Jai Sriman Narayana !!
Jaya Jaya Sankara Hara Hara Sankara !!
Thiru Arasili is one of the 275 Thevara Shivasthalam
of Lord Shiva located 8kms from Pondicherry in the district of Villipuram,
Tamil Nadu. In this temple Lord Shiva
worshipped in the form of self-manifested Linga.
Presiding deity – Sri
Arasilinathar/Ashwatheshwarar/Arasaleeshwarar with Goddess Sri Periya
Nayaki/Azhakiya Nayaki
Sthalvruksham – Peepal Tree
Theertham – Vamana Theertham/Arasili Theertham
Worshipped by – Sage Vamadeva
Mangalasasanam – Thiru Gnana Sambandhar
Festivals – Vaikasi Brahmostavam, Maha
Shivaratri, Thirukarthikai, Pradosham,
Sannidhis – Lord Ganesha, Lord Dakshinamurthy,
Lord Nataraja, Lord Vishnu, Lord Subramanya with his consorts Goddess Sri Valli
& Deivayanai, Lord Bhairava, Nalvar (Appar,Sundarar, Sambandhar,
Manikkavasagar) Lord Surya,
The legend has that Sage Vamadeva was afflicted
with a curse and arrived in this sacred land, due to overtiredness of long
journey he rested under a peepal tree situated here. He found immense joy in the tranquility of
this place and desired to worship Lord.
Soon Lord Shiva appeared before him in the form of Linga. Sage Vamadeva was extremely pleased at this incident;
he consecrated the Linga and started to worship and got rid of the curse on him. Hence,
this place has got its name Arasili and the presiding deity known as
Arasaleeshwarar/Arasilinathar.
Another legend has that this region was under
the regime of Chalukyas. Chalukyas were zealous
devotee of Lord Shiva. This region was
under the rule of King Satyavrata. He
was a righteous ruler; unfortunately he had no offspring for quite some time. He was distressed at the thought of no heir
for his throne. He was an ardent devotee
of Lord Shiva. He consecrated a Linga to
worship in a conspicuous place in his palace garden. Surprisingly, this area of garden was
remained empty without any alluring flowers though there were varieties of flowery plants positioned in that specific
area. The servants reported this matter
to King and decided to find the perpetrator who was stealing flowers from the
garden. The King was determined to find
the wrongdoer and punish him for his mistake.
He closely scrutinized this area of the garden and found a deer nibbling
all those attractive flowers. The King
was furious to watch the flowers kept for the daily worship of Lord were eaten
by the deer. In a rage he shot an arrow
at the deer. Soon the deer whizzed
behind a peepal tree, King shot arrow pointing at the deer. But the arrow hit the tree and it started to
bleed. The King was thought the arrow
might have killed the deer. He went in
search for the deer all around the peepal tree; he did not find any trace of
the deer, instead he found a Linga. He passionately prostrated before the Linga. Instantaneously
Lord appeared before the King with a mark of arrow strike on his forehead and
blessed the King Satyavrata with virtuous offspring. Soon after this happening King Satyavrata
built a temple on its place.
This temple remains open from morning 6.00AM to
evening 7.00PM.
Jai Sriman Narayana !!
No comments:
Post a Comment