01Kapila’s sand linga
Maharshi Kapila, the temple says, shaped a linga from the white sand of a bilva forest where cows had let their milk flow. A king’s horse struck it with its hoof and split it. When the sage set out to make another, Shiva and Parvati appeared and told him to keep the wounded one, for Kamadhenu had hallowed that sand with her milk. The linga is still white, still bears the hoof mark, and its top is shaped like a small cup where the milk of the abhishekam gathers. So he is Palvannanathar, the Lord coloured like milk.
02The temple that moved
In the age of the Tevaram the shrine stood on the north bank of the Kollidam, about 13 km south-east of Chidambaram. Floods destroyed it, and the Lord with his attendant deities was installed in a new temple at Sivapuri, about 300 m from Tirunelvayil. It has a three-tiered gopuram and no flagstaff. Locals call it the Bhairava temple, for its Kala Bhairava is said to resemble the Bhairava of Kashi, and special worship is offered to him on Ashtami after the full moon. Sambandar sang two hymns here, Appar five and Sundarar one.
In Sivapuri, about 4 km from Chidambaram bus stand, beside the Tirunelvayil temple; both can be seen in one visit.
