Vruddhapureeswarar Pazhampathinathar Temple

The Vruddhapureeswarar Temple is located in Tirupunavasal and is dedicated to God Vruddhapureeswarar. Once when God Brahma could not explain the meaning of the Pranava Mantra he lost his position as Creator. As advised by Mother Parvathi, He came to earth, installed a shiva Lingam and worshipped to get back his position. God Brahma also created a tank for water for the Abhishek of the Lingam. As the spring was created by him, it is called Brahma Theertham. As Brahma has four faces, He made four faces on the Lingam, too. This Lingam is therefore known as Chaturmuka Lingam - Chaturmukha means four faces. This was also the Lingam worshipped by devotees in the early days. King Sundara Pandian later built a temple combining the tradition of both Pandyas and the Cholas. In the Chola temple, the main tower (Rajagopuram) would be small and Vimanam taller and in the Pandya temples it would be other way round. As the temple combines both traditions both are equally tall. The Shiva Lingam was installed on a big Avudayar (seat) in the sanctum sanctorum. The God was named Vruddhapureeswarar. Vruddha means 'old' in Tamil. He is also called Pazhampathinathar (also meaning old). As the place is very old and as God Brahma the creator worshipped here the place is considered to be very old. The river Pambaru flows south of the temple. The sea is at a distance of 3 kms. As the place is just at the entrance ("punal" in Tamil) of the river and sea, the place is named Tirupunavasal - entry point. The main tower (Rajagopuram) is 65 feet tall. The Brahma Theertham is outside the temple. Currently, there is only a small level of water in the tank. There are individual shrines for Pancha Vinayaka, the nine sons of Sage Kabila, ancient Shiva devotees, Dakshinamurthy, Aadhi Vinayaka of the place, God Muruga with his consorts Valli and Deivayani, God Brahma, Chandikeswarar and Gajalakshmi. Mother Periyanayaki graces from a separate shrine facing east. The Kudavarai Kali shrine is opposite to this.