana rishis in this place after destroying their egos by taking the form of Bikshadana.

Pandavas worshipped Lord Shiva here:

Pandavas during their exile lived in this place and worshipped Lord Shiva of this temple.

300 Temples:

The place is called as Munnur, since there were 300 temples once it had. Hence called as Munnuru latter corrupted to the present name of Munnur.

Other Names:

Munnur is also known as Darukavanam, Dakshina Kailash, Veeranarayananapuram, Purushothamanallur, Chathurvedhimangalam and Tirisathapuram.