Anandathandavapuram
Anandathandavapuram is a village in Mayiladuthurai taluk, Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu. The nearest town, Mayiladuthurai is located five kilometers, southerly. Anandathandavapuram has a small railway station which is located within the limits of the village. From this village there are direct trains to Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur, Chidambaram, Vaitheeswaran Temple etc.
Anandathandavapuram | |
|---|---|
village | |
  Anandathandavapuram Location in Tamil Nadu, India  Anandathandavapuram Anandathandavapuram (India) | |
| Coordinates: 11°8′48″N 79°39′44″E | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Tamil Nadu |
| District | Nagapattinam |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Total | 5,000 |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Tamil |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
The village is famous for Panchavateeswarar Shiva Temple[1] and also a small Perumal temple. This is head of the 18 villages of Vathima a subsect of Tamil Brahmin iyers.
The Name 'Anandathandavapuram'
Once upon a time there was a hermit by the name Ananda. He was a devout Saivite. Being a person of yogic abilities, he would go to any shrine of Shiva of his choice flying through the sky. Daily he used to go to Rameswaram by air to take a bath in the sea and then go to Chidambaram from there again by air. From Chidambaram, he used to go to Mahendramalai for meditation. This had become his daily routine. By night he would return to his village of Anandathandavapuram. This was going on for quite some time.
One cold morning Lord Shiva decided to test his devotee. It was Thiruvathirai, an auspicious day for Shiva puja and all the Shiva temples wore a festive look. Ananda was about to leave for his daily routine when the skies poured out. Rain started lashing and it didn’t stop and the hermit couldn’t use his yogic abilities too on this day. The rain didn’t stop even at night and Ananda couldn’t have a glimpse of his Lord the whole day. He was very angry too with nature for having spoilt his day. Immediately, he decided to end his life as he couldn’t have darshan of the Lord that day. As he was about to kill himself, Shiva and his consort appeared before him and also danced for him, the ananda thandavam (Happy Dance). Since Shiva danced in this village, it got is present name of Anandathandavapuram, a.k.a. Anathandapuram.
Demographics
As per the 2001 census, Anandathandavapuram had a population of 3560 with 1796 males and 1764 females. The sex ratio was 982 and the literacy rate, 76.4.
People
The people from this village are devotees of Sri Nataraja at Chidambaram Temple. A direct disciple of Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is a resident of this village. Mantra Guru Sri Rengaswami also hailed from this village.[2]
Facilities
The people in this village enjoy all the facilities like residents of Big Towns. Apart from the temples and the Railway Station they have a POST OFFICE, GOVT SCHOOL, PHARMACY with DOCTOR Consultation and a good GROCERIES shop at Anna statue street
Famous personalities
The great Carnatic composer and lyricist Sri Gopalakrishna Bharathi lived in this village for most of his life. His music Guru - Sri Govinda Yati also lived here. As a tribute to this great man, a music festival in the name of Gopala Krishna Bharathi is conducted in this village annually when renowned musicians from all over the country like Sudha Raghunathan, Sanjay Subramanian come to this village and render wonderful performances on Sri Gopala Krishna Bharathi's creations. The famous theatre artist Bombay Gnanam also grew up here.
References
- http://temple.dinamalar.com/en/new_en.php?id=1568
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Primary Census Abstract - Census 2001". Directorate of Census Operations-Tamil Nadu. Archived from the original on 6 August 2009.