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The
Sthalapurana of this little village housing a mighty ancient Siva
temple is quite fascinating and publishes to the world that even the
highest god also has to reap the consequences of lapses and
commissions, regardless of their origin - rising out of
forgetfulness or over confidence, or willful indifference. According
to legend, Lord Siva when armed Himself with the services of Brahma,
who transformed Himself into a chariot; Vishnu, a formidable weapon
and other mighty gods as necessary aids in His preparation for the
destruction of Tripura, He forgot to solicit the help of Vinayaka,
His own son, but the remover of obstacles in any enterprise taken up
by any, at any time. So Vinayaka maneuvered to stop the progress
of chariot by breaking its axle. The chariot stopped and so Siva's
head drooped. When pondered over the incident, His lapse of not
invoking the aid' and blessings of Vinayaka flashed across His mind.
Forthwith, He propitiated Vinayaka, who whole-heartedly lent his
support and the desired samhara of Tripura was accomplished. The
axle broke down at this village and it was aptly called
Achcharapakkam - the Tamil word means thereby, the place where
Achchur i.e. axle was broken. Later a very big Siva temple was built
to perpetuate this great episode. The Moolavar is called
Paakapureeswarar and Mother Sundaranayaki. It has two garbha grihas.
Lord Krishna and Maharshi Goutama adored this Lord. The linga was
installed by a Pandyan king.
It
lies on the National Highway between Tindivanam and Madhurantakam
and 3 km off Melmaruvathur, commanding bus and train facilities.
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