Thiruperundurai – Avudaiyar Temple

Avudaiyar koil is one of the ancient , infamous off the beat temple with a great history and wonderful paintings and sculptures.Its located 14 kms from Arandhangi, Pudukottai district.

செயற்கரிய செய்வார் பெரியர் சிறியர்
செயற்கரிய செய்கலா தார்.

Dance form of Shiva lifting Right leg(Usually left) .He has twisted the leg in such a way the top part of the foot is visible

They have incorporated uniqueness in every square feet of this temple.

I have mentioned some unique sculptures , paintings and practices of this temple below.

In the entrance of the temple , the Gopura as well as the sanctum can be worshipped together.Also the entrance bears a Monkey and Udumbu (Monitor Lizard) which depicts our heart is like monkey which jumps here and there and Spiritualism is like the monitor which gets hold of it.
Unlike other temples , there is no Deity here in Sanctum. The lord here is called Aathmanadha swamy depicting only Aathma. The God is bereft of any form.His consort Yogambal is worshipped in icon less form as well.
The Aarathi doesn’t come outside the Sanctum.Because the God himself is worshipped in the form of fire.Fire, Sun and moon are depicted as lights behind the peedam in sanctum.

This is thousand pillar mandapa, All the thousand pillars are squeezed in these two pillars.Each pillar has 10 layers with 500 small pillars.

Manikkavasagar plays a vital role here. He had built this temple.He is also considered as reincarnation of Nandi, so this temple doesn’t have Nandi, KodiMaram .As soon as you enter, you have to worship Manikavasagar.Not even Ganesh.

Three Types of Deekshai – Nayana (Through Eyes) , Sparisa(Touching hands), Thiruvadi(feet)

There are instances where God preaches Human, Human preaches Human.Here Human Preaches God. That is Thiruvasagam and it happened here.

ALl the festivals here are celebrated for Manikkavasagar. They dont follow Pradhosham even in this Shivan temple.Agni theertham is the pond here and Kurudha tree is SthalaVruksham

Idol of Manikkavasagar getting Deekshai from Lord under Kurudha tree.

Different types of dancing postures in the ceiling.

This Lady not only shows a pose, but also produces different musical sound when tapped in her hands and feet.

There are few pillars in this mandapa which produces different musical sounds when tapped. The roof contains six types of rods and looks like its attached using nails. The Britishers fired guns to check whether its made of stone.That mark can even be seen now.

PAINTINGS

Most of the temple’s ceilings and side walls are covered by Paintings.I was really astonished to hear that the ceiling in Manikavasagar mandapa is covered by Paintings of 1008 shivalayas. This contains Shiva Parvati couple,along with the Vimanas as well as the temple pond indication and also the name of the place is written there.The beauty is The vimana, as well as the couples looks exactly as they are in their respective temples.

Long verses along with the painting in the ceiling.

The pathetic condition of the paintings , they couldn’t be seen without any light source.

The Ancestors had played with Physics. In the place where there is mild or no light source, we get shadows on all the directions.

In some part of the ceiling they had made the sculpture and painted it to give a 3D effect.This can be easily seen in the below image.

You can actually see the water flows from the pot to another in this picture.Also see how the spoon stands are in those times.

All the colors used in the paintings are natural colors.How coll is to produce these many colors and they really had good color sense,

Elaborate ceiling painting of Dwarabalaka , which is in the severe destructive phase now.

SCULPTURES

Can there be anything more elegant than this? Any warrior will travel with four weapons. 1 – Javelin (The warrior holding in right hand) , 2 & 3 – Sword Knife and Arrow/Bow(On the left side of the horse) 4 – Dagger

These are two horses on either side of a Mandapa’s entrance. Both of them are differentiated in all the aspects.The horse chain , its ornaments , cloth, bells ,the ornaments of the warrior ,his dress, everything is unique.

The entire top part of the temple is standing with the strength of the pillars and the pillars are just standing above the ground without any attachment.

The Elaborate temple Praharam. They provide Annadhanam every afternoon here.

History

ThiruperunThurai – Once upon a time it was a great Harbor where people used to buy the good quality horses imported from different parts of the world.Once Manikkavasagar(one among the 63 Nayanmar , author of THIRUVASAGAM) , who held a good position in Pandya kindom was requested by King Arimardhana Pandiyan to get him a Yavana Horse from here.

He got the gold from King and built this temple.For his sake, Lord Shiva himself turned the Fox into Horse for King.

The Neivedhiyam is also different here. The priest spreads the boiled rice in a platform , in front of Aathmanathar’s peedam in sanctum , along with Greens(Keerai) and Bitterguard.