Kapardeeswarar (Swetha Vinayagar) Temple, Tiruvalanjuzhi

01The white Vinayaka

The temple’s katha says that when the devas churned the ocean of milk, they forgot to worship Shri Ganesh first, and the churning failed. Indra then shaped a Vinayaka from the white foam of the ocean and worshipped him, and later brought the image here. Swetha Vinayagar, the white Vinayaka, is therefore never bathed with water; only fine camphor powder is sprinkled on him. He sits in his own shrine before the Lord’s, and the temple is better known by his name than by Shiva’s.

02Valam-chuzhi, the right-hand turn

The Kaveri, the temple says, once sank into a chasm here and vanished below the earth, and the Chola king could not bring it back. The sage Heranda went down into the chasm himself, and the river rose and turned to the right, valam-chuzhi, round the temple, and flowed on. Appar and Sambandar sang Tiruvalanjuzhi. The temple has Chola and Thanjavur Nayaka inscriptions, a tall gopuram and carved halls, and stands a short distance from the Murugan temple of Swamimalai.