Pushpavanathar Temple, Tiruppoovanoor
| Location of the temple | Tiruppoovanoor |
| Lord Shiva known as | Pushpavanathar, Chaturanga Vallabha Nathar |
| Female deity known as | Karpagavalli, Rajarajeswari |
| Pathigam | Thirunavukarasar, Sambandar |
| How to reach | This shivasthalam is located 12 Kms to the north from Mannargudi and 3 Kms to the south from Needamangalam on the Mannargudi – Needamangalam road. |
| Location map |
Map showing location of Tirupoovanur temple from Mannarkudi Map courtesy by: Google Maps |
This temple has a 5 tier Gopuram (Tower) with high and majestic compund walls and a broad courtyard inside the temple.There are two shrines for the presiding male deity and two separate shrines for the female deity. The other shrines found inside the temple are for Dakshinamurthy, Chandikeswarar, Durgai, Murugan, Vinayakar and Navagraha. Devaas, Nandi Devar, and great saints are said to have worshipped Lord Shiva at this sthalam.
According to the legend, Lord Shiva was once doing an aerial inspection of the earth along with wife Umadevi and when he found this Sthalam with full of flower gardens everywhere, he decided to stay here with his consort. Hence this place is referred to as Poovanur (a place with full of flowers everywhere) and the Lord as Pushpavana Nathar. Also, according to the legend, there was a king by name Vasusenan who ruled from Tirunelveli. His wife Santhimathi was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. One day, when the king was having his bath in the temple tank, he found a child (Lord shiva’s wife Umadevi took this form of the child) on a big lotus flower. The child, as the king’s daughter, grew to become an intelligent girl and an expert in the game of Chaturangam (game of chess). King Vasusenan made an open invitation to all that whoever plays the game of Chaturangam with his daughter and wins the game, will be eligible to marry his daughter Rajarajeswari. Lord Shiva came in the disguise of an elderly man and played the game of Chaturangam and won the game. Thereafter Lord Shiva transformed to his original form and gave darshan to all and married the king’s daughter. From that time the Lord was also known as Chaturanga Vallabha Nathar.