275 Thevara Shivasthalam !! Thiru Erukkathampuliyur (Rajendrapattinam) Thiru Neelakandeswarar !!


Jai Sriman Narayana !!

Jaya Jaya Sankara Hara Hara Sankara !!





Thiru Erukkathampuliyur  is one of the 275 Thevara Shivasthalam of Lord Shiva located in Virudachalam, Kadaloor District, Tamil Nadu.  This is one of the prominent Shiva temples known as Pancha Puliyur Shivasthalam.   In this temple Lord Shiva worshipped in the form of a Linga.




Pancha Puliyur Shivasthalams are Thiruppathiri Puliyur, Perumpattrapuliyur (Chidambaram), Thiru Perumpuliyur, Omapuliyur and Erukkathampuliyur.  This is one of the oldest temples of Lord Shiva built during the regime of Chozha dynasty, King Rajaraja Chozha and his son Rajendra Chozha have made abundance of contributions to this temple.




Presiding deity – Thiru Neelakandeswarar/Thiru Kumaraswamy with his consort Goddess Sri Neelamalarkanni Ammai




Mangalasasanam – Thiru Gnana Sambandhar




Sthalavruksham – Yerukku




Worshipped by – King Rajaraja Choza & Rajendra Choza, Sage Vyagrapadha,




Sage Vyagrapadha learned the glories of Lord Shiva of Chidambaram from his father.  He was enthralled at the splendor of Lord and set out to Chidambaram.  He arrived at Chidambaram and worshipped Lord Nataraja & Goddess Sivakami.  He was captivated by the beauty of Lord and serenity of this sacred land.  He settled here and worshipped Lord Nataraja with the alluring fresh flowers collected from the garden situated.  He continued this practice of collecting fresh flowers in the previous day in order to avoid any flies or honey bees polluting the same.  He was blessed with the forethought, sharp eyesight and the feet of tiger.  Hence, he was known by the name Vyagrapadha (Vyagra + Padha – Tiger +Feet).




King Rajaraja Chozha had no offspring for quite some time.  He worshipped Lord Neelakandeswarar and blessed with a son Rajendra Chozha.




Significance – This is the birth place of Thiru Neelakanda Yazhpanar one of the 63 Nayanmars.




Sannidhis – Lord Ganesha, Lord Nandikeshwara, Navagraha, Nalvar, Lord Vishwanathar & Goddess Visalakshy, Lord Subramanya with his consort Goddess Valli & Deivayanai, Goddess Lakshmi, Goshtamurtham – Lord Dakshinamurthy, Lingodbhavar, Lord Brahma, Goddess Durga,




The legend has that Lord Shiva while describing the essence of Vedas to Goddess Parvati at Mount Kailash, in a moment she failed to focus on the subject.  It infuriated the Lord and cursed Goddess Parvati to born in the fishermen (Bhartha) clan.  Lord Subramanya was furious at the act of his father; he angrily hurled the entire Veda and Vedanga into the sea.  It annoyed Lord Shiva, in a mounted anger cursed Lord Subramanya at his supercilious manners.  Due to the curse Lord Subramanya took birth as a dumb child on Earth.  This child became an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and visited many sacred places of Lord.  Finally, he arrived at Thiru Erukkathampuliyur consecrated a Linga and underwent severe austerities praying to Lord.  Lord Shiva was pleased at the devotion of the dumb child and blessed him with speech.  Thus, the presiding of this temple has got it name ‘Thiru Shiva Kumara Swamy’.





This temple remains open from 6.00AM to 11.00AM in the morning and 4.00PM to 8.00PM in the evenings.


Jaya Jaya Sankara Hara Hara Sankara !!


Jai Sriman Narayana !!

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