Thirukooda-Nadhar at Kutralam

The temple features:

This temple is located in Kutralam 6 kms in the south west direction from Then-Kasi in Tamil nadu.
This place also has other names asThiru-kooda-chalam, Kurumbala, Uthalaka vanam and so on.
This temple is built 550 ft above the sea level at the foothill of a 5000 ft high hillock. The carpet area of the temple in the shape of a 'shanku" (conch) is 1,53,032 sqft with four entrances on the eastern side. The deity is called Thirukooda-nadhar and it is said that it is self incarnated in the east facing pose. The lord's consort Devi Kulal-wai-mozhi ammai has a separate sanctum. facing south. The temple trees are Kurumbala and Kutralam and there are many theerthams. The important theerthams are Siva madu, Gangai, Vada-Aruvi (Aruvi is water-falls) Chitra nadhi, Aagamam, Magudagama,
Kutralam is one of the 5 Pancha Sabhas of Lord Nataraja and is called Chitra Sabhai. The five famous Sabas in which Lord Siva is represented in the dancing pose are Chidambaram, Madurai, Tiruvalankadu, Tirunelveli and Kutralam. Kutralam is also known as Trikoota-chalam

Devi Parvathi is also of significance here and this temple is regarded as one of the 51 Shakti Peethams.(Parasakthi-Peetam) But it is not mentioned in the Devi Bagavatham. There are 86 stone inscriptions here giving details of the kshetram.

The saints who sang hymns on the Lord:
Thiru-gnana-sambandhar , Thirunavo-karasu , Manikka-vasagar, and sundararLegend:
Resulting from the presence of a multitude of Ganas at Siva Parvati wedding in the himalayas waiting for a glimpse of the divine couple the earth became imbalanced.. Agastyar at Lord Siva's request, preceded in southern direction to stabilize the earth and came to Kutralam which restored the stability.

There was a Vishnu idol here which shrunk in size and took the shape of a Siva-lingam when a number of Siva-ganas shouted " kurugu" repeatedly. ('kurugu' in Tamil means shrink). Hence the place is called Kutralam.

The temple has a shanku (conch) shaped corridor. Hence is referred to as Sangu-kovil. The Siva-lingam shows itself as Brahma and Vishnu alternatively at the Mummu-rasuk-kovil in the Tirikoota hall (mandapam) In this temple.

The Chitra Saba in the main temple houses more than one thousand beautiful pictures. Architecturally the Chitrasaba resembles the other Nataraja Sabas elsewhere in Tamilnadu. However its interior is striking with thousands of paintings and graphic works executed directly on the walls of the Chitra saba depicting images from the epics. Natarajar is brought here during the festival time from the Kurum-pala-veesar temple.
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