Madavar Vilagam Vaidyanathar temple

Vaidyanathar temple
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Vaidyanathar temple Location in Tamil Nadu
Geography
Coordinates
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
Location	Madavar Vilagam
Culture
Primary deity	Vaithyanatha Swamy
Consort	Sivakami
Architecture
Architectural styles	Dravidian architecture

Vaidyanathar temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva located in Tamil Nadu, India. Shiva is worshipped as Vaidyanathar or the "God of healing" and it is believed that prayers to Vaitheeswaran can cure diseases. It is located in Madavar Vilagam, one kilometer from Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district.

The holy waters of the Siddhamirtham tank in the temple complex contains nectar, and a holy dip is believed to cure all diseases. The temple was built by Thirumalai Nayak during the 16th century.

Legend

File:Madavar Vilagam1.jpg

Temple tank opposite to the temple

As per local legend, the Nayak king Thirumalai Nayak suffered from stomach pain and he arrived at Madavar Vilagam in an ivory palanquin and stayed there for 48 days. He was completely cured and as a mark of his gratitude, he constructed the Natarajar hall as in Madurai Meenakshi temple. He also built drum halls from the temple to Madurai as he would take his midday meal only after hearing the drum sounds indicating the mid day pooja is complete in the temple.

The Temple

The temple has a five-tiered gopuram (temple tower) and large precincts. The central shrine is that of Vaidyanathar present as lingam in the inner most sanctum. The first precinct around the sanctum has the metal images of Somaskanda and stone sculptures of Nataraja, Durga, Dakshinamoorthy, Surya (Sun god). The shrine of Sivakami is located in a parallel shrine to the right of the sanctum. There are two gates to the temple, each leading to the Shiva and Sivakami shrnies. The Sthala Vriksha (temple tree) is margosa (Azadirachta indica) which possesses medicinal properties. The temple has two water tanks, one located opposite to the temple and one right to the main gate. The temple has a Kalayana Mahal (marriage hall) in front of the Sivakami shrine and the sculpture of Nayak king can be found there. There are paintings from the Nayak period in ceiling of the hall leading to the sanctum.

Worship and religious practises

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The shrines of the temple

The temple priests perform the puja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. Like other Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the Shaiva community, a Brahmin sub-caste. The temple rituals are performed six times a day; Ushathkalam at 7 a.m., Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 10:00 a.m., Sayarakshai at 5:00 p.m., Irandamkalam at 7:00 p.m. and Ardha Jamam at 8:00 p.m. Each ritual comprises four steps: abhisheka (sacred bath), alangaram (decoration), naivethanam (food offering) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Vaidyanathar and Sivakami Amman. The worship is held amidst music with nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument), religious instructions in the Vedas (sacred texts) read by priests and prostration by worshippers in front of the temple mast. There are weekly rituals like somavaram (Monday) and sukravaram (Friday), fortnightly rituals like pradosham and monthly festivals like amavasai (new moon day), kiruthigai, pournami (full moon day) and sathurthi.The twin festivals celebrated during the full moon days of Tamil month Adi (July – August) and Thai (January – February) attract large number of pilgrims from whole of Tamil Nadu.