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HAVE A NICE DAY!
Salem-Sri Sugavaneswara Swamy Temple
Salem-Sri Sugavaneswara Swamy Temple-8
sri.s.v.varadarajan
In the Linga idol, the back portion has two divisions and the front side 'Somasundara' appears in a united form.In the Nataraja's shrine, we find find the Urchava Moorthy in a beautiful form and on both sides of this, the idols of Patanjali, Vyagrapathar sculptured beautifully. Suka Muni's figure has been carved nicely here. In the muruga sannadhi, the deities of the Arupadai Veedu temple are carved out and this gives us a feeling of having visited six temples even from here itself. On the pillars behind the Nandi statue, we see stone carvings of two ladies holding a lamp in their hands. There are 80 pillars inside the temple and 20 pillars outside. There is an idol of Devi with her four sons having the face of an ox and this idol seems to have been excavated and preserved here in a seperate enclosure. This deity is called 'Jeshta Devi'
In this Eswara temple,daily Poojas are performed five times and aradhanas done at Six o'clock in the morning, 11 o'clock in the noon, at 5.30 in the evening and at 8 o'clock at night. The big metallic bell of the temple is sounded at pooja time and people gather for worship and pray for divine blessings. During the pradhosham days, a special 108 abishekamswith conch is performed for the Nandhi Idol. On Pradhosham falling on Saturdays , thosands of devotees throng the temple and get benifits in their life and apart from special pooja, there will be special abishekam and Aradhanai on this day. Pradhosham time denotes the particular period of the day just before and after sun set on the Thrayodhasi day ( 13 th day ) during the waxing and waning moon fortnightly periods. This pradhosham time signofies the time when Lord Siva consumed the 'Alakala' poison in the puranic story.
To be continued
