During the Maha Pralaya floods calamity destroying the
world, Lord Shiva clothed with 64 arts, using a boat of Ohm Moola Mantra was
travelling on the flood waters with Mother Uma.
He saw this place-Sirkali unaffected by the floods and alive. He chose this place and stayed with the name
Thoni Appar-God with the boat. Mother
took the name Tiru Nilai Nayaki. Lord
Brahmma worshipped Lord Shiva here in the form of Linga-Brahmma Pureeswarar, as
Sattinathar destroying pride and arrogance.
Lord graces here in three forms as as Brahmma, Vishnu and Shiva. They granted darshan to child saint
Gnanasambandar. The place is revered as
Gurumurtham. Lord Sattai Nathar is in
the top tier blessing devotees with Lord Bhairava attributes.
Lord Vishnu had to face adverse dosha for punishing emperor
Mahabali. To prove that Shiva and Vishnu
are not different but one, Shiva wore the skin of Vishnu as a shirt. Mother Mahalakshmi misunderstood this as
Shiva had destroyed Vishnu and stopped wearing flowers in Her head. As a custom in the temple, women coming to
this shrine avoid wearing flowers in their heads. Men should come to the shrine without
shirts. As Lord Shiva is the supreme
head of all Laws-Sattam in Tamil, He is praised as Satta Nathar. Hence, people involved in litigation seek His
blessing to win their cases.
Sirkali is the place, where Lord taught spiritual lessons to
Mother Parvathi during the Maha Pralaya period.
This is the 11th Shakti Peetas where Mother graces as
Mahalakshmi. Worshipping here relieves
the devotee from pride and arrogance.
Sirkali is the only temple where Brahmma-Saraswthi, Shiva-Parvathi and
Vishnu-Mahalakshmi and the procession deity bless the devotees from the sanctum
sanctorum as in Mount
Kailash.
Sirkali is also a place of Lord Bhairava importance as in
Kasi-Varanasi. Lord Bhairava graces in the
temple in His eight forms as Asithanga Bahairava, Guru Bhairava, Chanda
Bhairava, Krotha Bhairava, Unmatha Bhairava, Samhara Bhairava, Peeshana
Bhairava and Akhala Bhairava. The place
is as great as Kasi. Devotees cannot
enter the shrine wearing shirts. Special
pujas are performed here on Ashtami days-eighth day of new moon or full moon
fortnight.
The Jeeva Samadhi – monument of Sattai Muni
Siddha one of the 18 siddhas is in the temple
with a peeta-stage above. People can
have the darshan of Lord from this platform. Abhishek is performed here on
Fridays. Punugu-a cosmetic paste is
applied at 12.00 p.m with garland of Vada-Vadamala. Pulse porridge is offered as nivedhana.
Sage Romasa performed penance in Mount Kailash
on Lord Shiva. He prayed to Lord that He
should grant the Kailash darshan to people of South. Meantime, a contest arose between Vayu and
Adisesha about their might. Adisesha
covered the whole Kailash. Vayu could
not move the mount. At the request of
Devas, Adisesha slightly raised one of his heads to yield in to Vayu. Thus a small part of the mount was brought to
this place by 20 birds. A king Kalavithu
by name was sad as he had no child. He
came to this Chinna Kayilai-Small Kailash, worshipped Lord and got his boon
realized.
This is a three tier hill temple. Lord Brahmma Pureeswarar and Mother Tirumalai
Nayaki bless the devotees from the base temple.
This is praised as Lingamurtham.
Six pujas are performed here a day.
Lord Brahmma became proud thinking that He was greatest among the
Murthis. To teach Him a lesson, Lord
made him forget the Pranava Mantra.
Realizing His folly, Brahmma worshipped Lord Shiva here and got his
memory restored. As Brahmma worshipped
here, the place is known as Brahmmapuram and Lord as Brahmma Pureeswarar.
In the middle temple Mother Uma and Lord Maheswarar bless
the devotees. He is also praised as
Thoni Appar. Four pujas are performed in
this temple. This part of hill is known
as Thoni Malai. |