Moolavar: Sri Munkudumeeswarar
Amman: Sri Meenakshi Ambal
A beautiful Chola period temple built by Rajendra Chozhan. It is said to be close to 1300 years old now.
The Chozha king who was ruling this part of the Tamil Nadu in ancient days was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and had a habit of getting Prasadam from this temple every day before starting his routines. The priest of this temple used to perform daily morning pooja to the Lord and carry the Prasadham for the king at his palace.
Once, as usual, the priest performed the pooja and went to the palace to submit to the king. The king was having his bath the priest had to wait for a while for the king to return and accept the Prasadham. Meantime, the queen saw the priest waiting and enquired him. The priest told that he had brought Prasadham from the temple for the king. The priest was holding a plate carrying Vibhuthi, Kumkum, fruits and some flowers offered to the Lord.
The queen liked the fresh flowers on the plate and out of curiosity took the flowers and wore on her head. The priest was shocked and told the queen that the first Prasadham from the temple is meant only for the king and asked her keep the flowers back on the plate. As requested by him the queen removed the flowers from her hair and kept them back on the plate. The king arrived and accepted the Prasadham with much devotion. But he was shocked to see a single long hair stuck with the flowers of the temple. The king got angry and asked the priest on how the hair got mixed up with flowers from the temple and whether the Lord had a long hair. The priest got frightened as he cannot tell the king that the queen was the responsible for it. At the same time, he had to answer. So, the priest told the king that the Lord in the temple has a long hair and hence the flowers taken from the Lord’s idol had a hair mixed up among the flowers.
The king couldn’t believe it and told that he will visit the temple the next day morning during the Pooja and if he doesn’t find the hair on the Lord, the priest’s head will be cut off. The priest returned to the temple, cried and prayed the whole day in front of the Lord to save him from the king’s punishment.
The next day both the priest and the king arrived at the temple for morning Pooja. When the priest opened the doors of the sanctum to start the Pooja, he was astonished to see a tuft near the forehead of the Shiva Lingam. The priest was in tears realizing the mercy of the God to whom he was doing Poojas with full devotion. The king, on seeing the tuft apologized with the priest for suspecting him. As the Lord has a tuft (Kudumi) towards his forehead, he came to be known as Sri Munkudumeeswarar. Even today, we can witness the tuft on the Lord’s (Lingam’s) head.
The legend behind the name of this village goes like this - Once, Vedanta Desikar couldn’t get alms to feed Lord Hayagriva at night while staying in this village. The next day morning the villagers complained to him that a white horse had destroyed their paddy fields in the night. When Desikar went there, the places through which the horse had run through had turned into gold. Hence this village got the name Pon Vilaintha Kalathur wherein pon refers to gold and Vilaintha means yield from cultivation in Tamil.
The presiding deity graces the devotees sitting under Gajabrushta Vimana (roof design of the sanctum sanctorum). There are Anukkai Vinayaka, Muruga with his consorts Valli and Deivanai, Kalabhairava and Navagraha (9 planets) shrines in the corridor. It is the tuft on the head of the Shivalinga makes the temple especially famous.
Great poet Pugazhendi Pulavar, who wrote Nala Venba, was born here. One of the 63 Nayanmars called Sri Kootruva Nayanar is also said to have lived in this village.
Timing: The temple opens by 6:30 am
Contact: The temple kurukal Natarajar can be reached at 9443168951
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