01The oldest hill
Mudu-kundram in Tamil and Vriddha-achalam in Sanskrit both mean the old hill. The temple’s katha says that before creation Brahma asked Shiva for firm ground, and Shiva stood forth as this hill, older than all others. Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar all sang it. The temple keeps the number five: five gopurams, five prakarams, five Nandis, five tirthas. Two Devis have their own shrines, Periyanayaki and Balambikai, the elder and the young. Pilgrims hold that one who dies here hears the Panchakshara from the Lord himself, as at Kashi, and the town is called Vriddha Kashi.
02Sundarar’s gold
Sundarar asked the Lord of Vriddhachalam for gold for his household at Tiruvarur and was given twelve thousand gold pieces. Rather than carry them, the Periya Puranam says, he dropped them into the Manimuktha river and asked that they be returned to him in the Kamalalayam tank at Tiruvarur, and there he drew them out. The Masi Magam festival brings the deities to the river. Sembiyan Mahadevi, the Chola queen, is remembered among the temple’s builders, and its walls carry Chola inscriptions.
Vriddhachalam Junction is on the Chennai–Tiruchirappalli main line; the temple is in the town centre, about 2 km from the station.
