01Ganapatheeswaram
The temple’s katha says Shri Ganesh slew the asura Gajamukha here, and the blood of the asura reddened the land, chem-kadu, the red forest, which gave the village its name. Ganesh then worshipped his father, so the Lord is Ganapatheeswarar. In a smaller shrine is the Vatapi Ganapati: the tradition is that Paranjothi, general of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, brought the image home from the Chalukya capital Vatapi, which he sacked in 642 CE. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s kriti Vatapi Ganapatim bhaje is sung to this Ganesh at the start of countless concerts.
02Siruthondar’s offering
Paranjothi gave up war, came home to Tiruchengattangudi and lived as Siruthondar, the little servant, feeding a Shiva devotee every day before he ate. The Periya Puranam tells that Shiva came as a Bhairava ascetic and asked for a meal of a child’s flesh, the only son of the house. Siruthondar and his wife gave it, and when the guest asked them to call the boy to eat with him, the boy came running in alive, and Shiva revealed himself. Uthirapathiyar, the Bhairava form, has his shrine in the temple, and the katha is enacted in Chittirai. Sambandar sang the shrine and praised Siruthondar in it, and Appar sang it too.
The life of this place
- 642 CEParanjothi, Pallava general, sacks Vatapi; the Vatapi Ganapati is held to have been brought here afterwards.
About 10 km from Nannilam and 25 km west of Nagapattinam, near Tiruppugalur.
