Nanjappa Thevar, a resident of Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore, had a dream of Lord Yama ordering him to construct an exclusive temple for Him at a spot on the banks of river Noyyal in the city.
Coimbatore: M N Nambiar, the notorious of all villains in the MGR blockbusters received no praise from the cinema buffs of yesteryear. Rather, he was rewarded only with curses for his merciless murders on the silver screen, which the movie lovers of those days had believed as if they were real. So the righteous people have never been fans for villains, but for heroes. However, it is surprising that members of a particular community at Vellalore in Coimbatore are not just fans of a ‘divine’ villain, but devotees and they had built even a shrine for Him - Yama, the God of death!
The temple Sri Chithiraputhira Yamadharmaraja Kovil was built by a member of the Agamudayar community nearly three centuries ago.
“Members of the Agamudayar community migrated to Coimbatore from the southern parts of Tamil Nadu including Madurai and Ramanathapuram as soldiers in the armies of King Tirumalai Nayak when the Kongu region came under his rule in the 17thcentury CE. The soldiers settled at places like Sulur, Irugur, Vellalore, Ramanathapuram Kurichi, Perur and Boluvampatti. But, the ‘settlement’ of Yama – the Lord of death, was after an Agamudayar gentleman’s dream” informs a chapter in Kongu Kalanjiyam (Volume 1), an encyclopedia on the Kongu region.
The book says that the Agamudayar gentleman Nanjappa Thevar, a resident of Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore, had a dream of Lord Yama ordering him to construct an exclusive temple for Him at a spot on the banks of river Noyyal in the city. Later, when Thevar located the exact spot he visioned in the dream, he learnt that it came within a farmland at Vellalore, owned by a Brahmin. Nevertheless, when Thevar narrated his dream to the Brahmin, he was only glad to allot him the piece of land for constructing the temple.
“The seven clans of the Agamudayar community namely Poththai, Thali, Peya, Kaunda, Vathana, Kanja and Raittan worship Lord Yama as their family deity. They pray to the God of underworld to provide them longevity” informs VK Baladhandayudham, a historian and author of the book Kaalandhorum Vellalore (Vellalore through ages)”
Legend has it that Lord Siva protected the young Saivaite devotee Markandeya from Yama and blessed him with eternity of being forever sixteen years old. While, in mythology, Markandeya prayed to Lord Siva to protect him from death, the members of Agamudayar community, in reality, worship Lord Yama for longevity.
“Once in a year, Coimbatore witnesses the pompous festival at the Yama Temple on the day of Chithra Pournami in Vellalore. The day is believed to be the birthday of Chitragupta, the record keeper of Yama on the virtuous and vicious acts of human beings on earth. Hence devotees in thousands throng at the temple on the festival day and worship Chithragupta to absolve them of all their sins and ensure them heaven in their afterlife” says K.Krishna Kumar, a resident of Vellalore.
Chitragupta stands beside Lord Yama at the shrine facing southward on the banks of river Noyyal. But the devotees hardly know whether the record keeper has reserved hell for the culprits, who have polluted Noyyal by discharging industrial effluents and sewage into it.