JAMBUKESWARAM : KATHA

Pancha bhoota sthal near Tiruchi (TN) where Mahadev is worshipped along with Devi Akhilandeswari. It represents the element of water (appulinga).

It is said that a Rishi meditated under a jambu (crab apple) tree. This gave him the name Jambu.
@twttdc

Once, he went to Kailasha and offered the fruit to Mahadev. The seed which Mahadev spat out was taken by Rishi Jambu as prasadam.
A tree then sprouted out of the Rishis’s head. Shiva told the Rishi that in due course, Ma Parvati would install a shivlingam under that Jambu tree.

Much later, an elephant started worshipping this shivlingam by offering water to it from his trunk. A spider also worshipped by making a web over the shivlingam to protect it from falling leaves.
This enraged the elephant. So the spider entered its trunk and strung him to death.

Trapped inside, the spider also died. This spider was born later as Chola prince Kotchengannan (one with red eyes). He built 70 Shiva Mandirs and the present Mandir was also built by him. The base of the lingam is always in water and the entrance is only 4 ft high
@DubeyYash1911

A unique ritual is that around noon, a pujari in Ma Akilandeswari’s mandir wears a sari with crown on head to perform pooja to the shivlingam. This is a dramatic re-enactment of the past when Ma Parvati worshipped the shivlingam here.

Mahadev