1,000-yr-old Perumal idol shares temple with 110-yr-old Natarajar

ARANI: Call it fate or divine interference - six generations of a family were brought together in a bid to spruce up a 110-year-old temple, which is also the only shrine other than Chidambaram, where the gods Natarajar and Perumal are seen together.

According to hereditary trustee A Sampath Kumar of Tiruvannamalai, “the Nataraja temple was built by my grandfather – Krishnaswamy alias Chitrai Samiyar 110 years ago at Melseeshamangalam near Arani in Tiruvannamalai district. The wonder is that the Panchaloha idol of Nataraja in the temple has remained untouched all these years. When the temple work was taken up, we found that idols of Perumal, Bhudevi, Sridevi and Hanuman from a nearby temple, which was razed to make way for a school, was dumped in our temple by unknown persons some 30 years ago.”

“Though we wanted to install the Perumal idol in our temple, this was vociferously objected to by the Sthapathi, who said this was not permitted as per Agama rules. Hence, we constructed a separate shrine for Perumal on the left of the Nataraja temple,” he added.

Giving more details about the temple, Sampath said, “only when one of my relatives, an archaeology enthusiast, learnt of the Perumal idol and undertook some research and found out that it was 1100 years old and belonged to the Chola era. Thus a 1100-year-old Perumal is now seen with a 110-year-old Nataraja, which we feel was destined by fate. Similar to Chidambaram, the Nataraja and Perumal idols face south and east respectively.”

Intervening, his wife Sai Prasanna, a doctor, said, “presently the 48-day mandala poojas are in progress. When our relatives, now in USA, Australia and the Gulf, heard of the work, gathered at Melseeshamangalam and planned the kumbabhishekam, which was held recently. The temple from now on will be functional throughout the year.”