Excerpts from Dr.Raghavan's article in the journal
of the Music Academy.
These songs were the epitomes of kshetra
mahAtmiya...
In the mukhAri piece on ratnAcala on the
akhaNDa kAveri, we have out
of the way information of the tradition of the abhisheka tIrtha for the
deity being brought by a fourth caste man of Arya descent. adhyapyAryavaMshajAtaturyajAtibhR^itAkhaNDa
kAverInadyudakAbhiShikta sharIra
Two points mentioned by him in his kriti at
Tirovotriyur, "AdipurIshvaraM"
in Arabhi and in the nAgAabharaNa piece on Tanjore
BrhadIshvara draw attention
to an important feature of the temples at these two places and the
worship there when they say "tyAgarajAngam svayambulingam nAgakavacadhara
saikata lingam" and "tyAgarAja rUpaM bR^ihadIshaM" .In the former case it is
known more widely that Tiruvotriyur has Vitanka (unchiseled) natural linga
with just a kavaca in front and the temple here as a shrine dedicated to
thyagaraja , having been the venue of some of the lilas of Sundaramurti;
but it is less known that Tyagaraja forms an integral part of the BrhadIshvara shrine of Tanjore
as planned by RajaRaja chola himself. There is a Tyagaraja sannadhi in
the mahA manTapa there and the conduct of worship etc at the big temple
as epigraphs show were organized as they obtained at Tiruvarur.
....
The Bhupala piece sadAcaleshvaraM on
acaleshvarA at Tiruvarur was particularly
puzzling me.acaleshvara is as is clear from the early chola architectural
and sculptural features of His shrine , the oldest part of the temple;
in Dikshitar's piece on the deity in this shrine, we have four bits camatkARapurageham ,
udAjyakrtanAmadheyavAham,camatkARabhUpAlAdi prasAdakaranipuNamahAlingaM
and chAyArahita dIpaprakAshagarbhagrhamadhyarangam correct explanations
for which I later hunted out from the 35th chapter of the section called
kamalalaya mahatmya in the skanda purana in a manuscript in theTanjore library.
The reference to the Ud-Ajya is the story in the life of the saivite
saint Naminandi adigal who in a wager with the Jains of Tiruvarur , made
the water of the Kamalalayam tank dug by him serve as oil in the lamp in
the sanctum of acaleshvara.The references to the acaleshvara linga being
eternally lighted and to the camatkAra and camatkAra pura are to an architectural
feature as well as a story in the kshetra mahAtmya.It is said that that
by some arrangement of the openings in the sanctum structure there
is always a beam of sunlight on the lingam; the story in the kamalAlaya mahAtmya of the
skAnda says that it was to bless King CamatkAra who worshipped
him that God acaleshvara manifested this constant light on His form, and
hence came to be known as achala.Chamatkara pura is found here to be another
name of Tiruvarur.
God told King camatkAra :
"acalohaM bhaviShyAmi tasmin linge sadA nrupa
asmin linge mahAbhAga vAsaM kartAsmi nityshaH
tathAnyadapi te vAcmi pratyayArthaM vaco nrupa
sadA me nishcalA chhAyA lingasyAsya bhavishyAmi "
