Panchalinga

Panchalinga

Panchalinga Kshetrams or five faces of Shiva are dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is located at Talakad in Karnataka.

Panchalinga represent the five faces of Lord Shiva: Pathaleshwara (or Vasukhishwara), Maruleshwara (or Saikateshwara), Arkeshwara, Vaidyanatheeshwara and Mallikarjuna. Vaidyanatheeshwara - The lord is Vaidyanatheeswara and the Goddess is Manonmani Mallikarjuna - The Lord is Mallikarjuna Swamy and the Goddess is Brahmaraambigai

Vaidyanatha temple
At the temple entrance there are two structured and ornamented dwarpalakas and a Ganesha idol on his munjur vahanam on the right. In the inner mandapam, there are idols of Lord Nataraja, Durgai, Badhrakaali, Kaaligambal, Shaaradaambigai. There are idols of Lord Ganesha and Muruga on either side of the main sanctum. The goddess is Manonmani.

An elephant performed the ritual of bathing daily in the Gokarnam pond. It took water and lotus from the pond and performed pooja at a specific place. Tala and Kaada were the two who wanted to know what was happening. They struck at the tree with an axe and blood gushed out from the cut. They realised that they had struck at a Siva lingam and pleaded forgiveness. The blood that was gushing out turned to white milk. They heard a divine voice that instructed them to dress the wound with the leaves and fruits of the tree. They attained moksha by drinking the milk. Since the Sivan lingam had shown ways of healing, the Lord is known by the name Viadyanaatheeswarar. .

Paathaleshwara temple
Panchalinga, Karnataka

Pathaleshwara, Maruleshwara were built by the Ganga kings that are considered to be the oldest structures. The Shivalingam at Pathaleshwara changes colour - appears red in the morning, black in the afternoon and white in the night.

Maruleshwara temple
To the North of the Keerthi Narayanar temple is the Maruleshwara temple. It is believed that the huge Siva lingam that has been installed here was worshipped by Lord Brahma. In the front mandapam there are idols of Maheswara, Thirumal, Ambigai, Surya, Ganapathi, Shanmugar, Veerabadhrar and navagrahams.

Mallikarjuna temple
The Lord at the Mallikarjuna temple at Mudukuthurai is a small lingam. The Goddess is Brahmaraambigai. On the Lingam the foot marks of Kaamadhenu are seen.

Panchalinga darshanam is an occasion celebrated once in every 12 years on a new moon day. Devotees start the ritual of the day by bathing in the Gokarna theertham. Then they worship Gokarneswara, Chandikadevi and then Vaidyanatheeshwara. They then bathe in the northern, eastern, southern and western stretches of the Kaveri, worship Arkeshwara, Pataleshwara, Maraleshwara and Mallikarjuna, returning to Vaidyanatha temple. They have to worship Kirtinarayana thereby concluding the ritual of the day.

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