Pancha Bhoota temples

Life and the various species originated by the combination of planetary globes and the five manifestations of nature namely earth, water, fire, air, and space. Rabindranath Tagore in his book Pancha bhoota, has explained that the emotional ability of the human mind is keenly sensitive to all objects of light, colour, sound, effect of speed, sun, moon and stars.

The Human Body and the Earth have the same composition – ¾ water and ¼ rest. To be precise, the human body is composed of 72% water, 12% earth, 6% air, 4% fire and 6% ether/space. Every Yogic practice is about cleansing the 5 (Pancha) Bhootas – eventually leading to a pure body, mind and soul.

The Pancha Bhoota temples are the 5 Shiva temples dedicated to one of the Bhootas each.

- Fire: Tiruvannamalai Arunachala temple, Tamil Nadu: Lord Shiva manifested himself in the form of a massive column of fire here. The remains of the fire finally took the form of the Tiruvannamalai hill which is worshipped by devotees of Lord Shiva himself. Devotees also take a pilgrimage barefoot walk around the holy hill of 14km circumference (girivalam) to worship the Lord. The 14km has Asta (8) Shiva lingas spaced out, including the Agni (Jyothi) lingam.

Legend - One day, Vishnu and Brahma had an argument over their superiority. Shiva appeared in front of them in the form of a raging fire and asked them to each find the tip of the fire. Whoever reaches the tip would be superior between the two. Brahma went upwards and Vishnu downwards in search of the tip, however Shiva increased the length of the flaming fire continuously. After thousands of miles, Vishnu conceded defeat and returned. Brahma was getting exhausted and, on the way, saw the Ketaki flower. He made Ketaki agree to lie that Brahma had indeed reached the top where the flower had resided and got the flower from there. When Brahma confronted Vishnu with Ketaki, Shiva appeared in his true form in front of them. Shiva was angered by Brahma’s lie and cursed him that he would never be worshipped and also banned the Ketaki flower from being offered for worship. The Fire form which Shiva took is the Arunachala hill in Thiruvannamalai – “Aruna” means Red (fire) and “Achala” means steady immovable; mountain.

- Water: Tiruvanaikaval temple, Tamil Nadu: Lord Shiva represents the water element here, where the Appu lingam is submerged in water and a perennial sub-terrain spring gushes around the lingam.

Legend - Parvathi in the form of Akilandeswari performed penance here. She made a lingam out of water of river Cauvery (also called as river Ponni) under the Venn Naaval tree (the Venn Naaval tree on top of the saint Jambu) and commenced her worship. The lingam is known as Appu Lingam (Water Lingam). Shiva blessed Akilandeswari and taught her the Shiva Gnana. There were two Shiva Ganas (disciples who live in Kailash): 'Malyavan' and 'Pushpadanta'. Though they were Siva Ganas, they used to always quarrel with each. In one fight, 'Malyavan' cursed 'Pushpadanta' to become an elephant on earth and the latter cursed the former to become a spider on earth. The elephant and the spider came to Jambukeswaram and continued their Shiva worship. The elephant collected water from river Cauvery and conducted ablution to the lingam under the Jambu tree daily. The spider constructed his web over the lingam to prevent dry leaves from dropping on it and prevent sunlight directly falling on it. When the elephant saw the web and thought it was dust on lingam. The elephant tore them and cleaned the lingam by pouring water and the practice continued daily. The spider was angered and crawled into the trunk of the elephant and bit the elephant to death, killing itself. Shiva, in the form of Jambukeswara, moved by the deep devotion of the two, relieved them from the curse. As an elephant worshipped Shiva here, this place came to be known as Thiru Aanai Kaa (thiru means holy, aanai is elephant, kaa (kaadu) means forest). Later the name 'Thiruaanaikaa' become 'Thiruvanaikaval' and 'Thiruvanaikoil'.

- Space: Chidambaram Nataraja temple: Space is worshiped as Lord Shiva (Akasha lingam) to signify God is beyond human comprehension. Chidambaram is the seat of Lord Shiva as the cosmic dancer Nataraja (Ananda Tandava pose ; the Cosmic Dance of bliss). The Deity of Nataraja is enshrined in the Chit sabha. Behind this Deity, is a black screen, which is considered to cover the Akasha Lingam. There is no Lingam here, thus stressing the belief that there is everything in nothing.

Legend: According to Chidambara-mahatmya, Lord Shiva visits sages in the mythical Pine Forest in the form of a beggar accompanied by Mohini, none other than Vishnu in the avatar of a beautiful woman. Mohini triggers lustful interest of the sages, while Shiva performs Tandava dance that triggers the carnal interest of the wives of these sages. The sages ultimately realise how superficial their austerities have been. The episode becomes widely known. The sages Patanjali and Vyaghrapada want to see the repeat performance of this "dance of bliss" in the Thaillai forest, Chidambaram. They installed a Shiva linga and meditated on it for long. Their asceticism impresses Shiva who appeared before them in Chidambaram and performed "the dance" against "the wall, in the blessed hall of consciousness".

- Earth: Ekambareshwar temple: Shiva is worshiped as Ekambareswarar here and is represented by the Prithvi Lingam.

Legend - Once, Parvati was performing penance on the Prithvi Lingam, made out of sand under a mango tree, to expatiate herself from a curse. The Vegavati River (which was years ago created by Shiva to satisfy a sage’s thirst) overflowed and was about to destroy the lingam. Parvati hugged the lingam to protect it. This gesture of Parvati touched Shiva immensely and he materialised in person in front of her and she was liberated from the curse. The mango tree where this happened exists in the temple and is believed to be several thousand years old.

- Air: Srikalahasti temple: Shiva is worshipped as Vayu lingam here.

Legend: Vayu performed penance for thousands of years to "Karpoora lingam" (Karpooram means camphor). Pleased with his penance, Shiva manifested before him and said, "O Vayu Deva! Though you are dynamic in nature, you stayed here without movement and did penance for me. I'm pleased with your devotion. I shall grant you three boons". Vayu said, "Swami! I want to be present everywhere in this world. I want to be an integral part of every Jiva who is none other than the manifestation of Paramatma. I want to name this Karpoora Linga, which represents you, after me”. Samba Siva said, "You are qualified for these three boons. As per your wish, you will be spread throughout this world. Without you there will be no life. This linga of mine will forever be known all over through your name, and everyone will worship this Lingam". Shiva disappeared after granting these boons. Thereafter, this Karpoora Vayu Lingam is worshipped by all Lokas (worlds).

In the temple’s sanctum sanctorum, there is lamp with a wavering flame throughout day and night without any traces of wind to facilitate its flickering. This indicates the presence of Lord Vayu. The main lingam is not touched by anyone including the priests till date. Hence, abhishekam is not offered to the main lingam but the holy mixture of water, milk, sandalwood, flowers, camphor and other key ingredients are offered to the Utsava murthi.