Famous Temples in India

Religious Significance

The temple is supposed to have been built by Manickavasakar. Being the Prime Minister, he spent all the money given to him by the Varaguna Pandya-II king to buy Horses in building the temple. As he was bereft of money, Lord Shiva displayed one of his Thiruvilayadal (holy prank) by transforming Foxes to Horses and once they were given to the king became Foxes. Saint Manickavasakar, then heading the cabinet of Pandya king, came to this place Tirupperunturai, now Avudaiyarkoil to buy Horses. He heard sounds of Shivagama Mantras there and saw a Guru sitting there. The Prime Minister fell at the feet of the lord and begged him to teach him wisdom. While learning, Manickavasakar plunged into deep meditation. When he opened his eyes, he found his teacher absent in the place and understood that his Guru was none other than Lord Shiva himself. He spent all the money he carried for buying Horses in building a temple for his Guru - Shiva and dedicated himself in the service of lord. As the Saint failed to carry out the order of the king, he ordered the Saint to be arrested and jailed. Lord Shiva converted the Foxes in the forests into Horses, brought them to the king as instructed by Manickavasakar. After delivering the Horses, lord went away. However, at midnight, the Horses became Foxes and started howling. Angry king, made Manickavasakar stand on the sands of Vaigai river in Madurai under scorching Sun. To teach a lesson to the Pandya who acted against his devotee, lord made Vaigai flow in spate. King ordered to strengthen the banks to avoid a breach. Lord also came to Madurai as a coolie for the repair work. The king struck him with a cane for not doing the work properly. The blow only fell on the king and every one in Madurai leaving its scar on them.

The king came to know, all that happened was Lord Shiva’s design, fell at the feet of Manickavasakar and begged his pardon. Avudaiyarkoil was the ground for this Thiruvilayadal Purana story (an epic by Paranjothi Munivar speaking of the great plays enacted by Lord Shiva for his devotees). Initially, only a platform like thing was built and offering of rice was kept on the platform. The steam was considered as god (Shiva) for him. It is the same platform which still present inside the shrine and the same rituals are still followed. In the later years, Pandya kings extended the temple with beautiful sculptures and pillars. The minister Thiruvadhavoorar thus became a great devotee of Lord Shiva, and got the name Manickavasakar. He wrote the famous "Thiruvasagam" in Avudaiyar Koil temple. In times past, a Pandya king brought 300 priests from Benaras to attend the temple services here and to honour them he wanted to present gold brocade shawls to them. While distributing, he found one in excess and he searched for that priest in the crowd. An aged priest came forward and claimed that robe. On the next day, the king was astonished to find that garment, wrapped round the deity. Atmanadha was the priest who claimed that excess robe. The king had given the priests lands of sustenance. But in later days a Kurumba chief Lundakshan seized those lands by might. The then reigning king wanted some proof to show that the land belonged to the priests At that distance of time, no papers were available. Lundakshan merrily remarked that the proof that the land was his say in his intimate knowledge of the land, “Even if you dig to the length of a palm tree, you won’t get a drop of water” he said. Just then an aged priest came forward and struck the earth with a crow bar. In the first stroke itself water gushed out. The king restored the land to the priests. It is needless to say that the aged priest was none else but Atmanadha.