page_title: Madavar Vilagam Vaidyanathar temple
section_title: Worship and religious practices
hierarchical_section_title: Madavar Vilagam Vaidyanathar temple / Worship and religious practices
caption_attribution_description: English: Madavar koil
context_page_description: Madavar Vilagam Vaidyanathar temple is a Shiva temple located in Madavar Vilagam, located in one kilometer southerly to Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple has two precincts. Shiva is worshiped as Vaidyanathar and his consort Parvati as Sivakami. The temple is the largest Shiva temple in the district.
  Shiva is worshipped as Vaidyanathar or the "God of healing". The holy water of the Siddhamirtham tank in the temple complex is believed to have curative effects, and a holy dip here is believed to cure all diseases. The temple was built by Thirumalai Nayak during the 16th century.
  A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines. The temple has a five-tiered gateway tower originally built by Chandrakula Pandya Vijayanagar and Nayak kings commissioned pillared halls and major shrines of the temple during the 16th century. The temple has artistic sculptures representative of Nayak art.
  The temple is open from 6 am - 12 pm and 4-7 pm on all days except during festival days when it is open all day.
context_section_description: The temple priests perform the puja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. Like other Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the Shaiva community, a Brahmin sub-caste. The temple rituals are performed six times a day; Ushathkalam at 7 a.m., Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 10:00 a.m., Sayarakshai at 5:00 p.m., Irandamkalam at 7:00 p.m. and Ardha Jamam at 8:00 p.m. Each ritual comprises four steps: abhisheka (sacred bath), alangaram (decoration), naivethanam (food offering) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Vaidyanathar and Sivakami Amman. The worship is held amidst music with nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument), religious instructions in the Vedas (sacred texts) read by priests and prostration by worshippers in front of the temple mast. There are weekly rituals like somavaram (Monday) and sukravaram (Friday), fortnightly rituals like pradosham and monthly festivals like amavasai (new moon day), kiruthigai, pournami (full moon day) and sathurthi.The twin festivals celebrated during the full moon days of Tamil month Adi (July – August) and Thai (January – February) attract large number of pilgrims from whole of Tamil Nadu.
  Madavar Valagam is one of the holy places where lord Siva is believed to have performed his miracles called Thiruvilaiyadal. On the first day of the  Tamil month of Panguni (March-April), the rays of Sun fall on the presiding deity, Vidyanathaswami when special worship is performed to sun on this day.
caption: The shrines of the temple
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