நரமுக விநாயகர் / ஆதி விநாயகர் (திலதர்ப்பணபுரி முக்தீஸ்வரர் கோயில்)Naramukha / Adi Vinayagar, Thilatharpanpuri (Muktheeswarar Temple)

Sthala Mahātmyam

At Thilatharpanpuri, near Koothanur in Tiruvarur district, stands one of the very few shrines where Ganesha is worshipped with a human face, Naramukha Vinayagar, also called Adi Vinayagar, the 'original' Vinayaka. The image depicts the god as the young boy created by Parvati, before Shiva severed his head and replaced it with an elephant's; here he is preserved in his primeval human-faced form. The deity resides within the Muktheeswarar Shiva temple, whose sthala legend tells that Rama came here to perform the last rites for his father Dasaratha: the rice balls (pindam) he offered kept turning into worms until, on Shiva's guidance, he worshipped at this Mantharavana kshetra, whereupon the four pindams turned into four Shiva lingams. For this reason Thilatharpanpuri is revered as one of the sacred sites for tila-tarpanam and ancestral rites, ranked by tradition with Kasi, Rameswaram and Gaya. Pilgrims come especially on new-moon days and during Aadi Amavasai and Mahalaya Paksha to perform ancestral offerings, while Vinayaka Chaturthi honours the rare human-faced Lord.