Boomi lingam

 

Vande Ekambaram Boomikeswra swaroopam |
Kamakoti peetavasinii Sahitham Kanchi Nagaravasim Namamyagam ||

Ekambaranadhar - in Prithvi-Lingam has his abode in Kanchipuram-kshetram in Tamil nadu. Lord Siva is in the form of earth - one of the five elements. This huge temple with high rising towers dominates the skyline of Kanchipuram. This was the capital city of the Pallava kingdom. Kanchipuram - a temple city is one among the seven prime pilgrimage centers in India. The presiding deity here is lord Siva is made up of sand and called as Prithvi Lingam (The earth) Boomi Lingam This ancient holy temple existed even in 600 AD. The four saivite saints have sung in its praise about that time. There is no shrine for the consort Parvathi here. Pallavas, Cholas and predominently the Vijayanagar Kings have endowed this temple with considerable wealth. This massive temple's carpet area is more than 40 acres. The entrance tower rises to a height of about 170 feet. The 1000 pillared hall in front of the sanctum was constructed by Krishna Deva Raya. Sundaramoorthy Nayanar was cured of an ailment in his left eye in this temple. Legend says: Once Parvati Devi, the consort of Siva made a Lingam with sand and was worshiping the lingam regularly. The River Vegavathi wanted to destroy the lingam which was being worshiped by Devi Parvathi. Hence river overflowed and there was a danger of it engulfing the Siva lingam. To protect the idol Kamakshi embraced it. Touched by Kamakshi's concern Siva appeared before the devi and married her. The sthala-viruksham is a Mango tree (the ensign of the temple). It is said this is very ancient tree - over 3000 years old. The tree has four branches It gives fruits of four different tastes in each of the four branches in seasons. Another wonder is the each branch has different shape of leaves. which is taken as the four vedas. In the path around the tree is a Siva-linga made of 108 small lingas and another one is 1008 lingas. If any one wish to do prathakshinam(circle around) around the tree should do clockwise. This deity consort devi Kamaskshi is housed in a seperate temple. The important festivals are as follows: Ani Tirumanjanam (June-July), Adi Kritikai (July-Aug), Avani Moolam (Aug - Sep), Navaratri (Sep-October), Kartikai Deepam (Nov-Dec), Thai Poosam (Jan-Feb) Panguni Uthiram (Mar-Apr) Chitra Pournami (Apr-May) Vaikashi Vishakam (May-June) Apart from this temple plenty of other temples are to visit, Om Hreem Namasivaya Location: Kanchipuram is 45 km from Chennai Govt state buses and the private buses available