Located near River Arani in the small town of Arani in Thiruvallur District is a large temple for God Siva, worshipped as Sampangi Pitchalishwarar. The quaint traditional story (Sthala-Puranam) of this temple states that this area once had plenty of Sampangi (flower) plants. A cow used to go to the place where these plants grew and pour its milk over a particular place everyday.
The man who owned the cow dug up the place and saw a Shiva Linga which was bleeding as his axe had hit it. In repentance, this man cut off his own hand which was restored by God Siva on being beseeched by the devotee’s wife. Since this area was full of Sampangi flowers and since this deity gave back his hand as alms (bhiksha), Shiva here got the name Sampangi Pitchalishwarar (Bhikha in Samskrit and Pitchai in Tamil are the same).
This temple has a beautiful, large three-tier east gopuram, while on the west side small gopuram. An ornate Kalyana mandapam is located near the east entrance, next to which is a small shrine for Virabhadra Svami. The flag-post (dvaja-stambham) is not in the axial line as the gopuram, which is usually the norm, but slightly to the left in front of the principal sanctum. The entrance to the central shrine is through the south, though the sanctum faces east.
The Shiva Lingam, worshipped as Sampangi Pitchalishwarar is a Svayambhu (self-manifested). God Shiva is known to have five faces (Ishana, Tatpurusha, Vamadeva, Sadyojata and Aghora) and this Lingam is believed to represent the Vamadeva aspect of Shiva. The Nandi in the prakaram views the deity through a window in the wall. Goddess Parvati, worshipped as Sivakamavalli is next to the main shrine and also faces east which is rare as most sanctums for this Goddess face south.
Chithra Madhavan
cityexpresschn@gmail.com
The writer is a historian who focuses on temple architecture