Tiruchengode
Beautiful place and its a town which has all facilitates, city and municipality located in the modern day Namakkal District, in the southern Indian state of TamilNadu. The famous Ardhanareeswarar hill temple (one of the 64 manifestations of Lord Shiva, representing the unity of Shiva and Parvati) is situated in Tiruchengode. This is an ancient temple mentioned in the Tamil work Silapathikaram as Neduvelkunru.
In ancient days, Tiruchengode was known as "Thirukodimaadachenkunrur".
Tiruchengode is in south
Ardhanari
Ardhanarishvara is an androgynousShiva and his consort Shakti, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies. The Ardhanari form also illustrates how the female principle of God, Shakti is inseparable from the male principle of God, Shiva. Ardhanari in iconography is depicted as half-male and half-female, split down the middle. The best sculptural depictions of Shiva as Ardhanari are to be seen in the sensuous Chola dynasty bronzes and the sculptures at Ellora and Elephant.
An iconographic representation of Shiva called Ardhanarishvara shows him with one half of the body as male, and the other half as female. According to Ellen Goldberg, the traditional Sanskrit name for this form, (Ardhanārīśvara) is best translated as "the lord who is half woman", and not as "half-man, half-woman".
The term 'Ardhanarishvara' is a combination of three words- 'ardha', 'nari' and 'ishvara', meaning respectively, 'half', 'woman' and 'Lord' or 'God', that is, Ardhanarishvara is the Lord whose half is woman, or who is half woman. Some scholars interpret the term as meaning 'the half male' who is Shiva and 'the half female' who is Parvati. Such interpretations are suggestive of dvaita, the duality of existence, and thus contradict the Advaita Vedic stand in the matter. Such contentions also contradict the Shaiva philosophy of advaita, which is very emphatic in its assertion that He alone is the cause of the entire existence, as it is by His will and out of Him that the cosmos came into being. In the Shaivite hymn 'Ekohum bahusyami' (Shiva Purana), that is, I am One, but wishes to be many, there echoes the Rigvedic perception of the single egg splitting into bhuta and prana. Otherwise also, most interpretations of the Vedas widely favor the principle of monogenic existence. Besides its emphasis on the unity of the outward duality, the Rigveda acclaims, 'He, who is described as male, is as much the female and the penetrating eye does not fail to see it'. The Rigvedic assertion is explicitly defined. The male is only so much male as much he is female and vice versa the female is only as much female as much she is male. The maleness and femaleness are the attributes contained in one frame.
The five mantras
Five is a sacred number for Shiva. One of his most important mantras has five syllables (namaḥ śivāya)
Shiva's body is said to consist of five mantras, called the pañcabrahmans, as forms of god, each of these have their own names and distinct iconography.
These are represented as the five faces of Shiva, and are associated in various texts with the five elements, the five senses, the five organs of perception, and the five organs of action.Doctrinal differences and possibly errors in transmission have resulted in some differences between texts in details of how these five forms are linked with various attributes.But the overall meaning of these associations is summarized by Stella Kramrisch:
Festivals
Three worship services are offered each day. The late night worship service (Artha Jaama Pooja) is considered to be of importance here. New moon days are also considered to be special. The annual festival is celebrated in the Tamil month of Vaikasi; when the festival image of Ardhanareeswarar is brought down from the hill. this festival celebrate on 15 days.
