Vaseeswarar Temple, Thirupasoor

Vaseeswarar Temple, also called Pasoornathar Temple, is in Thirupasoor, a village about 5 km from Thiruvallur on the road to Thiruthani, on the southern side of the Poondi reservoir. Shiva is worshipped as Vaseeswarar and Parvati as Pasupathinayagi, and Sambandar sang ten Tevaram verses to the deity. Legend says the site was a bamboo forest where a cow poured its milk on a mound. When the king dug there with a tool called vasi, blood flowed out; the lingam leans to the left and bears the mark of the tool.

The original temple is believed to be Chola work, with the present masonry from the 16th century. Five inscriptions from Chola reigns record a service agreement and gifts, among them lamps kept always burning. A five-tiered gopuram faces south, the sanctum roof is in the elephant-backed Gajabrusta style, and the temple holds images of the Saptamatrikas and a Srichakra said to have been consecrated by Adi Shankara. The thazhambu flower, otherwise barred from Shiva worship, is used here at Shivaratri.