Thenari Madhyaranya shiva temple

Thenari  Madhyaranya  shiva   temple

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

       This is one of   very  important  Shiva temples of Kerala  ,It is believed that Once Lord Parsurama   did great penance addressing  Lord Shiva and when  he came before him, Lord Parasurama wanted the God to come to Kerala , the land he reclaimed from the sea. The very pleased Lord Shiva gave him 108 Shiva Lingas and requested him to consecrate them all over Kerala  .This temple is believed  to be one of those   temples.  Another legend about this temple is interesting. It seems once Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma   quarreled with each other  claiming superiority   over each other,. At that  time Lord Shiva appeared before them in a luminous form and wanted them to  find out his head and feet. Lord Vishnu took the form of a boar and went on digging but could not find the feet of Lord Shiva and came back and   accepted defeat. But Lord Brahma came back and told a lie that  he has been able to see  the head of Lord Shiva.  The infuriated Lord Shiva  cursed him  and  Lord Brahma  lost his power of creation.  When all the world  of devas went and appealed to Lord Shiva, He directed Lord Brahma to this temple  . He told Lord Brahma that  whosoever worships him in this temple  will be purified of sins committed by him in several births .Lord Brahma along with Indra, Goddess  Saraswathi and  the eight guardians  of directions went  to this temple , did penance and got back his power of creation.,The Eight guardians of directions were asked to consecrate   a shiva Linga in their  name in eight directions of this temple.These are called Indresan, Yamesan  , Nirutheesan , Varunesan ,Maruthesan  ,Thanathesan    and Eesanesan.All these  lingas are within one of half  km from this main temple of Mahyarayeswara. There is a small well inside the temple called  Agnikundam

       There is another story connecting this temple with Lord Sri Rama  ,It seems from  Rameswaram on their way back to Ayodhya  , Sri Rama, Lakshmana   and Siita  took rest at Theneri  .They took rested  in a rocky area   which is now called Shangu chakra para. On these  rocks even today   big and small pits on the rock  .People  believe that these are the places where   the huge monkeys took rest and the depressions are created by their buttocks.  While here it seems Goddess Sita    felt thirsty  .When Lakshmana sent an arrow on the land  only mud water came out and when Rama send an arrow pure dinkable water came out. Devotees believe   that Ganges river came like a spring there.  There is a stone in the Madhyaranya temple on which Gayathri manthra is inscribed ,Devotees believe that Rama sat on this stone to worship Lord Shiva. There is also a  well preserved Rama  Temple     in Theneri village where the spring created by Rama called Sri Ganga Theertha is preserved,

   It seems  during the conquest of  Tipu Sultan , this temple was destroyed and this linga was cut by his sword. Even today the cut mark could be seen on the main Linga. The local people  of Thenari   repaired and rebuilt the temple and the consecration   was done again in 2005.Apart from the  main Linga, the temple also has sub temples dedicated  to Lord Subrahmanya, Thirukumuzhi ammanand Saptha Mathas., Kasi Viswanatha, Ganesa, Lord Ayyappa with Porna and Pushkala and Lord Maha Vishnu.The door of the Saptha Mathas temple is opened only once in a year on the deepavali  day  and poojas performed. Out side the temple there is a SArpa Kavu(serpent temple) and a temple tank  called  Brahma Kundam . Arudra Darsanam and Maha Shivarathri are   celebrated in this temple besides special poojas on Pradosham day.

         The temple is  15 km from Palakkad town   and is  near Elapulli  on the  palakkad –Pollachi road.  The buses  from Palghat to Kozhinjampara  touches  this temple  . The temple is open  from 6 Am to 12 non   and 5 Pm to 7.30 Pm  . the temple phone number is  0491-2584321