Needur Somanathaswami Temple

Somanathaswami Temple is a Hindu temple in the village of Needur in the Mayiladuthurai district of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple is dedicated to Shiva.

The entrance of the temple

Legend

Needur is located at a distance of 5 kilometres from Mayiladuthurai. Needur is one of the many temple towns in the state which is named after the grooves, clusters or forests dominated by a particular variety of a tree or shrub and the same variety of tree or shrub sheltering the presiding deity. The region is believed to have been covered with Magila forest and hence called Magilavanam.[1]

Significance
Vimana of the presiding deity

The presiding deity is Somanathaswami. The consort is Veyurutholi Ammai. The temple has shrines to Sivalokanathar, Kailasanathar, Ananda Thandavamurthy, Ganesha, Murugan and the Seven Virgins.

According to Hindu mythology, on a visit to the earth, Indra, the king of the gods desired to do pooja for Shiva. However, he could not find a shivalinga for the purpose. He reached the banks of the Kaveri River where he collected wet mud to create a shivalinga for worship. The Somanathaswami Temple is believed to have been constructed at the spot where Indra made the shivalinga.

References
  1. Reddy, G.Venkatramana (2013). Alayam - The Hindu temple - An epitome of Hindu Culture. Mylapore, Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-7823-542-4.

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