Introduction
Padikasu Nathar Temple also known as Sri Swarnapureeswarar Temple is a popular temple situated at Azhagaputhur village in Thanjavur district. Here Lord Shiva is worshiped as Padikasunathar, in the form of Shiva lingam, and his consort Ma Parvati is worshipped as Soundaranayagi. This temple Shiva was praised by the Nayanar Saints like Sundarar in their famous Shaivite Text, Tevaram.
The great Pugalthunai Nayanar, who was one of the 63 Nayanmars, was born in the village Alagaputhur. Chola Kings have glorified this temple during the 9th century, by the way of adding more shrines to this temple.
Apart from the main shrines, the temple contains various other shrines also. The temple follows four daily rituals and celebrates yearly festivals like Shiva Ratri and Navaratri.
As per legend, though Pugazh Thunai was a poor farmer, but he was a sincere devotee of Lord Shiva, and he used to daily carry several pots of water for performing holy bath to the Shiva Lingam of the temple. Once while there was heavy famine in the region, Pugazh Thunai still continued the holy task of offering water to the sacred Shiva Lingam. But after becoming old, he fell sick and once while he was fetching the water to perform holy bath to the Shiva Lingam, he fell down in front of the Shiva Lingam, and he prayed to Lord Shiva to relieve the people from poverty. Pleased by his devotion, Lord Shiva began to offer coins (also called as padikasu in Tamil) to him on a daily basis in order to remove the poverty of the people. With that money, the great Nayanar had continued the noble service of performing the holy bath, and also removed the poverty of the people, by the way of offering sufficient food to them, and as a result, after his death, he has become one among the 63 nayanmars.
Ancient Chola Kings also offered lands to the temple, and it was mentioned in the stone inscriptions of the temple. There is also a famous saying about this temple, “PATHU KASU ILLADAVARKUM ARULUM PADI KASU NATHAR”, which means, those even don’t have a single penny with them, would be gifted with sufficient wealth by Lord Padi Kasu Nathar!
“OM SRI PADI KASU NATHARE NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR
