Kaduveli Akasapureeswarar Temple

The first thing you notice at this small village temple is the Nandi. In most Shiva temples the bull sits inside the gateway, facing the sanctum; at Kaduveli he waits outside the tower. The temple is a few steps from the bus stop. Inside, Shiva is worshipped as Akasapureeswarar, lord of akasa (space), the fifth of the five elements, and the goddess is Mangalambikai, the one who fills a life with good fortune.

The temple legend goes like this. Kaduveli Siddhar was born in this village; the name itself means "the vast open space". He taught the people what he had come to know, but he longed to see Shiva with his own eyes and sat in hard penance until Shiva appeared to him here and gave him mastery of the siddhis. While the Lord stood before the Siddhar, Nandi stepped out of the way so as not to come between them, and he has stayed outside ever since. Long afterwards a Chola king who ruled the area built a temple for the Shiva who had blessed the Siddhar, and named the village after the saint.

For a long time there was no image of the Siddhar in the temple. One turned up during renovation work a few years ago and now stands in the front mandapam, where people who follow the Siddhar tradition stop to sit quietly. On Pooradam days the beings of the sky and Vastu Bhagavan come to worship Akasapureeswarar, and that is the day local devotees crowd in too. There are also shrines to Murugan with Valli and Deivanai, Dakshinamurthy, Vinayaka, Vishnu Durga and Bhairava.

A Chola king who ruled this stretch of the Kaveri delta built the temple and gave the village its name. No published inscription yet tells us which king or which century. The image of Kaduveli Siddhar now in the front mandapam was found during renovation a few years ago. The temple is administered by the HR&CE Department.

People born under Pooradam come on their star day to ask for relief from troubles in their horoscope, anointing the lingam with punugu and javvadhu (fragrant pastes) and offering kesari. Those whose marriage keeps getting put off burn sambrani (benzoin incense) before the main shrine on their birth-star day. These are devotional practices and no result is promised. Check the special-puja timings and fees with the temple before you go.