01Andhaka slain
The Tamil tradition counts eight Veerattanams, each the site of one of Shiva’s eight great victories. At Tirukkovilur he slew Andhakasura, the blind asura born of darkness, from every drop of whose blood another asura sprang. The Kurma Purana and Shiva Purana tell that Shiva pierced him with the trident and held him aloft until his pride left him. Appar and Sambandar sang this shrine. Its festivals are Masi Magam, the Mondays of Karthigai, and a Margazhi utsavam for Manikkavasagar.
02Kapilar’s rock and Meiporul
Tirukkovilur was the seat of the Malaiyaman chiefs. One of them, Meiporul Nayanar, so honoured the sacred ash that when an enemy came to him in the dress of a Shaiva devotee and stabbed him, he forbade his guards to harm the man; the Periya Puranam counts him among the sixty-three. On a rock in the Pennai stands a small shrine called Kapilar Kundru, tied to the Sangam poet Kapilar. The town also holds the Divya Desam of Ulagalantha Perumal, so Shaiva and Vaishnava pilgrims come to the same streets.
About 35 km south-west of Tiruvannamalai; Tirukkovilur has a railway station on the Villupuram–Katpadi line.
