Alangudi Apatsahayeswarar Temple

The name Alangudi itself tells a story from the puranas. When the gods and asuras churned the ocean of milk, the Halahala poison rose. The sthala account says the Lord drank it and saved the gods from danger, so he is called Apatsahayeswarar, the one who stood by them in danger. "Alam" means poison, and one reading is that the word lives on in the village's name. Local people also hold that no one in this village comes to harm from poison.

The place was once a forest of poolai plants, hence the old name Thiru Irumpoolai. Thirugnanasambandar sang of it as "Ezhilar Irumpoolai", the beautiful Irumpoolai, and the poolai plant is still the sacred tree. It is also called Kasi Aranyam. Among the Pancha Aranya temples it is the fourth, and in the tradition of visiting the five in order it is the stop for the evening (sayaratchai) worship. It is also one of the parivara temples around Mahalingaswamy of Thiruvidaimarudur, and in that scheme the deity of this place is Dakshinamurthy.

There is a story of how the temple came to be built. The sthala account says it was built by Amudhokar, a devout minister of the emperor Muchukunda. The king asked him to give over half the merit of his service to Shiva. When the minister refused, the angry king had him killed. A dosha fell on the king for this, and tradition says he was freed of it only by worshipping the Lord here.

A story about Sundarar is told too. When the Vettaru was in flood and Sundarar could not cross, the sthala account says the Lord himself came as a boatman and brought him to the shore. The Vinayaka who kept the boat from capsizing is worshipped as Kalangamal Kaththa Vinayagar. The temple's own history gives another reason for the name: he cleared away the troubles the asuras had brought on the gods.

This is also where the Goddess did penance and married the Lord. The spot where the wedding took place is known today as Thirumanamangalam. Viswamitra and Veerabhadra are also said to have worshipped here.

There is no separate main shrine for Guru here. Devotees worship the south-facing Dakshinamurthy himself as Guru Bhagavan, and so the temple is also honoured as a Dakshinamurthy sthalam. Guru has a separate shrine for his festival image. The main deity is a self-manifested lingam, and the goddess Elavarkuzhali has her own shrine. The Amirtha Pushkarani and the Brahma Theertham are the most important of the temple's tanks.

The Department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments' temple page counts it as the 98th of the 127 Thevaram shrines on the southern bank of the Kaveri, among the 276 in the Chola country. Sambandar sang this shrine, and Appar included it in his Thiruvizhimizhalai Thiruthandakam. The original complex is believed to be Chola-era, and the temple's inscriptions are recorded in volume 6 of South Indian Inscriptions, published by the Archaeological Survey of India. The present masonry dates to the Nayak period in the 16th century. It stands on about two acres with a five-tiered rajagopuram and two prakarams, and has gateway towers on the south and east. It lies in Valangaiman taluk of Tiruvarur district, on the Kumbakonam–Mannargudi road about 17 km south of Kumbakonam, and about 7 km from Needamangalam railway station. It is run by the HR&CE Department. The Chithirai Brahmotsavam and the Chitra Pournami festival are the main events. Special worship is held on Guru Peyarchi, when Jupiter moves into a new sign, and a chariot festival for Dakshinamurthy is held on Thaipusam and Panguni Uthiram.

Devotees seeking the grace of Guru come here. It is customary to worship Dakshinamurthy for learning and the welfare of the family. Thursday is Guru's day, so crowds are larger then, and the Thursdays of the month of Masi are held to be especially important here. Large numbers also come on the day of Guru Peyarchi. Those whose prayers are answered customarily offer abhishekam and a new cloth to the Lord. These are devotional practices based on belief, and no result is promised. For timings, fees and crowds, please check with the temple before you go.