Gajendra Moksha is believed to have happened at Kapisthalam.
Vishnu gave darshan to Gajendra Elephant,crocodile & gave them salvation.Temple pond Kapila Theertham which exists even now.
Gajendra Varadhar Temple, Kapisthalam - Near Kumbakonam,TN - one of the 108 Divya Desams. 1/n
The Main Deity is Gajendra Varada (Adimoolan).Lord Vishnu is in reclining posture, Bhujanga Sayanam facing east direction.
The temple is believed to have been built by Cholas of the late 8th century AD, with later contributions from Vijayanagar kings & Madurai Nayaks.
King Indradyumnan -a great devotee of Bhagwan Vishnu.Once Sage Duruvasa visited his place,but as king was in prayer couldn't welcome him.Angry sage cursed king to be born as elephant as he was proud his bhakti.
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King apologized to the sage for his negligence & moved by his innocence, the sage wished that he would continue to be a Vishnu devotee as an elephant & that Bhagwan Vishnu would relieve him & bestow salvation. Accordingly, the King was born as an elephant, Gajendra.
4/n
Around same time,Koo hoo a Gandharva, playfully pulled the leg of Sage Devala while he was bathing.The angry Sage cursed him to be born as a crocodile.The Gandharva apologized, the Sage said that he would attain mukti by MahaVishnu's
Sudarshana chakra.
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Gajendra went into the pond to fetch flowers for Mahavishnu. A short while, Gajendra felt his leg being dragged from under the water.Gajendra tried to free himself but in vain.He realised that a huge crocodile had caught hold of his leg and was pulling him under water.
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However much he tried, Gajendra could not free himself from the strong grip of the crocodile.After a prolonged struggle, Gajendra realized that it will be a futile effort. He then prayed to BhagwanVishnu and surrendered to the God & cried calling “Adimoolam” to save him.
7/n
Vishnu came to rescue on Garuda and sent his Sudarshana Chakra to fend off the crocodile. Both the elephant & crocodile turned to their human form by the grace of Vishnu. Since Vishnu appeared here to save the elephant Gajendra,he came to be known as Gajendara Varadar.
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All pics credit to respective owners.
Source text - Temple Purohit, Templesinindiainfo website
Tulasidas was jailed as he refused to bow down to Mughal Ruler Akbar.
Akbar came know from his ministers about the miracle of reviving a dead man by Tulasidas.
So Akbar had summoned Tulsi Das to his court.He was asked to perform a miracle there by Akbar.
Tulasi Das told he doesn't know to perform any miracle,he only knows Bhagwan Shri Ram. So,Akbar imprisoned TulasiDas at Fatehpur Sikhri.He composed Hanuman Chalisa for forty days & on 40th day, suddenly an army of big monkeys descended upon Fatehpur Sikhri.
ArudraDarisanam/Thiruvathrai-an important hindu festival celebrated mostly in TamilNadu & Kerala.Shiva as Nataraja performed Ananda Thandav for Vyaghrapada&Patanjali Rishi
Do you know why Kali is made as Naivedyam/offering for Bhagwan Shiva on Thiruvathrai..see Story #Thread 👇
It is related to incidents happened in the life of a devotee of Bhagwan Shiva - Senthanar who lived in Chidambaram. He used to sell firewoods for his earnings.Using the money earned by selling firewood,he used to feed atleast one sivanadiyar once a day,before having his food.
Bhagwan Shiva decided to test devotion of Senthanar.One day it rained heavily &all the firewood he got wet.As firewood was wet he couldn't sell.So he didn't have much cash to buy rice for that day's meal.He managed to prepare Kali with
Chandeshwara/Chandikeshwara is regarded as custodian of Shiva Temple's wealth&most of Shiva temples in South India has separate sannathi for him.
His bhakti for Bhagwan Shiva elevated him as one of foremost among Nayanmars.
He gave importance to Shiva Pooja&protection of cows.
There are series of paintings, illustrating the #story of Chandikeshwar in the premises of
Sri Sathiyagireeswarar #Temple at Seinganur,near Kumbakonam,TN
Chandikeshwara's birth name
is Vichara sarman.He was born in the village of Senganur on the banks of River Manni.
Story 33- it is about how Bhagwan Shiva as Sundareswarar gave Astama siddi Upadesham to Karthigai Pengal
அட்டமா சித்தி உபதேசித்த படலம்
Once 6 Karthigai Pengal/women - Nitharthani, Aparakhendi, Magendi, Vardhayenthi, Amba & Tula who took care & brought up Karthikeya/
Subrahmanya from time of his birth came to Mount Kailash.
At that time Bhagwan Shiva was sitting under a tree & Devi Parvati was also there.
Karthigai Pengal worshiped Bhagwan Shiva and requested him to give Astama siddi Upadesham.Bhagwan Shiva advised Karthigai Pengal to worship Devi Parvati to realise the 8 (Ashta) great mystic powers.But due to ill fate,Karthigai Pengal ignored the words of Bhagwan Shiva.
Bhagwan Shiva as Guru sitting under Kurunta tree giving Upadesham to Manikkavasagar (Vadhavooran)
Athmanatha Swamy Kovil,
Avudaiyarkoil,TN - Dedicated to Shiva - was built by Manikkavasagar who was earlier a minister of Raja Arimarthana Pandyan
Also known as Thirupendhurai Kovil.Manikkavasagar(Vadhavooran) had built this temple with
money that the Raja had entrusted him for purchasing Arabian horses.Vandhavooran was a shiva bhakt & was thinking of finding a Guru to get proper Upadesham.
He had to pass by a place called Tirupperunthurai.As he was passing by place,he heard chants of Vedic hymns & was drawn to it.He saw an old man sitting under a Kuruntha tree,that very moment he felt, that person was his Guru.
Story 31- is about how Bhagwan Shiva granted undepleting pouch of gold to Kulabhooshana Pandyan & about importance of vedic rituals.
உலவாக்கிழி அருளிய படலம்
Kulabhooshana Pandyan ruled Madurai Kingdom & was a great Shiva Bhakt.He took care of people needs & all were happy.He was very proud about himself &started to ignore & disrespect the brahmins who performed yagnas & vedic rituals. As a result,the rainfall declined.There was water
shortage.So people were suffering for water & food.Also no yagnas were performed.People started migrating to other places.Pandyan was not happy with the happenings.He went to Alayam &worshipped Sundareswarar to help his people as they are suffering because of drought.