01Sundarar’s other eye
Sundarar, blinded after breaking his vow to Sangiliyar, had one eye restored at Kanchipuram and came home to Tiruvarur still half blind. He bathed in the tank at the south-east corner of this temple and prayed, and the sight of his right eye returned; a mark like an eye is said to show on the linga during abhishekam, and the temple is prayed at for eye trouble. The temple’s katha says Durvasa dug that tank at Shiva’s command when the sea rose at a deluge, and the waters were drawn into it, so the Lord is Durvasa Nayinar. Durvasa’s image has its right thumb bent back, done, the priests say, to calm his fierceness. Paravai Nachiyar’s shrine is at the southern entrance.
On East Car Street in Tiruvarur, near the parking place of the great chariot.
