Location : East of Papanasam 5 kms
God : Kalyana Sundareswarar
Goddess : Kalyana sundari
Sacred Tank : Saptha Sagaram
Sacred Tree : Vilvam
Other Names : Tirunallur, sundara giri.
According to the legend, at Thiruvanaikaaval, a spider and an elephant both prayed to Shiva, in their own way. While the elephant poured water on the lingam in the day, the spider covered the lingam with its web in the night. Every morning, the elephant would be angry to see the spider webs on the lingam he had cleaned the day before, and the spider would be angry to see the web destroyed every morning. Finally, when they both left their bodies and passed on, the spider was born as a king, and remembered his past life. He spent his life building temples where elephants would never be able to enter the sanctum.. Other temples built the same way are at .Kudavasal, Nannilam, Chaayavanam, Thalaichangadu, Valivalam, Ambar (Ambal) and Thiruveezhimizhalai
The main deity is Kalyana Sundarar, for Shiva is believed to have granted Sage Agasthya a vision of his marriage here. Behind the lingam are the images of Shiva and Parvati shown getting married, with Brahma performing the rites of marriage on the left, and Vishnu, giving away his sister Parvati in marriage, on the right. The lingam itself is unique, for it is made of an unknown material and changes colours five times a day, and is thus also known asPanchavarneswarar. The lingam has 3 portions – the lower portion which joins the Avudaiyar, and is smooth, the middle portion, which is rough, and the top, which is again smooth, and is the most prominent part of the lingam. Each of these parts changes colour every 2 ½ hours. We were in the temple for about a half an hour, and we could sense the slight change in colour even in that short time. If you plan to visit the temple, give yourself at least 3 hours for this temple alone, so that you can really see the colour changes. To aid you all, I have taken a photo of the notice on the temple wall indicating the colours of the lingam at various times.
