Kothangudi Kodeeswarar Temple, Nagapattinam

Address

Kothangudi Kodeeswarar Temple, Kothangudi, Komal Post, Kuttalam Taluk, Nagapattinam District – 609 805 Phone: +91 99431 85352 / 94429 33795

Diety

Kodeeswarar / Chokkanatha Swamy Amman: Brihannayaki.

Introduction

Kodeeswarar Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva located at Kothangudi Village in Kuttalam Taluk in Nagapattinam District of Tamil Nadu. Presiding Deity is called as Kodeeswarar / Chokkanatha Swamy and Mother is called as Brihannayaki. The temple is more than 1000 years old temple. The Temple is considered as Thevara Vaippu Sthalam as Devaram hymns had a mention about this Temple. Kothangudi was also known as Koothangudi in ancient times. This is a Parihara Sthalam for Naga Doshas.

Puranic Significance

Kothangudi: Kuthan means one who has Ox has his vehicle. So Kuthan signifies Lord Shiva. Since Lord Shiva is residing in this Temple, the village came to be called as Koothangudi and later got corrupted to Kothangudi. Swayambhu Linga: Once, a person was worshipping Swayambhu Linga of this place, which was a small forest. Later Chola King noticed his worship and built a temple for the Swayambhu Linga. Lingam from Naga Loha: Kuthu means standing straight in Tamil. It is believed that this Swayambhu Linga came from Naga Loha and settled here. Linga was like standing straight in this place. Hence the place came to be called as Koothangudi.

Special Features

This is a small east facing Temple located in the mid of the village, but the entrance is from south. The Temple covers an area of about ½ acres with single prakaram. There is no Rajagopuram only entrance arch. The entrance arch has stucco images of Lord Shiva & Parvathy in sitting posture in Kailasha with Vinayaga and Murugan nearby flanked by Sage Narada and Nandi in human form. Presiding Deity is called as Kodeeswarar / Chokkanatha Swamy. He is housed in the sanctum in the form of Lingam. Lord is a Swayambhu Moorthy and is facing east. Nandhi can be found facing the sanctum. Dakshinamurthy, Lingodbhava and Durga are the Koshta Idols located around the sanctum walls. Mother is called as Brihannayaki. She is housed in a separate south facing shrine. There are shrines for Varasiddhi Vinayagar, RettaiVinayagar, Balasubramanya, Chandikeswarar, Navagrahas and Mahalakshmi in the Temple premises.