Veerateswarar Temple, Tirukkurukkai (Korukkai)

01Kama Dahanam

The devas, pressed by Tarakasura, needed a son of Shiva and Parvati, but Shiva sat deep in yoga. They sent Kama with his sugarcane bow and flower arrows. The arrow struck, Shiva opened his third eye, and Kama was ash. Rati’s grief moved the Lord, and he promised Kama would live again at his wedding with Parvati. Korukkai is counted the place of that burning, one of the eight Veerattanams where Shiva’s heroic deeds are worshipped. A bronze Kamadahana Murti stands in the hall, and in a separate sabha Shiva sits as Yoga Murti with one leg folded, the Sanakadi rishis at his feet. Marks like the flower arrow, a lotus most clearly, are pointed out on the linga, and images of Kama and Rati face the sanctum.

02The short-armed sage

The temple gives the name its own katha. A rishi who bathed every linga in Ganga water he drew down from the sky came here and ignored the Soola Theertham before the gate; as he raised his arms to call the Ganga, they shrank. Kuru kai is the short hand, and his stone image stands near the Kurunkai Vinayaka. The temple faces west through a five-tiered gopuram. Its stone fabric is Chola work with Thanjavur Nayak additions, and Dharmapuram Adheenam administers it. Appar sang two padigams here, one of which survives only in two verses. A Veenadhara Dakshinamurti bronze recorded here in 1959 was later stolen and has been traced to the Cleveland Museum of Art.