Uthrapathiswaraswamy Temple is a

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

in Tiruchenkattankudi in

Nagapattinam district Nagapattinam District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Nagapattinam district was carved out by bifurcating the erstwhile composite Thanjavur district on 19 October 1991. The town of Nagapattinam is the district ...

in the

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

state of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Though it is dedicated to the Hindu god

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

, it is more famous for its

Ganesha Ganesha or Ganesh (, , ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva (Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions ...

(Ganapati) icons. The main Ganesha shrine depicts him with a human head, instead of the elephant head he is usually depicted with. Vatapi Ganapati, the other Ganesha icon, was installed in a smaller shrine at a later date.

Names and legend

The Shiva temple was known as Siruthonda Ganapatishvara, named over Siruthondar. The name "Ganapatishvara", which also gives the town his alternate name "Ganapatishvaram", denotes Shiva as "Lord of Ganesha" and alludes to the legend that Ganesha killed a demon called Gajamukhasura and then worshipped his father Shiva here.Ayyar p. 402 According to another legend, a king ruling Rameswaram region prayed to Lord Shiva for child boon and performed a yajna. Through his voice, Lord assured the king that Ambica would be his daughter. When the king set out on hunting, he found four female children, brought up them as his own daughters. When they attained age, king got married them to Lord Shiva. These are the Ambicas in four places – Sarivar Kuzhali in Rameswaram temple, Vaaitha Tirukuzshal Nayaki in Tiruchengattangudi, Karundhar Kuzhali in Tirupugalur and Vandar Kuzhali in Tirumarugal. They also bear the common name Shoolikambal, the ones who help women through pregnancy and delivery. In all these four places Shrines of Ambika are hosted in separate shrines.

Vatapi Ganapati

The icon of Vatapi Ganapati is currently enshrined in a secondary shrine in the temple complex of Uthrapathiswaraswamy Temple. As per oral tradition, the icon of Vatapi Ganapati was brought booty from the

Chalukya The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...

n capital of Vatapi (presently known as

Badami Badami, formerly known as Vātāpi (Sanskrit: from ''āpi'', ‘friend, ally’; ‘having the wind (vāta) as an ally’; Kannada script: ವಾತಾಪಿ), is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district o ...

in northern

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

) by

Paranjothi Paranjothi (), popularly known as Sirruthondar was an army general of the great Pallava king Narasimavarman I who ruled South India from 630–668 CE. He also led the Pallava army during the invasion of Vatapi in 642 CE. In the later years of ...

, the commander-in-chief of the

Pallava The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The Pallavas played a crucial role in shaping in particular southern Indian history and heritage. The ...

king

Narasimhavarman I Narasimhavarman I was a Pallava emperor who reigned from 630 CE to 668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the works started by Mahendravarman in Mamallapuram. During his reign, the famous Pancha Rathas ...

(reign: 630–668 CE), following the conquest of Pallavas over the Chalukyas (642 CE). The icon was placed in Paranjothi's birthplace Tiruchenkattankudi. Later, Paranjothi renounced his violent ways and became a

Shaiva Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in ...

monk known as Siruthondar, is venerated as a Nayanar saint today.Catlin in Brown pp. 146, 150 However, no written records substantiate the oral tradition; the Ganesha icon is missing from list of war booty brought by the Pallava general. The famous ''

Vatapi Ganapatim "Vatapi Ganapatim", also known as "Vatapi ganapatim bhajeham" or "Vatapi ganapatim bhaje", is a Sanskrit ''kriti'' song by the South Indian poet-composer Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775–1835), one of the "Trinity of Carnatic music". The panegyrica ...

'' hymn is dedicated to this icon.

Gallery

File:Tiruchenkattangudi - 1.jpg, Vatapi Ganapati File:Tiruchenkattangudi - 2.jpg, Temple structure

Notes

References

* * * {{Nagapattinam district Shiva temples in Nagapattinam district Ganesha temples Padal Petra Stalam