Famous Temples in India

Religious Significance

It so happened that the world became dark when Mother Parvathi covered the eyes of Lord Shiva which are but Sun and Moon in a play. The darkness took the form of a demon. Andhaka means darkness and also ignorance. Life becomes dark due to ignorance. Lord Shiva struck the Andhaka-darkness giant on his head with a club in His hand. The head of the demon began to bleed. Every drop of blood that fell on earth grew into a demon and war continued. Mother Parvathi prevented the blood from falling down by collecting it in a bowl. The blood that fell down became 8 vertical and 8 horizontal lines crosswise and thus made 64 squares. With His power, Lord Shiva created 64 Bhairavas for each square and prevented further production of demons and blessed the Devas in the celestial world. This later came to known as Vasthu Shanti Puja for Bhairavas. This also personifies the destruction of ignorance leading to enlightenment.

Slaying of Andhakasura : 

In the Shiva Purana, when Shiva was meditating on Mount Mandara, Parvati was in a playful mood and covered Shiva's eyes.This caused the whole universe to become covered in darkness. The sweat that oozed out of Parvati's hands due to touching Shiva fell to the ground and created a horrible looking and blind boy. Parvati was terrified on seeing him, but Shiva rebuked her, claiming that since he was born due to their physical contact, he was their child. When the demon king Hiranyaksha performed penance to please Shiva in order to beget a child, Shiva gifted the boy to him and named him Andhaka due to his blindness.

After Hiranyaksha death by Vishnu, Andhaka became the new king, but was not regarded as an Asura since he was born of the Devas. Disowned by majority of his clan, he performed a severe penance to please Brahma. His kingdom was taken over by his cousins, including Prahlada, when he went to the forest to perform penance to Brahma. During his penance he abstained from both water and food while severing his own limbs as an act of desperation to please Brahma. His actions proved successful. A pleased Brahma appeared before him and offered him a boon of his choice.

Andhaka asked Brahma to repair his vision and also asked him to make him immortal. Brahma replied that he could not make him immortal since all that take birth must die, although he could choose the condition of his death. Andhaka asked that he could only be killed if he lusted after a woman who was like a mother. Brahma agreed and granted all his boons. When Andhaka returned to his kingdom, his cousins became fearful of his new power and returned his kingdom as well as their own.

After becoming the Lord of all Asuras, Andhaka fought with the Devas along with his army and conquered heaven. He then proceeded to conquer the Nagas, Gandharvas, Rakshasas, Yakshas and the humans. He thus became the lord of the three worlds. He was a cruel ruler and disrespected the Vedas, the Brahmins and the Devas. Once while on a journey, Andhaka happened to visit Mount Mandara. Charmed by the beauty of the mountain, he decided to stay there and ordered his three generals Duryodhana, Vighasa and Hasti to search for a place suitable to stay.

While searching, his generals found a cave where a hermit was meditating and saw a beautiful woman along with him. They told their master about this, who ordered them to bring the woman to him. The hermit happened to be Shiva and the woman his wife Parvati. When they told the ascetic to hand over the woman to their master, Shiva refused, stating that if their master wanted her, he should take her himself. When his generals informed Andhaka about this, he became furious and proceeded to fight Shiva.

With his army of Asuras, Andhaka fought Nandi and Shiva's Ganas, but were defeated and forced to flee. Andhaka soon returned to battle, which lasted for five hundred years. Vishnu, Brahma and the Devas joined the battle against Andhaka and his army. Andhaka's general Vighasa swallowed all the gods, to which Shiva retaliated by charging with his bull and plowing into the demon. Shukra, the preceptor of Asura, brought the dead Asuras back to life by using his medicinal herb, the Mrtasanjivani. Lord Shiva ordered the Ganas to capture Shukra. When they brought him to Shiva, he swallowed the demon guru.

Andhaka then launched an attack on Indra. Shiva intervened to save Indra and assaulted the demon with his trident. However, whenever Andhaka's blood fell on the ground, a copy of him would spawn. Mother Parvathi caught the blood in a pot. As the lines of blood collected in the pot, it formed a pattern of 64 squares which later became known as the Vaastu Mandala. Lord Shiva manifested 64 Bhairavas, one for each square, to help him in his battle with these demons. This combination and the worship of the 64 Bhairavas became known as Vaastu Shanti Puja. Thus, science of Vaastu originated from this temple.

Finally, Lord Shiva impaled Andhaka with his trident and lifted him thereupon, where he remained for a very long time. Once he had realized his mistake, Andhaka apologised to Shiva, providing a eulogy for the deity. This pleased Shiva, who forgave him and made him the lord of all the Ganas. It is significant to note that this kind of killing is unique to this Veeratta Sthalam because in other seven places Lord Shiva vanquished the demons by pinning them to the ground.

Atta Veerattanam : In Hindu mythology, there are eight special places where it is believed that Lord Shiva vanquished various demons and exhibited acts of bravery. These places are Veeratta Sthalams. In Tamil, this is referred to as Atta Veerattanam (Atta means eight and Veeram means bravery). This is the place where Lord Shiva destroyed the demon Andakasuran. Of the eight Veeratta sthalam, this is the second one and it has significant historical importance and antiquity.