AGASTHEESWARAM

[padmanabha]

For the wedding of Siva and Parvathi, all Gods, Goddess, Saints and others reached Himalayas. Over weighed that region sank down and naturally the southern region got elevated. Lord Siva sent Agasthya muni to the south, to compensate the imbalance. Agasthya holding a spout full of the holy water of the Ganges proceeded to the south. On his way he humbled Vindya ranges and reached kanyakuamri. In between, Lord Siva appeared to him at any places and one such place is Agastheeswaram.
Located a mile away to the south west of Kottaram (between Nagercoil and Kanyakumari), the main idol is called Agasthyalingam and the place called Agastheeswaram.
The two sanctums have Lord siva facing the east and the Goddess facing the south with vinayaka to the right of the Lord can be seen. In the second sanctum we can see Mahavishnu with his consorts Sreedevi and Bhoodevi. Mannadi Sreechakram (brought from Mannadi where Veluthampi Dalawa breathed last) can also be seen.
While circumambulating the sanctum you cannot miss agasthya maram-(agathi maram) which put froth flowers but will not bear fruit. On the northern side there is an inscription in vattezhuthu which says that Kulothunga cholan donated a few salt pans to this temple- (Travancore archeological series volume I).

[crazy]

[Erica]

wow.........nice info padmanabha

[Raghu]

Padmanaba, Good info, but shouldn't this be in the Indian History and Culture section ?