Tamil Vellai Vinayakar Koil State/province Tamil Nadu District Thanjavur district | Country India Architectural styles Dravidian architecture Architectural style Dravidian architecture | |
 | ||
Locale Tiruvalajuli (near Swamimalai) Primary deity Kabardeeshwarar(Shiva), Vellai Vinayagar(Ganesha) Similar Thenupuriswarar Temple, Kampaheswarar Temple - Thirubuvanam, Swaminathaswamy temple - Swamimalai, Kola Valvill Ramar Temple - T, Kalyanasundaresar Temple - Nallur | ||
The Swetha Vinayagar Temple (Tamil: Vellai Vinayakar Koil) is a Hindu temple situated in the village of Thiruvalanchuzhi (also spelt as Thiruvalanjuli) near Swamimalai in Kumbakonam taluk of Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India. The presiding deity is Kapardiswarar, a form of the Hindu god Shiva and his consort Brihannayaki.
Contents
Legends
The temple is associated with a sage called Herandar, who, according to legend, is believed to have gone through an underground passage to the nether world and brought the Kaveri River to the earth to flow into the Bay of Bengal. Since the river took a convoluted direction in its flow, the place is called Tiruvalanjuzhi. There is an image of Herandar in the temple and the trunk of the elephant-headed god, Ganesha (Vinayagar) swirls towards the right. The presence of Buddhist images from the Chola period in the temple show influence of Buddhist tradition in the region.
Vinayaka idol
The temple is renowned for its shrine dedicated to Ganesha (Vinayagar, Vinayaka). The idol of Vinayaka is white in colour and is believed to have been created out of sea sand. Hence, the temple is also known as Swetha Vinayagar Temple in Sanskrit or Vellai Vinayakar Temple in Tamil, meaning "the temple of the white Vinayaka".
According to popular legend, Indra, the king of the Devas created the idol of Ganesha out of sea sand during the churning of the ocean and left it in a niche in the temple hoping to get back the idol sometime later. But later, when he returned to remove the idol of Ganesha, it would not budge. So, the idol was allowed to remain where it was. A lattice-worked stone window pane called palahani is present in the temple. The temple is originally believed to have been built by Kanaka Chola in prehistoric times.
As per another legend, when Devas (celestial deities) and Asuras (demons) were churning the Ocean of milk with Vasuki the serpent, they disregarded the advice of Vinayaka. It resulted in the spilling of poison in Amruta. To propitiate, the Devas created an image of Vinayaga with sea water and worshipped him at the place. The image of the presiding deity is white in colour on account of the belief.