Ekambareswarar Temple, Kanchipuram

S Balakrishnan *

Kanchipuram Town in Tamil Nadu attracts two types of visitors – the women flock there to buy silk saris, while the devotees congregate to worship in the countless temples there. Kanchipuram, or Kanchi in short, is one of India’s seven sacred moksha sthals where one can obtain salvation from mortal life. The Ekambareswarar / Ekambaranathar Temple is one among this Temple Town’s countless temples.

As we approach this 1300-year-old temple through its main southern gateway, the majestic southern tower (raja gopuram) astonishes us with its 192 ft. height. This tower is the tallest southern tower of any temple in Tamil Nadu.

Originally a brick temple, it was later constructed with granite. Kings of various dynasties like the Pallavas, Cholas, Nayaks have helped in its construction/expansion. The southern raja gopuram was erected by Krishnadeva Rayar, the mighty Vijayanagara Emperor, during 1509.

As per the temple sthala purana (history), Goddess Parvathi playfully covered the eyes of Lord Shiva once. Utter darkness enveloped the world. Shiva opened his third eye to redeem the situation. Parvathi was told to do penance for this wrong karma. Born as Kamakshi, she did penance on the banks of Vegavathi River under a mango tree by creating a Shivlinga with sand and worshipping the Prithvi Shivlinga (prithvi=earth).

To test Her devotion, Shiva created a flood in the river. As the water approached, Kamakshi (Parvathi) embraced the sand Shivlinga to save it from being washed off. Touched by her devotion, Shiva married Her.

As Shiva was emotionally moved by Her devotional embracement, He is known here as ‘Thazhuva kuzhainthaar’(He who melted in Her embrace). As Kamakshi embraced the Prithvi Lingam, her bangles pressed against it; this mark, it is said, can still be seen on the sand Lingam which, though, is covered in silver sheet.

Accordingly, this sacred site is hailed as the Prithvi Sthal, one of the five Pancha Bootha (Five Elements) Sthals. The other temples are – Kalahasthi – Vaayu (air) sthal, Thiruvanaikkaaval Jambukeswara (water), Chidambaram Natarajar (ether/sky), Thiruvannamalai Arunachaleswara (fire). While Kalahasthi is in Andhra, the other four sthals are in Tamil Nadu.

As per another legend, as Parvathi was doing penance, Shiva sent fire to test her devotion. She prayed to Her brother Maha Vishnu who took the moon from Shiva’s head and directed its cool rays towards Parvathi. Therefore, there is a separate shrine for Maha Vishnu in this Saivaite temple where He is worshipped as Nilathingal Thundam Perumal (Vishnu who broke the Moon).

Some unique features of Ekambareswarar temple are:
1)- It is one among the 276 ‘paadal petra Shiva sthals’, as it has been praised by Saivaite saint poets in the Saivaite canon.
2) - Similarly, the Vishnu shrine within this Saivaite temple (which by itself is unique) is one among the 108 ‘Divya Desam Vaishnavaite Temples’ as it has been hailed by Vaishnavaite saint poets in their 4,000 prayer songs.
3) - The shiv lingam is originally created out of sand. Therefore, the ablutions are done to its pedestal only.
4) – There is no shrine for Shiva’s consort Parvathi, as is the custom. Instead, the Kamakshi Amman Temple that is situated one km apart is considered as His consort’s separate shrine.
5) – The 192-ft-tall Southern tower is the tallest southern temple tower in Tamil Nadu.
6) – It is the Privthi Sthal among the Pancha Bootha sthals.
8) – The Ekambaranathar temple spreads across 25 acres, one of the largest in India.
9) – The temple’s thousand pillared hall is a notable feature.
10) – The sthala viruksham (the temple tree) is a 3,500-year-old Mango tree under which Parvathi did penance. The tissue-cultured tree still bears fruits which have four different tastes representing the four Vedas, it is said. Well, I am not the privileged one to have tasted it.
11) – In the temple’s inner courtyard, there is a Shivlinga with 1008 Lingas carved on it, hence revered as Sahasra Lingam.
12) - Another architectural wonder is that the sun rays falls directly on the Shiva linga every 19, 20 and 21 of the Panguni month (March-April) which is when the most important Panguni Uthiram Brahmotsavam festival of the Temple is celebrated for 13 days.

Twelve yearly festivals are celebrated in Ekambareswarar Temple, including Maha Shivrathri. The temple is open from 5.30 am to 9 pm with a break at noon.

As I visited this Ekambareswarar (ek=one, aam=mango, Eswar=God) temple, I was reminded of the Lingaraja Temple in Bhubaneshwar which is also considered as the Ekambara Kshetra as the swayambu Shivling was originally found under a mango tree.

Another similarity is that Bhubaneswar is also a Temple Town! Kanchipuram is 65 kms from Chennai and is well connected by bus service; boarding and lodging are available at different rates. Ha, never ever forget to buy at least one Kanchipuram silk sari for your beloved.