Did you know that the World's largest Natarajar is a Suyambu?
Uma Maheswarar Temple of Konerirajapuram near Kumbakonam in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu is very famous for the unique Swayambu metal Lord Natarajar – the biggest Nataraja statue in the world.
The historical name of this place is Thiru Nallam. It is believed that this place got submerged and later excavated. Queen Sembian Mahadevi, wife of Chola King Kandarathithan and the Grandmother of king Raja Raja Chola, replaced the old brick temple with granite and expanded the premises.
Shiva is worshiped as Uma Maheswarar and is represented by the lingam and his consort Parvati is depicted as Mattuvar Kuzhalammai. The presiding deity is revered in the Devaram, written by Tamil saint poets nayanmars - Sampanthar and Thirunavukkarasar - and is therefore a Paadal Petra Sthalam. 16 among 18 Sidhdhars have prayed at this temple.
The presiding deity is Shiva. The goddess is Angavala Nayaki. There are also shrines to Brahma and Vishnu within the complex. There are also shrines for Ganesha and Murugan as Vaidhyanathaswami.
Nataraja of this temple is world’s biggest and tallest Nataraja sculpture in panchaloha (amalgam of five metals). This is the only temple in the world which has swayambu Nataraja which is said as "Theenda Thirumeni" meaning- sculpture not even touched by a sculptor.
Legend behind this swayambhu goes like this: when King wanted to install a tall Panchaloha Natarajar idol, he asked his court sthapathi to make one to the size of a tall human being. Being a staunch devotee of Lord Siva, sthapathi was enthralled to make one and he prepared moulds, but he could not succeed. When he was busy preparing a huge mould, a couple appeared before him, from nowhere and asked for some water. Since sthapathi was dejected and worried about his work, he yelled at them to drink molten panchaloka metal kept in the vessel. The couple drank that and to the surprise of the sthapathi, they turned out to be Lord Nataraja in dancing form and Parvarthi Devi next to him.
When king came to inspect the work, sthapathi narrated whole thing happened just then. But king did not believe, and he furiously drew his sword. The sword left a cut mark in Dancing Nataraja’s left leg and blood oozed out and splashed on the king. King immediately developed leprosy and he prayed to Lord to forgive him for his mistake. Lord Siva appeared and told the king to pray to Lord Vaithiyanatha Swami who is going to stay in that Temple and bless all his devotees to ward of all health problems. Here in this temple Vaithiyanatha Swami is very powerful and devotees throng this temple on Tuesdays to offer prayer and poojas.
This Lord Nataraja is seen like a human, with mole in His left armpit and the sword cut mark in his lifted left leg which looks very natural like human body. This is an antique wonder.
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