Shri Swetharanyeswarar Temple is located in the town of Thiruvengadu near Sirkazhi. It is
around 28 kms from Mayavaram, 14 kms from Vaitheeswarankoil. The three murthys, three
Sakthis , three sthala vritchams ( holy tree ), Vilvam, Vadaval and Konrai and three holy tanks,
Agni theertham, Surya theertham and Chandra theertham are the unique feature of this temple
and this temple is mentioned in Valmiki Ramayanam and considered equal to Kasi. In this
temple, Lord Shiva is incarnated as Agora Murthi and lord siva have been worshipped by Indran,
Iravatham, Suvathakethu,Suvethan, Mahavishnu, Suryan, Chandran, Agni.
The main deity of this temple is Agora Murthi and it is said that Agora Murthi is the destructive
and furious incarnation of Lord Shiva. There was a demon named Marutwasura who performed
a severe penance towards Lord Bhrama for power. For his prayer, Lord Bhrama offered him
power of invicibilty. After getting the power, he started to torture the devas and innocent
people with his immense power. Worried devas approached Lord Shiva for a reprieve. Lord
Shiva took the form of Agora murthi and killed the Marutwasura under a tree with his third eye.
The temple has big rajagopurams in the east and the west as we enter through the east
entrance, we can see the flagpost, narthana Ganapathi in the flagpost base, and nandhi and in
the west is the corridor with hundreds of beautifully carved pillars and a shrine for Lord
Arumuga. In the outer corridor we can see the shrine of Brahma Vidyambigai and inside the
shrine area we can see ‘pillai iduki annai’ (mother carrying a child) and Sukravar annai. Towards
south side of the temple we can see seperate shrines for Varan ganapathi and Somaskandar
and in the north corridor we can see the moolavar Agoramurthy and his utsavar in separate
shrines. In the centre, there is a big shrine for Swadharanyaswarar as Mahalingam.
In the left side of the ambal mandapam there is a seperate shrine for Budhan and he is the son
of Chandran and Tharai. Budhan is said to be the one who does good deeds and he is seen as
the authority of all arts and to the devotees who worhship him, he bestows intelligence,
education, mastery in arts such as music, astrolgy, maths, medicine and linguistics. His consort
name is Ilay and his son name is Puroovar.