01Where the wick stood still
A Chola king who went daily to Chidambaram to worship Nataraja passed through a forest here, and each night his torches died as they entered it and lit again when they left. A cowherd told him of a spot where the cows let their milk flow of their own accord. The king had it dug, the axe struck a linga, and blood welled up. Told in his remorse to build a temple, he raised one on the spot, and the axe mark is still on the swayambhu linga. The temple reads the name as thiri nindra oor, the place where the wick stopped. Mahalakshmi worshipped here, so the Lord is Mahalakshmeeswarar.
02Parasurama and the three saints
Parasurama, who at his father’s word took his mother Renuka’s life, came here burdened with that act; his father Jamadagni prayed too, and Shiva freed them both. The Parasurama linga stands in the outer prakaram and the Jamadagneeswarar linga, with a small bana, near the shrine of Vishnu. Indra, Agastya and Airavata are also named among the worshippers. Sambandar and Appar sang one padigam each and Sundarar two, one of which survives only in part. Sundarar’s verses recall the spider reborn as King Kochengat Chola, Chandesa and Kannappa. The temple was once a maadakkoil; about a century ago the Nagarathar remodelled it into its present plan.
On the Sirkazhi–Mayiladuthurai road, about 7 km from Mayiladuthurai; buses from both towns stop close by.
