Pushpavaneswarar Temple

The Pushpavaneswarar Temple is located in Tirupuvanam and is dedicated to God Pushpavaneswarar. There lived a dancer by name Ponnaiyal in Tirupuvanam. A staunch devotee of God Shiva, she would spend all her earnings in feeding Shiva devotees. She had a desire to sculpt God Poovananathar in pure gold. To fulfill her desire, the God came in the guise of a siddha and advised her to melt all the brass, lead and copper articles in the house at night which would then turn to gold. The dancer followed the advice of the Siddha and to her joy found adequate gold to make the idol of the God. With the gold she got through the alchemy miracle, she made a beautiful idol of the God and in her ecstasy, she embraced the idol and kissed it on the cheek. The nail symbol of Ponnaiyal is visible on the procession deity. This place is also known by other names as Pushpavanakasi, Pithurmokshapuram, Bhaskarapuram, Lakshmipuram, Brahmapuram and Rasavadhapuram. God Pushpavaneswarar with His consort Soundaryanayaki had worked many miracles. As this is a place with fragrant gardens, it is called Poovanam. God Pushpavaneswarar blesses his devotees relieving them of all hardships. This temple is considered very sacred as it conforms to the three important standards of Murthy (idol), Sthala (place) and Theertham (spring / tank) according to scriptures.