Peravurani Marungapallam Maruntheeswarar Temple, Thanjavur

Address

Marungapallam, Peravurani,

Thanjavur District,

Tamil Nadu 614802

Moolavar

Oushathapureeswarar (Maruntheeswarar)

Amman

Periyanayaki

Introduction

Marungapallam is a village around 8 kms from Peravurani. It is very close to our previous temple at Vilankulam. The temple is that of Shri Periyanayaki sametha Shri Oushathapureeswarar (Maruntheeswarar). The meaning of the Sanskrit word Oushadham is Marunthu (Medicine). Since the Lord in this temple cures all the diseases of His devotees, He is named as above. Appropriately, the temple tank is also named as Dhanvantri Theertham ( Dhanvantri is believed to be one of the Avatars of Shri Vishnu and He takes care of health issues of the devotees). Sthala vruksham is Padiri.

Puranic Significance

This is an old temple built during the Chozha kings and it is believed to be in existence at least from 10th century AD. Around years back, the Thanjavur Maratha King Serfoji II was suffering from Leukoderma (Ven Kushtam in Tamil) and as advised by his Guru, he prayed here and got full relief. The grateful king did extensive renovation of the temple. The details of the grants given to this temple by the King are available in the records kept in the Saraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur.

Apart from the Lord and the Ambal, this temple is also well known for the shrine of Saneeswaran (similar to Vilankulam). The proper way of worship for relief from diseases is to take bath in the Dhanvantri theertham and perform poojas for the Lord, Ambal and Sani. Due to the presence of the temple of Maruntheeswarar, this place came to be called Marunthupallam which over a period of time, became Marungapallam.

As per the local legends, long back there was a gold smith by name Yamashista who lived in this place. He had accumulated a large stock of gold over a period of time. He had decided to purify the gold and keep it as pure gold. When he did the purification, he had created lot of waste which mainly consisted of Iron. He threw away the waste and this became a huge mass. The local people who were suspicious of his intentions, informed the king who had ordered confiscation of all the gold. When Yamashista came to know about this, he decided that the gold which was not available to him should not fall into any one else easily. So he hid the gold in a secret place and in order to secure the place, he also sacrificed his daughter (Kaavu Koduthal, the cruel practice of human sacrifice as per Tantric principles) and then committed suicide. Before his death, he created a puzzle in Tamil. The local people took away the waste iron thrown by him and realized that it was a very good cure for Anaemia (a blood condition caused by the depletion of iron in blood). From that time onwards, this place came too associated with relief from medical problems.

Special Features

The temple is an east facing temple. Beyond the Raja Gopuram in the facade are the Pillayar Mandapam and Nandi Mandapam. On the right side of the next Vasanthamandapam is the shrine of the great goddess.

Vasanthamandapa is followed by Kamamandapa and Arthamandapa. Dwarapalakas are sitting at the entrance of Arthamandapa. To their right is vinayak. In the sanctum sanctorum, Marundeeswarar lingam is giving grace in the sanctum. Devakottam has Dakshinamurthy, Mahaganapati, Lingotpavar, Brahma and Durgai. Murugan, Valli and Deivanai in the west and Saturn, Bhairava and Lakshminarayan in the east side of the temple.