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| Thiruporur - The venue of war |
Temple |
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The conflict between good and
evil has always fascinated mankind. The places where such battles were waged have attained
historical immortality.  Kurukshetra, for instance, the venue of the epic
battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas today, has a metaphysical connotation in
addition to its martial denotation.In the south, the historic battle of Lord Muruga with
Sooran at Tiruchendur has acquired similar significance. The 'Soora Samharam' by Muruga is
in itself an Armageddon signalling the triumph of good over evil. Many may not know that
Lord Muruga, the Chief of the Army, the son of Lord Siva waged three battles. These
battles were waged in Tiruchendur, Tiruparankundram and Thiruporur. These battles are
unique in the sense that they have philosophical overtones, encompassing the elements and
human frailities. First, the battle of Tiruchendur was said to have been fought on sea
against Soora and Padma. At the other plane, the battle was against Maya (illusion). The
battle of Tiruparankundram was against Kadaipatta Asura who symbolised "Karma"
and was fought on ground.
The battle of Thiruporur was fought against
"Thalayaya Asuran" in ether or Air and connotes the vanquishing of
"arrogance or pride". Thiruporur as the very name suggests is the venue of war
("Por" in Tamil means war) situated between the  40 and 41 kilometer stones on the old Mahabalipuram road from
Chennai. Thiruporur is an ancient little hamlet nestling around the imposing
"Arulmigu Kandaswamy Thirukoil". A fascinating legend about the building of the
temple is narrated by Sri La Sri Chidambara Sivagnana Swamigal, the 14th Guru of
Thiruporur Adhinam which administers this temple.
Says Sri Chidambara Sivagnana
Swamigal,
"over 450 years ago, the founding guru of Thiruporur Adhinam Srimad Chidambara Swamy
who was an ardent worshipper of "Madurai Meenakshi Amman" had a vision of the
Goddess bidding him to build a temple for Lord Muruga at Thirupporur. This happened when
the savant challenged the Goddess that he would not eat till she graced him with her
vision. Many days passed and Chidambaraswamy was almost in a coma. Suddenly he could hear
the anklets of the Goddess Meenakshi and when he opened his eyes slightly he got a
magnificent glimpse of the divine feet.  The Goddess then raised the swamy to his feet and as her hands
touched him, his skin turned golden. She told him that six earlier attempts to establish
the temple had failed. Chidambaraswamy reached Thiruporur to find it was a dense forest
full of palm trees. He could hardly make out where the attempts to build the temple had
been made. When he had despaired of locating the site, Lord Muruga himself appeared as a
small boy and gave him the vision of the sanctum sanctorum. Thereafter, Chidambaraswamy
unearthed the Swayambu Moortis of Lord Muruga with his consorts and established the
temple. Those days Thiruporur was one of the hamlets under the reign of a minor Muslim
ruler. When the Muslim ruler's daughter was afflicted with a form of
virtigo, his minister
"the dubash" suggested that the ruler seek the blessings of the nearby
Chidambaraswamy as all other efforts to cure his young daughter had proved unfruitful. The
Muslim ruler accepted the suggestion and prostrated, along with his daughter before Shri
Chidambaraswamy. When Sri Chidambaraswamy applied the sacred ash to his daughter's body,
she was cured instantly.
 In his
unbounded happiness, the ruler gifted the entire land to the Kandaswami Adhinam and built
a shrine to Devayanai in the temple. Shri Chidambaraswamy established the "Satakshra
Yanthram" in the temple and pleaded to Lord Muruga to empower it. Today people who
pray in this temple are blessed with their daughter's marriage, victory in legal suits,
and recuperation after long illnesses".Northwest of the temple is a small hillock
where Lord Siva as "Kailasanatha" and Parvati as "Balambiga" are
present. It is believed that sage Kanva worshipped in this place, which is much more
ancient than the Kandaswamy temple. The Visaka utsavam in Vaikasi month is very
elaborately celebrated in this temple and the entire village partakes of the annadanam on
that particular day. A fast undertaken on the "Vaikasi Visakam" is said to take
one close to spiritualism. This is the only temple in Tamilnadu where one can do the
hulabaram a la Tirussur in Kerala. That is, one can weigh oneself against plantain fruit,
sugar, coconut, crystal sugar and so on. The temple tank has a shrine of Ganga Vinayaka
and brims with water. The temple is well connected to Chennai by the metro buses. What
strikes one about this temple is its peace and extreme cleanliness, symbolising the grace
of God after his epic battle with evil forces.
Ambujam Anantharaman
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