Thiruchengode Arthanareeswarar Chengodan temple - Erode and around

THIRUCHENGODE ARTHANAREESWAR CHENGODAN TEMPLE

I was at Erode on 19 9 2013 and proceeded by road to Thiruchengode and had the blessings of the Arthanareeswarar. On the way I could capture the picture of River Cauvery from my mobile.  The hills of Thiruchengode too presented with all its glory of nature and could capture a few shots in the mobile including the one as seen from the road of the hill.  The hill is not easy to climb by the steps (for elderly ones) and reach the top where the Lord is and a road has been laid around the hill and the Temple board also have bus facilities which start from the east street near temple car shed.  I was told that on the amavasya day the bus service starts as early as 5 AM but on other days only at 9 AM.  But on the day when I was there, the bus started at 9 am and immediately followed by 2 more bus trips as I had darshan. The bus stops for 45 minutes to enable devotees to have darshan and take the return trip back to the foot of the hill and through the Thiruchengode bus stop.

              The temple is supposed to have the history of the fight between vayu and adishesha and small fragments of himalayas falling at different places and the one with the blood stains of vasuki with the red colour was termed as chengode and with the abode of Lord Arthanatheeswarar came to be known as Thiruchengode.  There are other names also to the hill such as: Aravagiri, Nagachalam, Idapagiri and kakagiri.  There are other stories too attached to the hill and the temple here: One such is that Kamadhenu got 5 hills from Lord Siva and they are Kanjamalai, Sankagiri, Pushpagiri, Ooratchikottai and Nagamalai or thiruchengode. Kanjamalai is near Salem and Ooratchikottai near Bhavani. Sankagiri is about 13 kms from Thiruchengode and Pushpagiri is between Thiruchengode and Sankagiri.  It is also believed that the one which fell of from the war of adishesha and Vayu is a male naga hill and the one brought by Kamadhenu is  a female naga hill and thus these are united like the Lord Siva and Uma.  

ஆதி யாயவ னாருமிலாதவன் போது சேர்புனை நீண்முடிப் புண்ணியன் பாதி பெண்ணுறு வாகிப் பரஞ்சுடர் சோதியுட்சோதியாய் நின்ற சோதியே -தேவாரம்
Thus goes the Tamil Hymn Thevaram of Thirugnanasambander on the deity of Thiruchengode Lord Arthanareeswarar.

The temple atop the hill, Thiruchengode has the following sannadhis: On entering just before entering the Moolasthanam Arthanatheeswarar and by the side of the Dwarapalakas on the southern side on a basement is the Siddhi Vinayagar and Mundhi vinayagar.  By the side of the vinayagars is the Navagraha and after this while entering the eastern side is the Naari Ganapathy and proceeding further is the Moolavar Arthanatheeswarar.    Deepa Aradhana is shwon clearly bringing out the arthanareeswara swaroopa duly explained by the archakas.  Opposite Mandapa is the place in which the urchavar can be seen.  The temple of Arthanareewara on top of the hill measures north to south 95 feet and east to west 170 ft.   

                Unique feature of the temple is the mandapams 

carrying exquisitely sculpted pillars which includes sculptures of Veerabhadran, Oordva Tandavamurthy, Alangattu Kali, Korathan and Koravi and a variety of other figures in stone.  

                 To the right side as you enter is the sannidhi of Lord Balasubramanya and the beautiful vigraha is facing east. He is holding a "vel" in the right hand and on the left hand holds the flag of "seval". He is being called as SengottuvelanOn the northern side  and just behind the Rajagopuram, on a pedastal is housed the adisesha with 5 heads and the linga under the head is beautifullly sculpted. This is a place in which Adisesha worshipped Siva in Kaliyuga, vermillion (Kunkumam) is used for the archana of adisesha.   On the eastern side and facing south is Dakshinamurthy. The sthala viruksha is iluppai tree.