01The stone banana
Ravana took Kubera’s Sankha and Padma nidhis, and the temple’s katha says Kubera came here and worshipped with red lotuses until they were restored; Indra too was freed here of the sin of slaying Vritra, and Guru, Brihaspati, worshipped, so the Lord is also Devagurunathar. The shrine stands on a kattumalai of granite, and beside the sanctum grows a vel vazhai, a banana said to have come with the devas, rooted in rock and never watered; it is called kal vazhai, the stone banana. The rear niche shows Vishnu where Lingodbhava usually stands. In Karthigai the sun falls on the linga on Sundays.
Visiting
About 4 km south of Keezhvelur on the Nagapattinam–Tiruvarur road, with buses from Tiruvarur.
