Thirukadaiyoor Amirthagadeswarar

 The temple features:

This temple is located in Thiru-Kadayoor about 22 kms from Mayooram (Mayiladu-thurai)
The carpet area of the temple is 5,09,352 sqft and is built facing south on the banks of River Cauvery. It has two towers in seven and five stages respectively on eastern side. The temple has 3 corridors.(Pragarams)

The deity is called Amirtha-Gadeswarar in the west facing pose and it is said the deity is self incarnated.
The Lord's consort Devi Abirami has seperate Sanctum facing east.
There are 3 theerthams called Amirdha pushkarini, Kaala-threertham, and Markandeya-theertham. The temple's trees are Bilvam, and Pinjilam .

The saints who sang hymns on the Lord:
Kari-Nayanar , Kungiliya-nayanar Thiru-gnana-sambandhar, Thiru-navu-k-arasar,and Sundarar.

There are fifty one stone inscriptions proclaiming details of this kshetram.

Significance of this temple is that Lord Siva did 8 valourous deeds in 8 differant places (called Ashta- Veera- lakshnam.)and this is one of those 'sthalams' where Lord Siva Killed yama in this place. Yama is also known as Kaalan. Hence Lord Siva's another name is Kaala-Samhara-moorty.

Kaala-samhara-moorty with his consort Balambikai has a separate Sanctum facing west.

There are two legends about this temple.

1st Legend: why this deity is named Amirtha-Kadeswarar: When devas and asuras used the mountain Mandara as a churning rod and the great snake Vasuki as the rope for churning in the ocean of milk (Paarkadal) the devas grasped Vasuki’s tail and the daityas grasped Vasuki’s head. But as the churning began, the mountain Mandara which had no base, began to sink into the ocean. Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a turtle and balanced the mountain on his back.

As the churning continued, Aalakaala, a terrible poison emerged from the ocean. The gods and the demons were affected by the poison and began to lose their strength. Upon seeing this, Lord Siva collected the poison in his hands and was about to swallow it. Sakti, (Siva's consort,) stopped the poison at Siva’s throat. Upon this his throat turned blue. From then on Siva is also called Neelakantan (one whose throat is blue.)

The poison was not the only thing to emerge from the ocean. Many wondrous things followed it. Varuni, the goddess of wine (sura) emerged next. The gods readily accepted her and thus they came to be known as suras. But the demons rejected Varuni and were therefore known as asuras.

Then followed the Parijata tree, which came to occupy the pride of place in the garden of Indra, the king of gods. A jewel named Koustubha emerged and was accepted by Vishnu as his ornament. Three wonderful animals came next - the cow (Kamadhenu), the horse (Ucchaishravas) and the elephant (Iyravatam). iyravatam became Indra's mount. They were followed by the apsaras (nymphs) who became the dancers of the heaven. The goddess Lakshmi or Sri came out next and was united with Vishnu. Finally, a divine being, Dhanvantari, emerged with a pot of amritha- the potion for curing all diseases. It is also the nectar of immortality.

When the devas and the auras went to have a bath the amirtham was spilt by Lord ganesha and it went down into the earth. It emerged as a lingam. It was named Amirtha-Gadeswarar.

2nd Legend: There was a sage called Miruganda Muni. He had no children. So he did penance to Lord Siva for many years. Siva appeared before him. The sage requested the lord that he wished to have a child. The Lord Said to the sage "Miruganda, I will grant your wish. You will have a boy but he will live only for 16 years". Hearing this the sage was sad and said "Lord you granted a boon for a child. I am very happy. But it makes me unhappy that he will live 16 years only." Lord Siva told the sage "do not worry every thing is for the good" and the Lord disappeared.

In due course the sage couple had a boy baby but they were very sad about the boon they got from Siva. However they named the child Markandeya.The child grew up and they taught 'Siva Bakthi' to their son. They took him to all Siva temples. At last they settled down near thiru-kadayoor at a place called Manal-Madu (Now it is called Manal-medu)

The child grew up as an young man. At last the time came for the end of Markandeya's life. Lord Yama came to take his life. On seeing Yama the child ran to Thiru-Kadayoor and tightly embraced the Siva-lingam. When Yama threw his rope on Markandeya to take away his life it struck the Lingam. (Even now there is a mark on the Siva lingam) The Lord got very angry and kicked Yama to death. Hence the Lord is called Kaala-Samharamoorty.

Lord Siva granted a boon to Markandeya that he would be constantly 16 years old and live in this world for ever.

As Lord Siva granted the boon of longevity to Markandeya in this place it is considered auspicious to celebrate land-mark birthdays as the 60th, 70th and 80th and also wedding anniversaries in this temple.

Yama is the instrument of death and when he was killed by Siva no one died and the population in the world increased beyond the bearable limit. "Bhooma-devi" the Goddess that supports the world prayed to Lord Siva to lighten her burden. Siva accordingly brought Yama back to life and the cycle of birth and death started again restoring the balance. This sanctum of Lord yama is opposite to the sanctum of 'Kaala-samhara-moorthi' in this temple.

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