Vallabha Ganapathi (married Ganesha) at Keezhvaasal village
There is a Ganapthi (Ganesha, Vinayak, Vigneswara) temple in the village by name Keezhvaasal (kezhvasal, Kizhvasal) in the Thanjavur District of Tamilnad.The temple is known as Vallabha Ganapathi temple.
The temple as the name suggests is dedicated to Lord Ganesh as married. The Lord is supposed to have married a young lady by name Vallabha. Here Vallabha is not seen separately as it is believed that the wife of the Lord is merged with him and is invisible. So when the devotees offer worship the consort of Lord Ganapathi is supposed to give darasan in aroopi (invisible) form and bless them.
The worship of this god is supposed to bless for marriage for those who find difficult to get spouse. For this reason thousands of devotees come to this temple especially those are finding it difficult to get married and those who desire for good spouses.
The legend about this is from a reference in one of the Purana (old scriptures on religion of Maharishis) stories. It is about a young lady who was cursed for some of her sins to become a demoness (Raakshasi). As is the custom of demons due to their culture, she (Vallabha) started harassing and tormenting the gods, Rishis and human beings. The gods and Rishis went to Lord Siva and complained bout the demoness and wanted him to do something to spare them from the torment. Lord Siva deputed Lord Muruga (Subramanya, Karthikeya) to defeat her. He went to the demoness Vallabha and pretended to be afraid of her and went to his elder brother, Lord Ganesha (Ganapathy, Vinayak, Vigneswara) to fight her. Lord Ganesh went to fight her with an angry look. The demoness was told at the time of curse that she will be liberated from the curse through a person of human and animal combination. So she was happy. Lord Ganesh lifted her with his trunk and placed her on his lap. Immediately she was released from the curse and became the young lady she was before the curse. Lord Ganesha (Ganapathy, Vinayak, Vigneswara) married her and she merged with him.
