Tiruchendurai Chandrasekhara Swamy Temple

Chandrasekhara Swamy Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva located at Tiruchendurai in Trichy District of Tamilnadu. Presiding Deity is called as Chandrasekhara Swamy and Goddess is called as Maanendiya Valli / Mrigadharambika. This Temple is considered as one of the Thevara Vaippu Sthalams. Tiruchendurai is known as Jeeyapuram nowadays.

The temple is a Chola period temple.The temple must have been built using mortar or brick by Aditya Chola I in the 9 th century CE. It was later rebuilt as the stone temple by Kunthavai in the beginning of the 10th century CE.The east facing temple has five-tiered Rajagopuram.

Presiding Deity is called as Chandrasekhara Swamy. The east facing sanctum with a beautiful vimana enshrines a big Shiva Linga, presiding deity. It is a self- manifested Linga. The shape of the Linga is not polished and is very rough like a jackfruit.

There are two small Trishula signs in Ishana direction and Agni direction on this Linga. The Vimana has two tiers and it is fully made of stone. In the entrance of Ardha Mandapam, two big and beautiful Chola period Dwarapalas are found. In Maha Mandapam, Nandi is found facing towards the sanctum. The west facing outer wall of the sanctum has the beautiful niche idol of Vrushabhantika Murti. He is found leaning over Nandi, with his right arm held between the horns of Nandi. His head is also slightly tilted. Durga also holds deer and Mazhu in her arms.

The Goddess of the temple has a very beautiful Tamil name, Maanendiya Valli. In Sanskrit, she is called as Mrigadharambika. (The word Maan in Tamil means deer). Her shrine is facing the southern direction.
It is said that she is the only Goddess in the entire world, who holds deer in her arms. It is said that she is in the form of Ardhanari. She holds Mazhu in her right arm and has Surya Prabhai behind the right side of her head. Her right leg is thick like a male. She also wears Upanayana. She holds deer in her left arm and has Chandra Prabhai behind the left side of her head. Compared to her right leg, her left leg is thin and feminine. There are five female deities as the niche idols around the shrine of Maanendiya Valli. All of them are found seated and interestingly they all hold Mazhu and Deer in their arms.

Legend
Parantaka Chola wanted to destroy the bandits who were residing in this region, which was a forest full of jack trees in those days. He camped along with his army here. However, he could not find any bandit here. But, he found a lot deer in the forest. The King desired to hunt the deer. When he was chasing a deer, it went inside a deep pit. The king released arrow towards the pit and blood oozed out of the pit. He also heard an Asareeri voice which informed him that there was a Shiva Linga idol inside the pit. The King wanted to lift Linga out of that land and construct a temple. However, he could not do this in his lifetime. He had mentioned about this incident in a copper inscription. In the future, his daughter in law, Kunthavai, excavated the Shiva Linga and constructed this temple.

Special festival called “Mahasivarathri” will be held every year in the month of “Masi” (feb-15 to mar15). During this festival poojas will be scheduled in 4 terms from evening 4:00 pm to early morning 4:00 am. Lord Shiva and Nandi will be specially decorated and anointed with 16 fragrances. Finally, Deeparadhana (torch) will be shown. It is believed that if we worship Shiva on Mahasivarathri, we will be rewarded of worshipping Shiva for the whole year. Devotees believe that if involved in 4 term pooja during this festival, we will be blessed with peace and good health.