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Historical Period8c CE
8th c. CE
📷 Ssriram mt · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · source
Deities
Vedaranyeswarar
Vedaranyeswarar of Vedaranyam — "the forest where Vedas hid"
Vedaranyeswarar of Vedaranyam — "the forest where Vedas hid"
Paadal Petra Sthalangal are Shiva temples sung in the hymns of the 3 Tevaram saints — Tirugnana Sambandar, Tirunavukkaracar (Appar), and Sundaramurti (Sundarar). Composed 7th–9th c. CE, the Tevaram is the sacred geography of Tamil Shaivism and foundational to the Shaiva-Siddhanta philosophy.
The 4 Vedas took refuge here as forests, afraid of being trodden underfoot. Sambandar and Appar together opened the sealed temple doors by singing 2 hymns. The Vaitheeswaran of this area.
Daily 5-fold puja (ushat-kalam at dawn, kala-santi 6 AM, ucchikalam noon, sayaraksha dusk, ardha-jama 9 PM). Principal offerings: jala-abhisheka, panchamrita (milk/curd/ghee/honey/jaggery), vibhuti, bilva leaves.
Every Paadal Petra's sanctity rests on WHICH saint sang of it and HOW MANY pasurams. Tamil Shaiva tradition treats the Tevaram as Dravida Veda — equivalent in holiness to the Sanskrit Vedas.
