Panchavan Madeviyar Pallippadai Temple is located at Pazhayarai village near Kumbakonam, Thanjavur District. This Pallippadai temple was built by Rajendra Chola for his step mother Ma Panchavan Madeviyar, in recognition to her great participation in the family welfare, political as well as spiritual matters.
Panchavan Madeviyar is one of the wives of King Rajaraja, the Great. After her death, her step son, Rajendra Chola kept her ashes at the present place of this temple & built a nice Shiva temple on the top of the temple. This temple was renovated during the year 1978, by the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, and hence, let us give a loud applause for them for doing such a nice thing!
Ma Panchavan Madevi’s, birth name was Nakkan Thillai Azhagiyar. She was a famous dancer before becoming the wife of King Rajaraja Chola!
This temple is also called as Panchavan Madeveeswarathu Mahadevar Temple. No other queen of Rajaraja Chola has a Pallipadai temple. Since Panchavan Madevi has shown lot of affection towards her step-son Sri Rajendra Chola, she didn’t give birth to a child, since her main aim was to make only his step-son Rajendra Chola as the future king of Thanjavur.
The architecture of this temple is very attractive, and few other shrines are also present in this temple. Special pujas are also being performed on the birthday of queen Ma Panchavan Madeviyar. Puja is performed only once a day, and that too, only in the mornings. The temple would be kept locked during the rest of the day, and hence, it is advisable for the pilgrims to visit this temple before 10 am.
Ancient queens are considered as worshipful mother goddesses, and they contain great powers due to their chastity, generosity and adjustability. We must have to highly honour them by the way of reading their life history, and by the way of offering our whole heartedly thanks to them. Due to their good nature, we are attracted towards them, and considering them equivalent to the famous Rishi Pathnis like Ma Anusuya, Arundati and Lopamudra. If possible, we can keep a laminated picture of pious queens like Ma Panchavan Madeviyar, Veeramadeviyar and Mangammadeviyar in our puja room, and can perform puja to them regularly, similar to performing puja to other deities, in order to get their blessings also in our life.
OM MA PANCHAVAN MADEVIYE SARANAM, SARANAM, SARANAM
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR