Prithvi linga in
Ekambareswarar temple of Kanchipuram and Muthuswami deekshithar kruthi
Ekambareswarar temple (Derived from Eka amreswarar i.e Lord of the single mango tree-He is also called as Ma moola
natha) is located in the town of Kanchipuram.There is a great story attached to this temple. It seems just for fun Goddess Parvathi closed the eyes of Lord Shiva . His eyes
being Sun and moon , the entire world became very dark and there was a chaos in the world. Then Lord Shiva
cursed Goddess to be born as a human being. Later he pardoned
her and told her to do his
worship and penance under a great mango
tree in Kanchipuram .In order to test her devotion it seems he sent
fire to destroy the idol of sand which
she was worshipping .Goddess Parvathi requested her brother Lord Vishnu
to save her .Lord Vishnu took the
moon from Shiva’s head and showed
it to the fire and the fire got cooled down .Later Lord shiva sent river ganges to destroy the
Linga. Since river ganges was the sister
of Goddess Parvathi she also did
not destroy the lingam.(some legends say
that Shiva sent river Vegavathi to
destroy the Linga and God vishu lay down on the way to prevent the
river water from reaching the Linga).But
when Goddess Parvathi hugged the Linga for saving it, God Shiva was pleased and came there and married her beneath that mango tree.(Because of this Lord
Shiva there is called in Tamil as
THazhuva Kuzhaindanar-He who got pleased by an embrace and Ekamra Natha-Lord of
single mango tree). This mango tree is supposed to be 3500 years old and yields
four different type of mangoes in its four main branches). The name of the
Goddess is Kamakshi but she does not
have a temple in this complex or any
other Shiva temple in Kanchipuram and has a separate temple of her own as Kamakshi in Kanchipuram .It is also
believed that Lord Shiva and Goddess Kamakshi danced in this place to save
the world. The temple occupies an area of 23 acres. The Raja Gopuram(main tower at
entrance) to this temple is 59 meters
high and is one of the tallest in South
India. The temple has a thousand pillared hall
.Since the Linga worshipped by Goddess
Parvathi was made of sand , this
Linga is believed to be Prithivi Lingam.
Muthuswamy Deekshithar, one of the trinity of Carnatic music has
composed the following Krithi in praise of the Lord Ekambareswarar:-
Chinthayaa
maa kandha moola kandham
By
Muthuswami deekshithar
Translated by
P.R.Ramachander
Ragam BHairavii
Thalam Roopakam
Pallavi
Chinthaya maa kandha
moola kandha ,
Chetha sri Somaskandham.
Pallavi
Oh mind , meditate
on the Somaskandha* ,
Who sits under the
mango tree and who is the basic God
*A panel of
Shiva, with uma and Skana(Somaskanda) is there
below the mango tree.
Anupallavi
SAnthatham akhanda
sachid anandam ,
Samrajya pradha*
charanara vindham
*Lord is believed have given kingdom to Pallavas
Anupallavi
He is always
the endless divine
joy ,
Whose lotus like
feet would give an empire.
Charanam
Mangala kara
mandahasa vadanam,
Manikhya maya Kanchi sadanam,
Anga soundharya
vijitha madanam
Anthaka soodanam KUndha radhanam,
(Madhyama kala
SAhithyam)
Uthunga
kamaneeya vrusha thurangam
bhairavi prasngam*,
Guru guhantharangam Pruthvee lingam.
*Embraced by
Parvathi
Charanam
He has an auspicious
shining face ,
He lives in
Kanchi which is filled with Manikhya gems,
He has won over God of love by his
beauty ,
He is the killer of
God of death and has teeth like jasmine,
(Madhyama
Kala Sahithyam)
He rides on a
tall and very pretty bull and is the
consort of Bhairavi,
He is in the mind of Guruguha and is there as a Linga made of earth.
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