The Lotus Stem Lingam - Chola King's Discovery

Close your eyes and think about Shiv Ling. Well, As soon as we think about a Shiv Ling/Lingam the image that strikes our mind is this,

Image For Representation Purpose Only

Right??

There are thousands of temples spread across our country dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Maa Shakthi. Many temples are infamous worldwide and are also recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage sites. India is not only a place to the oldest temples in the world but also an abode to the most mysterious and miraculous ones. 

The reason why I asked you to visualise Shivlingam is 99% of them would have visualised the above image or any specific Shivling that's close to your heart. We have seen many Shivlings from humongous ones to smaller ones, each one would be in a different shape.

Most Shivlings are made out of Granite, Marble, Panchaloha, and even made out of precious stones, like Emerald. The list goes on and on we do not know how many hidden treasures have to be unearthed in India, that's the speciality of this Land. Let me take you through a temple which was built by The Cholas in a very small village in Thanjavur. 

Perumagalur is the village I write about, this is a panchayat town in Thanjavur District, again Thanjavur is the Capital of The Great Chola Empire whose history speaks through temples and inscription in this land. According to the locals and history, this village Perumagalur and Raja Raja Cholan have got connections, it is said that it is named Perumagalur because Raja Raja Cholan gave it as dowry for his elder daughter's marriage.  

Sri Somanathar Temple -  The Lotus Stem Lingam

Yes, you heard it right, its "The Lotus Stem Lingam". This temple is dedicated to Lod Shiva who is called here Somanatheshwarar and his consort Goddess Sundarambigai (Goddess Parvathi). Which is said to be built by a small chieftain under Chola territory. The main deity of this temple is Suyambu Lingam (Self-manifested Shiva Lingam). 

It is said that this village had a Kalyani (Holy Tank) which every temple would have in their premises, and in the middle of the Kalyani, there was a beautiful Lotus that would attract anyone. The Chola King when he came rounds to this village the elephant on which he was travelling, the elephant tried plucking the Lotus as soon as it was uprooted the water of the Kalyani turned Reddish, just like blood floated. 

Image For Representation Purpose Only

When the water turned red, the Chola king sensed something might be there in the bottom. He immediately dived inside the Kalyani and traced down to the stem he found the last part of the Lotus stem was in the form of Shiva Lingam. The king hugged the Lingam and with happy tears and apologised to the Lord. It is also believed that when the King hugged the lord the jewels he was wearing compressed on the stem which got imprinted on the Stem Lingam, and even now those imprints could be seen.

The Chola king apologised to the lord and later he built a small temple to Lord Shiva and his Consort Parvathi Devi.  There are other fascinating stories about this temple. During that era when a girl child is considered a "Bane", devotees visiting this temple seek a specific "Boon" from Lord Somanathar. That is parents worship him for getting daughters, engrossing isn't it??? 

In August 2016, Ten ancient Panchaloha (A mixture of 5 metals used to mould statues) idols were unearthed near the Somanathar Temple, the statues include two and a half feet Lord Shiva and Parvathy Statue, Lord Ganesha, Natarajar (Dancing Form of Lord Shiva) etc. These statues were noticed when the workers were excavating the ground to lay the water supply lines. Later these statues were relocated to the Taluk Office.  

Let me narrate how I got to know about this temple, was through my friend named SS who is from this village narrated this story which caught my attention.

The temple is in a very bad condition which needs a lot of renovation to be done, though it's under the control of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR and CE). The villagers and their relatives in and out of the district are chipping in their own money for the restoration of the Temple.

Hope this comes under the Government's desk, such ancient temples cannot go under the ground.

Many stories like how this place got the name Perumagalur, and this temple also relates to Puranas as well different views etc, so would visit this place and Update the Blog in detail.

Thank You!!!

Jai Hind!!!