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New Indian Express

A Siva temple with several interesting features

Thirupachur (Thirupasur), a village near Thiruvallur, is home to the Vachishwarar temple, one of the Padal Petra Sthalams or temples wherein the deities have been praised in the Tamil verses of the Nayanmars or sixty-three important Saivite devotees. The presiding deity of this temple is Vachishwarar, a Siva Linga worshipped by the famous Nayanmars Thirunavukkarasar (Appar) and Thirugnanasambandar in the 7th century AD. While Thirugnanasambandar calls this deity Pasurnathar, inscriptions mention the name as Thirupasur Udaiyar. This temple's Sthala Puranam or traditional story states that this Siva Linga was buried in a bamboo forest here. A cowherd saw one of his cows regularly pouring milk at a particular place in this forest and informed the king. When they dug the ground, the Linga was discovered and consecrated here. There is a bamboo tree inside this temple as it is the Sthala Vriksham (sacred tree). The Siva Linga is therefore worshipped as a Swayambhu (self-manifested).