Pancha Bhoota Sthalam – The 5 Shiva Temples (Part 1)

Popularly known as Ekambaranathar Swamy, Lord Shiva is represented by a lingam made out of the sand to depict Prithvi Bhoota in this shrine situated in the Kanchipuram town of Tamil Nadu, India. It spreads across 25 acres of land and is the tenth-largest temple of India. It accommodates four gateway towers, widely known as Gopurams. Standing tall at a height of 192 feet, the Southern Tower is the tallest among all four gopurams with 11 stories and is one of the tallest temple towers in India.

Having been one of the most ancient temples of India, there are many kathas about its existence out of which one says that once Maa Parvati, the consort of Lord Shiva was doing tapasya under a Mango Tree. In order to test her devotion and concentration, Lord Shiva sent Maa Ganga to disrupt her but she continued her tapasya and prayed to Maa Ganga which led to her successful completion of it. This was followed by the creation of a Shiva lingam by Maa Parvati under Mango Tree in the remembrance of Shiva and so Ekambareswarar means ‘Lord of the Mango Tree’, whose Abhishekam is done with jasmine oil to prevent it from deteriorating to date.

This shrine’s history has a special essence that tells us that one does not need special idols or sculptures to enshrine and worship God, just a fistful of sand with all of one’s devotion.

Situated in Srirangam Island which is famous for Ranganathaswamy Temple, the Jambukeswarar Temple is famous for its representation of the water element out of 5 five prime elements. An underground stream of water flows in the garbhagriha of the temple which is filled with water in spite of pulling it out with the pump. It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, which are amongst the greatest Shiva Temples of the continent. Here, Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of Appu Lingam which has many legends associated with its appearance.

According to Hindu Ithihas, once Maa Parvati mocked Shiva’s tapasya for the betterment of the world. Lord Shiva condemned her act and directed her to go to the earth in the form of Akhilandeshwari through Kailash Parvat. She found the Jambu forest to perform her tapasya and made a lingam out of the water of River Kaveri. As Maa Parvati in the form of Akhilandeshwari was like a student to Jambukeshwar (Lord Shiva), the parampara of Girija Kalyanam ( Wedding of Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati) is not followed here and their idols are installed opposite to each other in this holy shrine

.According to Hindu Parampara, the daily rituals and prayers are offered by the pujaris who dress up as a woman as it is believed that Maa Parvati worshipped Lord Shiva here. Mahashivratri is the major festival here and creates an aura of joy in the town.