Saturday, April 14, 2018

Saatchi Boodeshwarar Temple, Pazhayanur, Thiruvalangadu, Thiruvallur

Saatchi Boodeshwarar Temple, Pazhayanur, Thiruvalangadu, Thiruvallur
Saatchi Boodeshwarar Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located at Pazhayanur Village near Thiruvalangadu in Thiruvallur District of Tamilnadu. The village is associated with the famous legend ‘Pazhayanur Neeli Kanneer (false tears)’.



Legends
A married merchant while travelling in Kasi city, marries another beautiful girl, loving her at first sight. He along with his new wife and her brother come back to his village near Pazhayanur. On reaching his village, the merchant remembers his earlier wife and fears for showing his new love to her. Without hesitation, he takes his brother in law to a nearby pond and drowns him. When his new wife enquires about her brother, the merchant takes her to the pond acting as if they are out for search, unabashedly kills the new wed wife too in the same pond.

The dead woman comes out as a wandering spirit (Neeli in Tamil), and carrying the brother ghost as her kid, follows the merchant. The merchant nearing his village, crosses Pazhayanur. Night falls and the merchant had to take rest. The Velalars (today’s merchant community) of Pazhayanur are known for their wisdom and integrity. They welcome the guest of their village, feed him and request him to take rest there and go to his native the next day. The “Neeli”, the ghost appears in the disguise of his true wife along with the kid and requests before the Village heads that the merchant had ignored her and is running away from her.

She pleads with them to unite them. The merchant knows very well that there is no chance of his wife appearing at that spot, fearing the worst, refuses to have the woman with him. The guests are intrigued and ask the merchant to have his wife and kid with him that night, in the same room, as it was already late night. Neeli, the ghost is smart and asks the village headmen to make her husband remove the sacred knife he carries along to thwart evils, saying that it is disgusting that a man does not even believe his own wife and carries a sword.

She also adds that she fears for her life and that of her kid, that this man may kill them when they are fast asleep. Seeing her sob and narrate a pathetic story, the village head men believe her and order the merchant to have her in his room. The village head men 70 of them, the Velalars back the Neeli for staying with the merchant. With no other choice, the merchant agrees, but asks guarantee for his life.

The village heads (63 of them) promise that if something untoward happens to the merchant, they will also perish themselves, jumping into the fire, before the Shivalinga of Pazhayanur. And as expected, the worse happens. The Neeli kills the merchant, throws away the ghost kid on her way back to hell besides, crushes the kid ghost beneath her feet and disappears. The village headmen, on seeing the gory death of their guest, feel they are responsible for his death, plunge into the big fire before the Shivalinga.

One head man who is left out, is again called by the Neeli, (taking the form of the wife of the headman himself), asking him why he is alone here, while the others have jumped to death, to keep up their promise. The headman, was ploughing the field by then. Hearing that his brethren have perished, slays his head off with the plough edge and suicides himself to keep up the promise.

The Temple
This is the temple in front of which the famous incident of 79 velalars burnt themselves to death to keep their promise because of Neeli. The place of their death, the Satchibudeswarar Shivalinga and the temple where the oath was taken, are still seen in this village. The very site which witnessed this story of courageous village headmen, who kept their promise to uphold their promise and village law, also the place where the Neeli crushed the ghost kid, all are seen still today.



A memorial is built in the place where the village head men jumped to death, and was opened for common public by the Chief Justice of Madras High Court. The three kings, Chera, Chola and Pandya have sung in praise of this sacrifice, so had sung the mystic poets Sekkizhar, Tirugnanasambandar and Umapathy Sivam. The memorial is a cement sculpture showing a person dunking into flames and around it is a square pavilion where stone reliefs which depict various people and incidents around this massacre.



Connectivity
For brief details, please refer below link;