| Sattainathar Temple | |
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Sattainathar Temple
Location in Tamil Nadu
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| Location | |
| Country: | India |
| State: | Tamil Nadu |
| District: | Nagapatnam |
| Location: | Sirkali |
| Temple Details | |
| Primary Deity: | Sattainathar(Shiva), Bhramapureeswarar, Thoniappar |
| Consort: | Periyanayagi(Parvathi) |
| Architecture and culture | |
| Architectural styles: | Dravidian architecture |
Sattainathar temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located in Sirkali, Tamilnadu, India[1]. The temple is incarnated by the hymns of Thevaram and is classifed as Paadal Petra Sthalam.
Sirkali Bhramapureeswarar is an ancient temple complex with 3 different Shiva Shrines. The Bhramapureeswarar shrine is housed in the lower level. The second level houses Periyanakar with Periyanayaki on a Thoni, hence the name Thoniappar. Sattainathar/Vatukanathar is also housed here. From the steps leading to the Toniappar and the Vatukanathar shrine, one can grasp the entire layout of this vast temple, its gopurams and mandapams. There are 22 Theerthams associated with this shrine. Three different forms of Shiva are worshipped here, the Shivalingam (Bhrammapureeswarar), a colossal image of Uma Maheswarar (Toniappar) at the medium level, and Bhairavar (Sattanathar) at the upper level.
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The temple has 3 vast Prakaramscourtyards with high walls of enclosure. There are two sets of 7 tiered gopurams in the outer walls of the enclosure. The original shrine during the period of the Nayanmars included the shrine of Bhrammapureeswarar, on the southern bund of the temple tank; the Toniappar shrine on a mound west of the central shrine, and the Sattanathar shrine in the second floor reached from the southern prakaram(outer courtyard) of the Toniappar shrine by a flight of steps. The enlargement of the original temple happened during the period of Kulothunga Chola I, Vikrama Chola, Kulothunga Chola II and Kulothunga Chola III (as in Chidambaram - 11th through the 13th centuries). The temple is a holy site for Hinduism and thousands of devotees come to pay homage to the deities[2].
Tirugnana Campantar (திருஞானசம்பந்தர் - also rendered as Sambandar, Champantar, Sambandar, Jnanasambandar,Gnanasambandar) was a young Saiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived around the 7th century CE.[3]
He is one of the most prominent of the sixty-three Nayanars, Tamil Saiva bhakti saints who lived between the sixth and the tenth centuries CE. Campantar's hymns to Shiva were later collected to form the first three volumes of the Tirumurai, the religious canon of Tamil Saiva Siddhanta. He was a contemporary of Appar, another Saiva saint.[4]
Campantar was born to Sivapada Hrudiyar and his wife Bhagavathiar who lived in Sirkazhi in Tamil Nadu. They were a saivite brahmins who at that point of time professed Rig veda. The group of servitors wore tuft on top of their head with a tilt towards right,as seen in all murals and statues of sambandar and also finds mention in the related hagiographies of that period and also of the later periods like that of arunagirinathar. According to legend, when Campantar was three years old his parents took him to the Shiva temple where Shiva and his consort Parvati appeared before the child. The goddess nursed him at her breast. His father saw drops of milk on the child's mouth and asked who had fed him, whereupon the boy pointed to the sky and responded with the song Todudaya Seviyan - the first verse of the Tevaram. At his investiture with the sacred thread, at the age of seven, he is said to have expounded the Vedas with great clarity. Sri Sankaracharya who lived in the subsequent century has also referred to sambandar in one hymn of Soundarya Lahari, praising him as a gifted tamil child(dravida sisu) who was fed with milk of divine gnosis by none other than divine goddess Uma.
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