Famous Temples in India

Religious Significance

LEGEND 1 - The legend of this temple involves Lord Maha Vishnu and Mahabali Chakravarthy - the grandson of the Vishnu devotee Prahlada. It is believed that Mahabali was a rat in his previous birth. While eating the ghee from a lamp in this temple’s sanctum, it incidentally raised the lamp’s wicks which was about to burn out. Pleased that the rat had lit a lamp in the temple, Lord Shiva granted the rat a boon that it will be reborn in a family of Asura (demon) kings. This is how Mahabali Chakravarthy came into existence. Mahabali was very charitable by nature. He would be ready to offer assistance to anyone in need of help. The celestial gods were very jealous of him and they sought the help of Lord Maha Vishnu to bring about his downfall. Lord Maha Vishnu took the avtar of “Vamana Brahmmachari” to destroy Mahabali. Vamana approached Mahabali seeking three feet of land which he readily offered. Lord Maha Vishnu then took his Thiruvikrama avatar and measured the entire earth with a single step of his feet. His second step covered the entire space. He then asked Mahabali what he had to offer for the third feet. Left with no other option, Mahabali politely offered his head. Pleased with his devotion, Lord Maha Vishnu pushed him down towards the underworld (“Pathalam”) and made him one of the “Chiranjeevis” - the immortals. It is believed that Lord Maha Vishnu came to this place as a bachelor (Brahmachari), and worshiped Lord Shiva at the end of his “Vaamana Avathar”, to seek respite from his “Brahmhathi dosham”. Since Vaamana was of small stature and he would not have been able to see Lord Shiva face, Lord Shiva took a smaller form and appeared inside a pit (pit is called “kuzhi” in Tamil) to enable Maha Vishnu to worship him. Since Lord Maha Vishnu worshipped the lord here as a bachelor (bachelor means “Maani” in Tamil) and since the lord appeared inside a pit (kuzhi), this place is called “Thiru Manikkuzhi” (“Thiru” is a respectful prefix).

LEGEND 2 - Another legend associated with this place is that Lord Shiva saved a North Indian merchant called Athri from thieves. Hence the lord here is also praised as “Sri Udhavi Nayakar” and the Goddess Parvathy is called “Sri Udhavi Nayagi” (Udhavi means help in Tamil). This place was also earlier known as Udhavi. This has been mentioned in the stone inscriptions present in this temple. Saint Thirugnanasambanthar has referred to this place as “Udhavi Maanikuzhi” in his hymn of this temple.

LEGEND 3 - There is another legend which states that this temple was raised by Lord Suryan (Sun God) to perform his poojas to Lord Shiva. This story is told in Bhagavatha purana. The sthala puranam also says that Lord Dakshinamurthy here was worshiped by the Naga Devars and they were blessed with his discourses.