Sembiyan Mahadevi (10th Century AD) was the mother of the great king Uttama Chola, she was well known for her staunch Shiva Bhakti, since she has constructed several Shiva temples and also had allocated sufficient funds for temple development, temple renewal and for repair work. She herself used to light lamps in the Shiva Temples, and would provide food to the poor and the needy from her own hands!
She was the pious and the chaste consort of the popular Chola King, Gandaraditya, and from several stone inscriptions in the Shiva Temples, we could knew how good the great queen was during her period!We can find the wonderful temples of Lord Shiva which was built by the holy divine mother, Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi, which is available at Kutralam, Virudhachalam, Aduthurai, Vakkarai, Anangur, etc. She has also donated precious jewellery to the Nallur Kandaswamy temple, the famous Lord Murugan Temple, during 10th century AD.From the ancient palm leaf manuscripts, we could know, that the great queen Mahadevi, used to perform Shivaratri and Navaratri festival in a grand manner in the Shiva Temples. She has highly respected the Brahmin scholars and saints and she gave top priority to them during the time of festive celebrations.
Sembiyan Mahadevi was a lover of arts, and hence the temples which were built by her were very good in art and architecture. She considered Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati as her two eyes and worshipped them as her beloved deity.
Most of the ancient queens were considered as the divine aspects of Ma Shakti Devi, and they were very pious, chaste, holy, and served as dutiful wives to their consorts. Some of the precious queens like Sembiyan Mahadevi were taken birth in this earth, in order to build Shiva Temples, and to establish Shiva Bhakti in the minds of the people. They can also be considered as worshipful mother goddesses, and there is no harm in keeping their pictures in our puja room, and we can also worship them as the divine forms of Ma Shakti Devi!
“OM MA SEMBIYAN MAHADEVI NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR