Surutapalli Temple, Sayana Shivan

14-12-13 SATURDAY
Surutapalli Temple Sani Pradosham

ABOUT 56 KM from Chennai, on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border, is a small village called Surutapalli, which houses the only "Sayana Sivan" (sleeping Shiva) called Pallikondeswarar. The temple has an interesting history which is as follows: Once Indra lost his kingdom and found that only if he consumed the Divine Nectar he could rule. So there was a tug of war between the devas and asuras to obtain this nectar. The Devas and Asuras got together to churn the ocean, using Mandramalai & Vaasuki, the snake. As they continued to churn the ocean, Vaasuki the snake began to tire and started spewing its poison. Siva came and consumed all the poison. Thus Siva became blue up to his throat and is also known by the name "Neelakandan" ( neela-blue colour, kandam-throat).Goddess Parvati rushed and held his neck so that the poison would not spread to the whole of his body. Shiva then became drowsy and selected a village called Surutapalli (near Chennai), where he is seen sleeping on the lap of Parvathi. This is the only temple that houses Lord Shiva in a sleeping position.Narada, meanwhile, passed on the message and down came the Devas, Brahma, Vishnu and the Saptarishis, to have darshan. They were promptly stopped by Nandi who asked them all to come after some time, as Shiva was resting. All of them waited. Shiva, when he woke up, was filled with extreme happiness and danced ("Ananda Thandavam"). This day, when the Devas, Brahma, Vishnu, Narada and Saptarishis had Shiva darshan was a Krishnapaksha Trayodasi (Stiravaram, Saturday). This is the Mahapradosham day. Pradhosham, generally, is a significant occasion observed with great piety at all Shiva temples. It is believed that all the Devas & Gods are assembled in the Shiva temples during Pradosham time. Further, the first pradosham was on a Saturday & hence "Sani Pradosham" is even more auspicious.

Thanks to Mr. Narayanan Dharmaraj for letting us know about this unique Shiva temple :) 

Surutapalli temple, Sayana Sivan, lord shiv, Hindu temples etc. 

Mahabharata Audio Series - written and read by Sriram Raghavan

This is a beautiful English narration of Mahabarata by Sriram Raghavan. You can play this to your little  prince and princess like I do. I have a 8 months old and she loves what she hears. For you hearing pleasure here I present Sriram Raghavan's Mahabaratha audio Series. You can listen to such beautiful stories on his youtube channel and get updates from his facebook page .  Also, I will be uploading his videos here. Also leave me your feedback in the comment section.

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Jai Sri Ram!

Boo Varahaswamy Temple, Mysore

Bhoo Varahaswamy Temple is located in a tiny village named Kalhalli on the banks of river Hemavati. This is one of the prominent places near Mysore.  The temple is dedicated to the third incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the Varahaswamy or the wild Boar form.The deity is supposed to have mysterious powers.The idol is 18 feet tall, is monolith made of grey stone.  The god is in a sitting pose with goddess Bhoodevi seated on his left lap.

History: The temple is said to be more than 2500 years.It is also called punyakshetra or holy region where Great sage Gautama performed penance.According to legend king Veera Ballala while he was hunting he got lost in this forest .while he was resting under a tree he saw a unique thing happening in front of his eyes a hunting dog was chasing a rabbit, when they reached a particular spot, the rabbit turned back and started chasing the dog.

Looking at this strange event the king new there was some magical powers in that place.  He dug up the place and he found the diety of Pralaya Varahaswamy hidden under the layers of earth.  The king then built a temple and offered prayers everyday.  Even today you can see the temple which has weathered severe floods and storm to tell the tale.

The river Hemavati flows graciously beside the temple.Though the river appears calm there are strong undercurrents which prevents people from swimming here.  In fact the dept of the river in the centre even till today is not known.During monsoon the water level reaches the temple wall and submerges the adjoining areas.  When the water recedes during the months of April or May “Varaha Jayanthi” is celebrated, it is an annual fair.

How to get there: It is on Bangalore Mysore Highway. The village is 32 kms from Pandupura which comes under KR Pet taluk of Mandya district. KalhaliiGangikere is the nearest bus stop for KSRTC buses and Kalhalli is 2kms from here.

Special Thanks to Raagi Mudhe of karnataka.com