Miraculous temple where snakes shed skin as garlands

Seshapuriswarar Temple is situated in a village called Thirupampuram in Thiruvarur district. The place is located 26 km east of Kumbakonam. The main deity of the temple Lord Shiva is called as Seshapuriswarar and also as Pampuranathar. His consort Goddess Parvathy is called as Vanduser Poonkuzhali Ammai, Bramarambigai. This is one of the 276 Devara Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams and 59th Shiva Sthalam in Chozha Nadu on Southern bank of the river Cauveri (Thenkarai).

This place’s name “Thiru Pampuram” is derived from “Pampu” (Snake) + “Puram” (place). There are 28 stone inscriptions available in this temple which are from the periods of Kings Kulothunga Cholan-III, Rajaraja Cholan, Rajendra Cholan, Thiribhuvana Veera Devan, Sundara Pandiyan and Saraboji Maharaja. The historical names of this place are Pampura Nannagar, Sheshapuri, Uragapuram and Pampuram.

The significance of this temple is that Raghu and Kethu worshiped the lord here intertwined with one another. They can be seen holding Lord Shiva near their chest. The legend is that once Lord Vinayakar worshipped his father Lord Shiva in Mount Kailash. Vasuki (Nagaraj), the king of serpents, who can be seen on Lord Shiva’s neck thought that Vinayakar was worshipping him instead of Lord Shiva. On knowing this, Lord Shiva cursed the serpent for his arrogance. Due to his curse, the entire serpent community lost their strength and powers.

All the “Ashtamaha” serpents – the eight great serpents- Ananthan, Vasuki, Thatchakan, Karkodakan, Sankapalan, Kulikan, Padman and Mahapadman prayed to Lord Shiva to seek forgiveness for the mistake committed by Vasuki. Lord Shiva advised them to go to earth and worship him on the night of Maha Shivratri. During Mahashivratri the night is divided into 4 parts (“kaalams”). Serpents headed by Adhisheshan visited four different temples on that night in each of the 4 kaalams to worship Lord Shiva. These four temples are Sri Nageswarar Temple at Kumbakonam, Sri Naganathar Temple at Thirunageswarm, Sri Sheshapureeswarar at Thiruppampuram and Sri Naganathar at Nagore. 

There are many idols of snakes in this temple. The predominant one is where Raghu and Kethu are intertwined. This temple is a very popular Parihara Sthalam for “Raghu - Kethu” dosham. It is also popularly known as “Kalahasthi of South”. Snakes appear very often in the Shrines of Lord Shiva and Godess Parvathy in this temple. Even though there are many snakes in this village, not a single case of snake bite is reported in this village so far. It is believed that snakes do not bite in this sthalam.
 
Often large snakes appear in this temple and shed their skin. Miraculously in the year 2002, on 21.03.2002, a snake shed its skin (length 7.5 feet) as garland on the idol of Goddess Vanduser Poonkuzhali Amman. On 26.05.2002, a snake shed its skin (length 8.3 feet) in the form of a garland on the idol of Lord Sheshapureeswarar.

In the sanctum sanctorum, there is an idol of Adisheshan in front of the shivalingam. Adisheshan is seen in a worshiping form. Both Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathy’s shrines are facing east. Another significance of this temple is that Goddess Parvathy is on the left side of Lord Shiva. They are depicted in their wedding posture and this is considered to be very auspicious.

This temple is very famous as a parihara sthalam for Raghu - Kethu Doshams such as “Kaala Sarba Dosham”, “Puthira Dosham” and “Kalathira Dosham”.  A large number of devotees can be seen performing poojas to seek relief from the ill effects of such doshas.