Vedhapureshwar temple at bank of cheyyar river

Cheyyaru River is an important seasonal river that runs through the

Tiruvannamalai District Tiruvannamalai district (previously known as Central Arcot, Tiruvannamalai Sambhuvarayar District) is the largest and one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, in South India. It was formed in the year 1989 through the bifurcation of ...

of the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and T ...

. It is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

Palar River Palar is a river of southern India. It rises in the Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka state, and flows in Karnataka, in Andhra Pradesh and in Tamil Nadu before reaching its confluence into the Bay of Bengal at Vayalur a ...

, a river which originates in Jawadhu Hills and flows through Thiruvannamalai district before entering into the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...

. The river receives most of its water from the Northeast and Southwest monsoons and is the major source of irrigation for several villages, including the towns of

Cheyyar Cheyyar, officially Tiruvetipuram is a Town in the Tiruvannamalai District in the Tamil Nadu state of South India. The most common name of this town is Cheyyar but it is also referred to as Tiruvetipuram in many government records. The town ha ...

u and

Vandavasi Vandavasi, earlier called Wandiwash is a major town and a municipality in the Tiruvannamalai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town is well known in the Carnatic history for the Battle of Wandiwash. Vandavasi town is also the larges ...

along its bank.

Temples

An ancient temple, the Vedapureeswarar Temple anciently known as Vedhanadeshwarar temple situated on the bank of the river at Cheyyar town. There is a legend that

Thirugnana Sambandar Sambandar ( Tamil: சம்பந்தர்), also referred to as Tirugnana Sambandar (lit. ''Holy Sage Sambandar''), Tirujnanasambanda, Campantar or Jñāṉacampantar, was a Shaiva poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who lived sometime in the 7th ce ...

, one of the four great

saivite Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the God, Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates ...

saints, visited the temple and changed a male palm tree to a female palm tree which can yield palm fruit by singing verses in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

. The ancient name for Cheyyaru river is Sei Aaru (Child river) meaning that the river is created for a child to play. Legend says that Goddess Parvathi (Balakusalambigai or Ilamulainayagi) made a line on the earth's surface with her Trisul to make a river for her son, Lord Muruga to play. The river is still believed to be a Holy River even today in

and Villages in the surrounding

References

Rivers of Tamil Nadu Palar River Rivers of India {{India-river-stub