NAVAGRAHA TEMPLETiruvengadu Budha Bhagawan Temple (Mercury Temple) Tiruvengadu, TamilNadu

The Temple of Budha Bhagawan is situated is situated at Thiruvenkadu, in Nagapatinam District approx 10 km from Sri Vaideeshwaran Koil and 23 Km away from Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu. Shree Swedaranyeswarar is Lord Shiva as Budha or Mercury. The shrine here is among the 51 Sakti Peethas and also one of Navagraha Sthalas. The position is also known as Adi Chedambaram. Nataraja's dance at this place is recognized as Hasti Natnam.

Maruthuvan a demon, obtained boons from Lord Brahma and agonized the Devas. The suffering Devas went to Lord Shiva to get freedom from the torture of demon. They were advised to go to Thiruvengado and stay there in cover by Lord. Nandhi (vehicle of Lord Shiva) was sent by Lord Shiva to defeat the demon. Nandi was injured by the demon's trident. This made Lord Shiva angry and transformed his fury into the Agoramurthi form. On viewing the Lord in that form the demon begged his pardon and surrendered on his feet. He also praised that those devoting Agoramurthi won't have any enemies.Vedarashi (brahmin) had kept his bag of food inside the trunk of tree. A reptile (snake) staying in it poised the foodstuff. Unaware of this, Vedarashi gave that food to a Vedic swamy, who lost his life due to the poison of the snake. Because of this the Brahmin got a curse (Brahmahathi Dhosham), which he absolved by praising Lord Shiva of Thiruvengado.When Thirugnaanasambandar reached the boundaries of Thiruvengado, the entire land looked like Shivaloka & the sands Shivalingas. He cried Oh! Mother and was hesitating to put his feet on this blessed land. Goddess Periyanayakhi appeared on listening his voice & took that kid on hips. The deity of Periyanayakhi with Thirugnaanasambandar is royally installed inside the shrine.

This Lord Shiva holy place is among the 6 most sanctified lands on the banks of Manikanigai River and Kauvery River which is measured as corresponding to the shrine in Varanasi. Tiruvaiyaru, Chayavanam, Tiruvidaimarudur, Mayiladuturai & Tiruvanchiyam are the other 5 shivasthalams.It's been said that God Shiva was worshipped by Indiran, Budhan, Airavatam, Sun God Suriyan and Moon God Chaandiran. With the stone writing found in this holy place, a lot of contributions to this temple were made by the chola kings Rajaraja Chola and Aditya Chola.There are some temples of importance in this holy place, including the shrines of Goddess Kali and Durga. The figure of Nataraj here is made up of enormous attractiveness. Worship to Aghoramurthi - (Verabhadrar) is thought to be of importance on nights of Sundays in this place. According to Chidambharam, there's also a pilgrimage for Lord Vishnu next to the temple for Nataraj. This is adhi (first) chidambharam since he performed the first dance here prior to the dancing Shiva in chidambharam.

In the Tamil Mashi Month which comes between February � March, flag hoisting is done on the Punarvhasu star day and carried on for ten days. Devotees visit this temple mainly on Wednesdays as it is considered to be special at this place.

APART FROM force majeure INCIDENTS, ALL SATURDAYS, ALL SUNDAYS, CHRISTMAS-NEW YEAR WEEK (24TH DECEMBER TO 2ND JANUARY), 14TH & 15TH JANUARY, NATIONAL HOLIDAYS (26TH JANUARY, 14TH APRIL, 15TH AUGUST, 2ND OCTOBER), 9 DAYS NAVARATRI, DIWALI WEEK,

WE CAN ARRANGE SERVICES ON BLACKOUT DAYS ALSO, SUBJECT TO GUEST TOLERATING HEAVY CROWDS AT TEMPLE