Chinnamanur

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?Chinnamanur Tamil Nadu • India
Chinnamanur
Coordinates: 9°50′N 77°23′E / 9.83, 77.38
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 375 m (1,230 ft)
District(s)	Theni
Population	38,327 (2001)

Coordinates: 9°50′N 77°23′E / 9.83, 77.38 Chinnamanur is a city and a municipality in Theni district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Historical Evidence
4 References

[edit] Geography

Chinnamanur is located at 9.83° N 77.38° E.^[1] It has an average elevation of 375 metres (1230 feet).

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census,^[2] Chinnamanur had a population of more than 60,000. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Chinnamanur has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 79% and female literacy of 65%. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.A famous temple Named Sivakami Amman Temple which is older than 100 years is situated outskirt of the city.

[edit] Historical Evidence

Still the copper inscriptions available in London museum, which are all taken from chinnamanur in the British period.

Chinnamanur, stands back to a very historic period when the king of Madurai, Thiru. Rajasimeshwaran came to this land. It is a tradition in India where Lord Shiva is worshipped by presenting cow's milk on the Shiva lingam and performing the rituals. King Rajasimeshwaran being no exception had been performing the same kind of rituals. Once when a milkman was bringing milk to the kings place, he was hindered by a root in the ground, which was irregular in shape, almost like a rock. The man fell down spilling all the milk on the root. He continued bringing milk the next day and the same incident took place. This continued for some days together.

The man planned to chop down the root and ran an axe over it. The moment he stuck it he found the root bleeding. Immediately after that he was stupefied seeing a long, swift and an luminous light with great intensity from the sky to the land in the same place of the root. The milkman ran to the king and told about the incident which took place in the midway. The king, a very pure devotee of Lord Shiva, became exuberant and realized that it is some play of the almighty and rushed to the place.
The king was astonished seeing the vibrant energy of the lord standing from sky to land and raised his hands above his head and pleading in the namaste posture told, "Siva perumane".
"Oh lord, you are so energetic, vibrant, luminous and I am flabbergasted looking at you. All my power and potentials are underneath your foot. Eshwara, how can I worship this marvelous, spectacular appearance of yours. Kindly come down to the level of common people as we always seek your eternal bliss". By these humble words of the king, Lord Shiva comes down to the same of height of King Rajasimeshwaran in the form of lingam, as worshiped everywhere.
The king becomes so glad that the Lord himself has accepted his worship and hugs the lingam tightly. As soon as he hugs the lingam, the love and warmth melts the lingam and the ornaments worn by the gets embossed on it. This embossed ornaments are seen even today.
A temple was then constructed by the king with the lingam as the deity in the middle, named as 'Sivakami Amman temple', wife of lord Shiva who is commonly known as Parvati.
Even today, in the Chinnamanur Sivakami Amman temple, the lingam is traditionally worshiped with deeba aradanai. The aradhanai shows the reflections of the embossed ornaments of king Rajasimeshwaran on the lingam. The deity has various other names like, 'Palkonda naadar' meaning, the lord who asked for milk; 'Alavodu alavanavar' meaning, the lord who came down for the humble request of a true devotee; ' Tazhuva Kudaindavar' meaning, the lord who was compassionate to the hug of a honest king and a true devotee. The deity is also named after the king as Rajasimeshwarar.