Athipaththa Nayanar Guru Pooja in Kayarohanaswami Temple, Nagapattinam.. The ceremony of offering the golden fish to the Lord on the Ayilyam star day in the month of Avani was held at the Kayarohanaswamy temple in Nagapattinam on September 12, 2023. This year(2024) also, the festival is expected to get celebrated shortly! Large number of devotees attended the event. This is one of the sports performed by Lord Shiva to make the world aware of the greatness of His devotees.
In today’s time, many people think that if they have 100 rupees, they should take it to the hotel and eat it. There have been Shiva followers in Tamil Nadu who even though they were living in poverty and found a gold fish studded with gems and offered it to the Lord. Athipaththa Nayanar, one of the 63 Nayanmars, a Shiva devotee is granted salvation by the Lord every year in Nagapattinam.
Lord Shiva has performed many Thiruvilayalai in the month of Aavani. In Madurai, Aavani Moolam festival and Puttu festival are celebrated to make people aware of his play.In Nagapattinam also, we can see the legend of Lord Shiva dancing with his followers, making gold and silver fishes come into the sea.
The mythological name of Nagapattinam is Kadal Nagai Karonam. Lord of the temple is known as Kayarohaneswarar. Mother’s name is Neelayatakshi or Karunthadankanni. Injury means sick. Arohanam means to embrace oneself with one’s body. As Lord Shiva merged the body of Sage Pundarika with His Shivalinga, the Lord of this place came to be known as Kayarohanar and the place as Kayarohanam.
Sage Pundarika performed penance seeking a place in heaven with a human body. Appreciating his penance, Lord Shiva granted him salvation by ascending his body in Himself. The presiding deity here is Lord Kayarohaneswarar as a swayambumurthi. He appears as a huge Shivalinga with a title on his forehead facing east. This is the place where Lord Shiva appeared as Somaskanda from the original Shivalinga to Saptha Rishis like Markandeya, Agasthya, Vasishta, Gautama, Kasipa, Pulathiyar and Angirasa . There is a separate niche behind the presiding deity with Lord Shiva and Mother Muruga in the middle and Somaskanda idol. The belief is that worshipping in this temple would bring child boon.
The temple is one of the Saptha Vidangams. There is a shrine for Lord Thyagaraja Sundara Vidangarai near the presiding deity. There are shrines for Lords Lingodhbava, Pichadanar and Arthanareeswarar in the goshta of the sanctum sanctorum. According to the history of the temple, Adisesha one of the eight serpents worshipped Lord Shiva on the Mahashivarathri day. Worshipping Lord Shiva in this temple will help us to get rid of serpent doshas. This is the place where Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar sang hymns. Lord of this temple had gifted Sundarar with nine jewels, pearl garlands and silk. Lord Shiva showed His wedding scene to Sage Agasthya here. The eyes of Mother Neelayadakshi are beautiful in dark blue. Mother Ambica appears in a standing form with four hands. This is one of the 64 Shakti Peeths. The Mother is adorned with the kritis of the Trinity of Music, Thyagaraja, Shyamala Sastrigal and Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Mother Neelayadakshi here appears as a virgin just like Mother Bhagavathi of Kanyakumari.
Nagapattinam was the port city of the Chola kingdom. The Parathavar community was living by fishing at Edappadi near the Nagapattinam coast. They were led by the President. Since he was a devotee of Lord Shiva, he used to offer the best of the fish he could get to Lord Shiva. Even if he gets only one fish, the Shiva devotee will offer it to Lord Shiva. There was a time when we were getting one fish a day. Even then, the devotee was hungry after offering that one fish to the Lord. Like him, his friends and relatives were starving for want of food. Though starving for food, Aditya continued to offer his devotion to Lord Shiva without fail. One day, Lord Shiva wanted to test the devotee by catching a gold fish instead of a fish. The fish was a marvellous creation. The fish was a gold fish studded with gems. The netizens who caught it in the net were very happy and said of the supreme devotee. As only one fish was found on that day, Athipathar offered it to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared with Mother Parvathi in appreciation of his devotion. Then he granted salvation to the Adhipathar.
Since this event took place on the Ayilyam star day in the month of Aavani, every year on the Ayilyam star day in the month of Aavani, the festival of offering the golden fish to the Lord is held at the Kayarohanaswamy temple in Nagapattinam. It is customary for the deity to leave the Neelayadakshi Amman temple and come to the seashore.
This year the procession was stopped due to consecration work going on at the temple. In this situation, the panchayats of Nambiar Nagar Puthiyaoli Mariamman temple and Athipaththa Nayanar worshipped by Amudheesar temple and Arya Nattu Theru panchayat took out a procession to the new beach. Later, a special Deeparadhana was performed on the new beach with sequin plates. The new beach was in a festive mood yesterday.
The procession idol of Athipathar was erected on a catamaran. In Kattumaram, the procession deity goes fishing in the sea. At that time, the fishermen pretended to catch the gold fish in the net and caught it in the sea. This will be taken as the capture of the goldfish. When Lord Shiva came to the seashore, they offered a golden fish and worshipped. This was followed by the ceremony of granting salvation to Lord Shiva. Adhi devotee means a great devotee. Adhibhakta is called adhipatha.
“OM NAMAH SHIVAYA”
COMPILED BY
R. HARISHANKAR