There is a shiva kshetra by name Thirivisanallur. There was
once a chola king who wanted to worship Lord Shiva there. He had informed the
archakar that he wanted to worship the Lord with thousand lotus flowers that
had grown in the lotus tank. The next morning as the archakar made all
arrangements for the king’s visit and opened the door of the sanctum sanctorium
he was shocked.That was because there were already thousand flowers on Shiva.
Who had worshipped Him? The king came there and to his utter dismay felt
cheated. He suspected that the archakar had did it. The latter pleaded that he
had not worshipped Lord Shiva and also said he would see who had done it. That
night he was awake and waited to see who was worshipping Shiva. Just then a
crab came through the Gomukha and placed
flowers on Shiva’s head one by one. As the archaka came to hit it the crab
climbed on to Lord Shiva’s head so that he could not hit it. Crab is called
Karkataha in Sanskrit. Hence Lord Shiva of Thirivisanallur came to be called
Karkateshwara.
Many famous scholars lived at Thirivisanallur. But of all
Sreedhara Iyyaval was the most famous saint. He was a contemporary of
Bodhendral. He did Nama Sidhdhantha. He was previously a minister at the court
of Mysore Maharaja.But he did not like his post. He preferred to be a sincere
devotee of Lord Shiva. Hence he came on a kshetradana ( pilgrimage) to Trichy.
He composed several works like Krishna Dwadashamanjari, Akhyashashti,
Dolanavarathnamalika etc. He settled at Thrivisanallur. Once a hungry orphan
begged him for food. Out of pity he gave food to him. But that was on the day
of his pithru shraadhdham. All the Brahmins of that village were annoyed at his
behaviour. They advised that Ganga snan
was the only solution to it. He went to his well and prayed that Ganges came to
his well. The river truly came to his well. This uthsava is celebrated as
Gangakarshanothsavam. Thousands of people come to this village on Kathika
Amavasa for Ganga snan ( at the well). Sreedara Iyyaval’s greatness is
indescribable.
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