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Kochengat Chola Nayanar is a chola king. He was one of the 63 nayanars of saivism. He was born in the Shatabhisha nakshatra of the tamil month Masi(Māci).
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In Chandra Tirtha, a village in the Chola kingdom there was a thick grove. In that grove under a Jambu tree there was a Shiva Lingam. A white elephant used to come there daily and do puja for the Lingam. A spider which was also devoted to the lord, noticed some dry leaves falling on the shiva lingam. In order to prevent this, the spider wove a web above the Lingam. The next day when the elephant came to worship, he found the web, and thought that someone had polluted the place. So the elephant tore the web, offered his worship and went away. The spider came upon the scene and felt sorry that his web had been destroyed. So he woven another web and went away. The next day, as the elephant was pulling the web away, the spider which was already present there, gave him a sting. The elephant died on the spot due to the poison. The spider too, was caught in the elephant’s trunk, and perished. Due to the almighties grace, the spider was born as the son of Suba Devan, the Chola king.
Suba Devan and his dutiful wife Kamalavati went to Chidambaram and eagerly prayed to the Lord Nataraja(a form of Shiva) for a son. The Lord granted their wish. Soon the queen conceived and the day of delivery arrived. Astrologers foretold that if the child could be delivered a few minutes later, it would rule the three worlds. Hearing this the queen asked that she should be tied to the roof of the room upside down, with a tight bandage around her waist. When the auspicious time came, she was released and the child was born. This was the spider reborn, The child had red eyes as he had remained in his mother’s womb a little longer. The mother, looking into the babies red eyes and said Kochengkannano.(in Tamil ko=king, cheng=red, kan=eyes), which literally means king with red eyes, and expired. Thus, he was named Kochengat Cholan. When he reached the proper age, his father enthroned him king, retired from the world and, after severe penance, reached the Lord’s Abode.
Kochengat Cholan promoted Saivism. In Tiruanaika he built a beautiful temple and installed the Siva Lingam under the same Jambu tree. In Chola Nadu he built many shrines and mansions for the use of shiva’s devotees. He provided houses and agri lands to the three thousand Brahmins of Tillai for regular worship at the Chidambaram temple. Finally he reached the Lord’s Abode. His glories were sung by the famous Tamil poet Poygayar in his Kalavazhi Narpathu.
http://www.thevaaram.org/temple.php
Tamil:நாயன்மார்கள்
Hindi:नायनमार
Malayalam:അറുപത്