Vasishteswarar Temple, Thenkudi Thittai

01The mound above the flood

Thittai is a raised piece of ground, and this one lies between the Vettaru and the Vennaru. The temple says that in the pralaya, when all was under water, this mound alone stood above it and Shiva appeared on it as a swayambhu linga. Maharshi Vasishtha, guru of Shri Rama, worshipped here, and the Lord bears his name. Four lingas at the corners and the Lord at the centre make it a Pancha Linga kshetra. From a small opening in the vimana a drop of water falls on the linga about once every twenty-four minutes, day and night; the temple attributes it to Surya-kanta and Chandra-kanta stones set above. The sun reaches the linga on the 15th to 17th of Avani and the 25th to 27th of Panguni. Sambandar’s hymn is in the third Tirumurai.

02Raja Guru

Between the shrines of the Lord and the Devi stands a separate shrine for Brihaspati, with its own vimana, facing south. Here he is not Dakshinamurti but Raja Guru, standing with four hands, one raised in abhaya. The temple’s katha says Indra, having slighted his guru, wandered from shrine to shrine seeking him, and at Thittai Brihaspati forgave him. So Thittai is among the most visited Guru sthalams of Tamil Nadu, and on Guru Peyarchi, the day Jupiter changes sign, the road from Thanjavur fills. The whole temple, floors, pillars, walls and roofs, is of stone, and the ceiling of the Devi’s shrine carries a carved wheel of the twelve rashis.