*This temple was mentioned by the Prime Minister of India. Chennai 44th Chess Olympiad 28/07/2022
The place where Akila Bhuvana mother and father used to play chess was poovanur near Needamangalam, Thanjavur Dist, Tamil Nadu.
Swami: Chaturanga Vallabheswarar
Godess: Srirajarajeshwari
Chaturanga Vallabhanathar ( Chess Champion)
Place History:
Lord of this place graces as Swayambu Lingam.
It is the 166th temple out of 274 temples to receive Shiva’s devara padal.
Chamundeshwari: Chamundeshwari is enshrined northwards in a separate sanctum at this sthalam next to Chamundi Hill in Mysore.
There is a history that the Lord got the name Chaturangavallabhanathar at this place. Thenpandi king Vasusenan and his wife Gandhimati were no issues for a long time. They worshiped Lord Shiva for a long time.
God blessed them. One day the king found a conch in a lotus flower in a pool where he had bathed. May the Lord give birth to Umadevi as their daughter there it appears in the form of a conch as soon as the king took the conch in his hand, it transformed into a beautiful baby girl . He was very happy and named the child Rajarajeshwari and brought it up with great pride.
Chamundidevi, one of the Saptha Matars, became the foster mother of the child and Rajarajeswari grew up proficient in all arts. Especially in the game of chess, she became very popular and defeated everyone. The king asked his daughter to marry him and in order to find a suitable groom, he decided to marry her to the winner of the game of chess.
Many princes came. All lost to her in a game of chess. The king was saddened that no one could win his daughter and put his burden on the Lord and left with his daughter for Talayatra. After visiting many Shivsthalams, he reached Tiruppuvanur. He worshiped the Lord Pushpavanatha and returned to his abode anxiously.
Next morning an old man came looking for the king. He saw Rajarajeshwari and asked if you can beat me by playing chess with me. The king’s daughter also agreed and the chess game started. She had never lost in this game till then and lost to the old man that day. Although the king was happy that someone had won his daughter he was worried that an old man would want to marry his daughter according to his promise. He meditated on Lord Shiva to melt his soul. In the blink of an eye, the old man disappeared and Lord Shiva was standing there.
The king was pleased with this and gave his daughter in marriage to the Lord. Thus the Lord of this sthala is known as Chaturanga Vallabha Nath.
