This Kethu Sthalam or the house of mercury had Lord Shiva as the main deity along with his wife Parvati as Soundaryanayaki. Kethu is known as a shadow planet and is personified with the body of a human and the head of a serpent. Born from a blow by Lord Narayana or Vishnu on the head of asura Rahu, during the distribution of amritham or nectar, Kethu is half snake and half human. Also known as Vanagiri, this is one of the most well-known Kethu temples in India. The rajagopuram of the temple is a two-tiered gopuram, surrounded by two prakaram or closed arenas. The temple adorns a shrine of Lord Kethu with a black granite idol of Lord kethu clad in multicolored cloth, in the north prakaram with the idol facing west. He is here represented as a five headed snake with folding hands praying to Lord Shiva who is the main deity of the temple. The temple also has Anugraha Vinayaka, an idol of Vinayaka. There are shrines of many other deities such as Subramanya, Gajalakshmi, Bhairavar and Ambal. Kethu is worshiped here for nullifying the ill effects of unfavourable position of Kethu in one’s astrological birth chart. Kethu Dosha and Naga Dosha are said to bring hurdles in one’s marriage, child birth and medical issues in digestive system, neurological system and reproductive system. Devotees offer Kollu sadham or horsegram rice along with red flowers and light seven lamps to worship Lord Kethu at the temple. The temple is refferd by Appar, the saivite poet, but having no mentions of the deity, it is not categorized as a Padal petra stalam.
Located in the Cauvery delta belt, the small village of Keezhaperumpallam, at a distance of 2 km from Poompuhar in Tamilnadu, boasts of Nagannathaswamy temple as one of the most famous Hindu temples in South india. It is about 98 km from Thanjavur on the Thanjavur – Poompuhar road.
The temple is famous for first feeding of rice to infant children
Kethu, the south lunar node, is said to represent the intersection point of Sun and Moon in the celestial sphere. He is said to be the Master of three nakshatras, Ashvini, Magha and Moola. The Kethu sthalam holds significant religious importance because the Navagrahas have an evident impact on a person’s life, as per their positions in the horoscope. Lord Shiva is known to have given the right to all navagrahas to grant all wishes to their devotees. Kethu, the Navagraha that brings spiritual upliftment also has both good and bad effects. A good position of Kethu brings wisdom, property, land, prosperity, gold, family happiness and collateral and unanticipated gains. While a bad position of Kethu brings Digestive, neurological and reproduction issues. It also appears as naga dosha and kethu dosha in one’s horoscope. The devotees hence worship in this Kethu temple by offering horsegram rice, red flowers, lily, colored clothes and lighting lamps, to please Kethu and negate the malefic effects of the planet.
The temple is open to devotees for darshan in two time slots:
6:00 am – 1:00 pm
4:00 pm – 8:00 pm
6 poojas are performed daily between 6:00 am and 8:00 pm.
6:00 am Vrusha Kaala
8:00 am Kaala sandi
12:00 noon Uchi kalam
5:30 pm Saaya Ratchai
7:00 pm Renu Kaala
8:00 pm Arthajaamam
Each puja is done in four steps involving Abhisheka, Alangaram, Neivethanam and Deepa Aradani which denote sacred bath, decoration, offering of food and lighting of lamp.
According to Puranas, the temple has its origin, from the time of Amrith Manthan, when Lord Vasuki was used as a rope to churn the ocean and extract Amrith or nectar. During the extensive churning, Lord Vasuki, the Serpent God, got weary and split venom accidentally in the ocean. This terrified the Devas who immediately addressed this issue to Lord Shiva. In order to avoid the risk of the venom spreading in the entire ocean, Lord Shiva swallowed the poison and saved the impact. Lord Vasuki, saddened by this guilt, performed penance and pleaded forgiveness from Lord Shiva. Moved by his honest penance, Lord Shiva gave him a darshan. Lord Vasuki requested Lord Shiva to stay there forever and hence this place came to be known as the place of Naganathar (Lord shiva named after Naga or the serpent)
The temple was built in reverence to Naganathar by the Cholas. Many restorations have been made since then, and the present mansion is said to be built in the 16th century by Nayaks.
Built in the Dravidian style architecture, this temple has a two-tiered gopuram, surrounded by two large courtyards. The North Prakaram has the shrine of Kethu with a beautiful black granite idol in his sepent head-human body form, facing west and standing in Namaskaram paying respect to the idol of main deities Nagannathaswamy and Saundaryanayaki. There are many shrines inside the temple, that of Lord Vinayaka, Subrmanya, Gajalakshmi, Bhairavar and Ambal. Beautiful carvings make the temple look beautiful and worth a sight.
The temple is currently under the administration of Hindu Religious and Chariatable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamilnadu.
By Road: The village of Kazheeperumpallam is well connected via buses from various nearby cities such as Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Madurai, Kumbakonam, Bangalore, Ernakulam, Ooty and Mysore.
By Rail: The Mayiladuthurai station is the closest station at a distance of about 24 km from the temple.
By Air: Thanjavur Airport is the closest airport to the temple. One can then take private taxi or bus service to reach Kazheeperumpallam.
Thanjavur is the best place to stay, if one wants to visit the Nagannathaswamy temple.
Many hotels are available, some of them being:
Hotel Star residency
Hotel Parisutham
Laksmi Hotel
The temple performs rituals of somavaram and sukravaram every week and pradosham every fortnight. Amavasi, Kirithigai, Poornima and Saturthi are celebrated every month. The festivals of Mahashivratri, Margazi Thiruvadirai, Panguni Uthiram and Vasuki Utsavam are also celebrated with much enthusiasm. A special celebration is perfomed during rahu and kethu star transition, every 18 months, called Kethu Peyarchi.
Keezhperumpallam Naganatha Swamy Temple is the well-known ‘Parihara Sthalam‘ to get rid of the Kethu Dosham. Devotees believe that certain malefic effects caused by Kethu such as Naga Dosham, Kethu Dosham, marriage obstacles, childlessness, property disputes, lack of property, defects of the former birth, are redressed when they offer prayers at Keezhperumpallam Naganatha Swamy Temple.
This temple is a must visit to one and all as we all are spiritual beings in a human body and strive for spiritual awareness and enlightenment. It is a temple of salvation as Ketu is said to liberate one from attachments and ignorance.
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