kOchcheNkatchOza nAyanAr

The chOza dynasty which in its ancient hierarchy had the king who gave his own flesh in order to save a pigeon that took shelter, had in its empire this forest which was spreading the very pleasant smell with the water of river kAviri flowing through it that brought in its current sandalwood logs. In the bosom of that forest was a garden of blossoming flowers on the banks of chan^dhira thIrththam. In that floral garden at the shade of the tree veNNAval appeared the God whose feet were hard to find even for Lord vishNu. There was a white elephant of great austerity that used to anoint the Lord with the water it brought in the trunk and worshipped with the bunch of flowers everyday. In the same place there was a spider worshipping the God of gods. It used to build the web over the Lord's place so that no dry leaf falls on the gold like lightning matted hair of the Supreme. Both the creatures were doing in their love for the Graceful one, the service and worship they can offer.

When the elephant came for saluting the Lord it saw the web over the Lord and finding it unholy it smashed the web with its trunk and did its pUja. The spider felt bad about the elephant disturbing its service. It again built a web in service of the Lord above the shiva liN^gam. The following day also the elephant removed the spider web and spider got irked by the elephant disturbing its sincere service. It entered the trunk of the elephant and bit. In the acute pain the elephant dashed against the ground and died. Because of the crash the spider also died. With the admirable ardent worship of both the spider and the elephant the place got the name thiruvAnaikkA. The Merciful one gave boons to the elephant and blessed the spider to rule the land taking birth in the tradition of chOza kings.

The chOza king chubadhEvan served under the holy feet of the Dancing Lord of thillai along with the queen kamalavadhi. Worried about not having an offspring the queen prayed to the God and by Its grace to her and to the land the spider that did a great service to the Lord became the fetus. When she was about to give birth to the baby she heard the astrologers discussing that if the baby was born a n^Azikai (a unit of time like an hour) later it would rule a big Empire. The queen ordered immediately to raise her legs up to prevent the birth till the specified time. At the specified time the loving mother delivered the baby and yelled with love at him kOchcheN^kaNAnO !! (Oh red eyed king !!). She died soon. The king brought up his loving son as his life and soul and gave the kingdom to him and went to do austerities to enter the state of Lord shiva.

The king kOchcheN^katchOzar reminiscing the services of his previous birth with the grace of the Lord wanted to build many wonderful abodes to the Lord of the five Elements. He went to the place of his previous service thiruvAnaikkA and constructed a mammoth temple for the mR^ityuJNjaya. He sent his brave ministers in all the directions and built huge temples in all the states of the kingdom for the Eight shouldered Lord. He gave huge donations for the maintenance of those abodes with heart full of devotion. With his royal umbrella giving shade for a very big empire he ruled the land. He went to the Dancer in the Common place's thillai to salute the Golden feet. He constructed mansions for the disciplined priests of thillai who spent their life in the service of the Almighty. With the land praising his services he took shelter under the holy feet of the Lord who is the Supreme owner of all the fame. Let the great and holy devotion of kOchcheN^kat chOza n^AyanAr with which he built gigantic marvelous numerous temples for the Lord stay in the mind.

Some of the "mADakkOyil"s constructed by kOcceNkaTchOzar

man^dhirikaL thamaiEvi vaLLalkodai an^apAyan ,
mun^dhaivaruN^ kulamudhalO rAyamudhaR cheN^kaNAr ,
an^dhamilchIrch chONAttil akanAdu thoRumaNiyAr ,
chan^dhirachE karan amarun^ thAnaN^gaL palachamaiththAr

gurupUjai : mAci - chadhayam

Birth place of kOtchengkach chOzha nAyanAr