Thiruporur Kandaswamy temple (or Thiruporur Murugan temple or Kanthaswamy temple) in Thiruporur, is dedicated to Murugan.
believed to have been expanded during the 18th century with the images excavated from Thiruporur.
Legend
As per Hindu legend, Murugan fought with demons in three places, namely, the sea at Tiruchendur, land at Thirupparankundram and in air at Thiruporur. It is believed that sage Agastya on his way to Pothigai hills visited this place. Since Muruga won over Tharuka asuran, this place came to be Porur (por in Tamil means war) and also called by other names like Tharukapuri and Samarapuri. According to the sthala puraanam, at some point of time, the place was submerged in a deluge.
A sage named Chidambara Adigal was residing in Madurai and a divine voice asked him to unearth the statue under a palm tree. He dug out the statue and built a temple around it.
There is a separate shrine dedicated to him in the temple and he is given special respect during the Vaikasi Visagam festival. During the last event of the festival, he is depicted merging with the presiding deity.
History
The temple is believed to have been built during the Pallava era in the 10th century CE. Chidambara Swamigal, believed to be a descendant of the Sangam age poets, rebuilt the temple during the 17th century.
During 2013, as many as 36 acres belonging to the temple located at Thandalam that was leased earlier, was recovered from the land grabbers. The recovered land was valued at ₹100 crores.
presiding deity is 7 ft tall with two hands with one of them holding Vel (divine spear), and an image of peacock besides the presiding deity.
Religious significance
Kandaswamy is revered by Chidambara Swamigal in 726 verses. The image of Muruga is believed to have been discovered under a palm leaf. There is a palm leaf maintained in the temple, which is believed to have been the original palm leaf.
Aruna giri naadhar, a 16th-century saint has glorified the temple in his work in Thiru pugazh. He has mentioned that Shiva is the head of all Vedas, the sacred texts.
Bala deva raya has mentioned Kandaswamy as "Samara puri vaazh Shan mugatthu arase" in his works in Kanda Shasti Kavasam.[
religious practices
The image of Kandaswamy is believed to have originated on its own and hence ablution is not done to the presiding deity as with the other temples. There is an yantra over a Tortoise base where all the rituals are performed.