Thirunallar Shaniswar Temple read on saturday

Nala Thirtham Thirunallar

 Thirunallar Shaniswar Temple Karaikal

Thirunallar Shaniswar Temple are symbolic of the abode of God and even though countless numbers of them are extent in our land they are only so many microcosms of the macrcosm the abode of milk is the cow but the nectar could be extract only from the under through teats of this sacred animal similarly God though transcendent is immanent in the temple and is cognizable only there in.

For millenniums the Hindus have been extremely God loving, and all over the land temples were built by the rulers, or the scions of rulers, and no wonder the poet warns us 'not to dwell in a place where a temple is non-existent.'

Thirunallar Temple History in Short

In the Thanjavur District studded with scores of temples the exists in Tirunallar near Karaikal, the former French territory, the ancient temple of Darbharanyeswara. This temple was visited by the Saint Tirugnana Sambandar in the 7th century A.D. who sang padigams (decadal verses) in praise of the Lord. Likewise, his contemporary Saint Tirnnavukkarasu and later, Saint Sundarar (9th century A.D.) had visited the temple and sung padigams extolling the Lord. Saint Arunagirinathar (15th century A.D.) had also visited it and sung hymns included in his monumental work Tiruppugazh.

Since [the principal deity Darbharanyeswara his consort Praneswari, Shaniswar  and the several other gods and goddesses enshrined here have the power to offer benedictions to the devotees, hundreds of them visit  this temple daily.  There  is the additional attraction of several sacred  tanks which exist here and which are said to, possess healing powers literally as well as metaboically.
A beautiful Rajagopuram in five tiers resing to the sky and adorned with an abundance of  terracotta sculpture as we approach the temple.   As one enters  and perambulates round the eircumambulatory path this shirne of Kalathinathar  and Karpakavinayakar are seen which are readily  worshipped. The images  of  the  four  great  Shive Saint besides those  of  the  63  - Nayanmars  are  represented  at the turn of the southeren Prakara  of  the temple, and  noteworthy  feature  here  is the image of  Nala  house  in a separate  shrine  at the end of the gallery of the 63 - Nayanmars.  On  the westren path  are  seen  three  figures   having  uam  stackable  sage-like appearance.  And it is believed that one of them is, that of the Chola king Raja Raja,  it  is  food  for researchers as this image  is  so  strikingly similar to  the  one  found  at the entrance of the  Nritta  Sabha  in  the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram.  The other notable deities in this line are Swarna Vinayaka and Subramanya.

The  image  of Lord Shaniswara is seen in a graceful standing  pose housed in  niche  on the left side of the Lord's Sannithi.  He is  shedding benevolence  as  he  is wearing the aspect of Anugrahamum and  a  Perennial stream of  Bhaktas  throng  here  to  worship  Him  and  obtain  His  grace throughout the year on important festival days.
According to legends, Shani is the son of the Sun [the Chief of the solar system] by Chhaya, the shadow of Samine his wife.  He was ordered by his father  to  take his pace amongst the planets and  engage  himself  in meeting out  joys  and sorrows to mortals in proportion to the  merits  and demerits earned by them in their past lives.
Shaniswara  is  very  much sought after by  countless  millions  of devotees  on  the  day when the Planet Saturn  [worshipped  as  Shaniswara] transits  front one zoditical sign to another.  This day is great  occasion here and  abhishekas, archhnas, pujas, aradhanas and naivedyas are  offered to the Lord  continuously  the  whoe day for mitigation  of  the  scorching effeets his influence produces on those to pass through Shani Dasa in their lives.
There   are  several  tanks  here   which  are  considered   highly sanctified.   They  are  respectively  Brahma Tirtha,  Vani  Tirtha,  Hamsa Tirtha, Agasthia  Tirtha, Nala Tirtha, etc., The Sthala Vriksha here is the Darbha plant [Kusa grass].
The Lord Darbharanyeswara is offered pujas six times a day and Lord Shaniswara five times a day.

Shaniswara has also other names such as Mandam [dullard Pangu[lame] Kartam [biack man] etc.  Since the takes nearly three decadeo complete one orbit round  the sun he is reckoned as a very slow moving planet.  The name Sanaichara  means  slow moving. And his vehicle is the crow  the  familiar black brid.  The colour of his graments is also black.
According  to  astrology,   Saturn  is   the  Lord  of  the  houses. Makhara[Capricorn] and  Kumbha  [Aquarius].  He is exalted  in  the  house Thula[Libra]  and  is Ayurkaraka or in other words, governs our life  span, Sesame or  the  gingelli is his favourite seed and cooked rice  mixed  with sesame is the favourite naivedana.
The  Siloatatnakara mentions the eagle as his vehicle.  It is  also said that  lamps  fed with gingili oil and lighted before him  reduces  the intensity  of  his  malelife  and saturday being his day in  the  week  the offerings  on  that day of gingili oil fed lamps and gingili-rice bring  to the devotee great virtues besides getting the saturnine influence mitigated if thiy happen to be affilicted by it.

Saturn  as well known as one of the 9 planets and Is the biggest in the solar system next only to Jupiter.  Its diameter is 71,500 miles and is of a lighter  density than the earth.  It orbits the sun taking about  29.5 years to  take one full round, passing through the 12 sign of the zodiac in its stride.  It is 886 million miles away from the Sun.  And it takes 10.15 hours to make in rotation on its own axis.