Old Ancient Temples Tamilnadu
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THIRUCHENGATANGUDI
SWAMI: Ganapatheeswarar
Urchavar: Utharapadheeswarar
AMBAL: Choolikambal (Vaaitha thirugu kuzhal valar umai ammai)
Legend: After killing the demon gajamukasura, to get rid of brahmahathi dosha, lord ganesha prayed here shiva and got his blessings.
When vinayaka killed the demon, his blood flooded like a river and hence, the name "thiru chengadu kudi"
Siruthonda Nayanar:
One among the 63 nayanars, shiva in form of a kabalika asked a child-beef for his diet to prove the dignity of siruthondar. He without thinking next, ready to offer his own child, seeralan. He halved his son and his wife and his servant cooked him. With the blessings of shiva seeralan get back his life.
This "Pillai Kariamudu padaithal" is still celebrating in the temple. In the midnight, the oduvars will sing the whole story and they depict the whole story as what happened. It will melt our hearts.
The speciality of this temple is Vadhapi ganapathy. A vinayaga who hailed from vathapi. Siruthondar (when he was paranjodhi (a warrior), won the battle of vathapi under the excellency of Mammalla pallava got this idol from there and placed it in his hometwon itself). A nice vigraha, but in different shape.
Route: It is very near to Thirukannapuram. Many buses are going till thirukannapuram. Or else get down at thirupugalur. From there, fix a auto. Temple is much much old and when I went noone was there except myself.
Peruncheri shri vaagheswaraswami temple
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THIRUCHENGATANGUDI
SWAMI: Ganapatheeswarar
Urchavar: Utharapadheeswarar
AMBAL: Choolikambal (Vaaitha thirugu kuzhal valar umai ammai)
Legend: After killing the demon gajamukasura, to get rid of brahmahathi dosha, lord ganesha prayed here shiva and got his blessings.
When vinayaka killed the demon, his blood flooded like a river and hence, the name "thiru chengadu kudi"
Siruthonda Nayanar:
One among the 63 nayanars, shiva in form of a kabalika asked a child-beef for his diet to prove the dignity of siruthondar. He without thinking next, ready to offer his own child, seeralan. He halved his son and his wife and his servant cooked him. With the blessings of shiva seeralan get back his life.
This "Pillai Kariamudu padaithal" is still celebrating in the temple. In the midnight, the oduvars will sing the whole story and they depict the whole story as what happened. It will melt our hearts.
The speciality of this temple is Vadhapi ganapathy. A vinayaga who hailed from vathapi. Siruthondar (when he was paranjodhi (a warrior), won the battle of vathapi under the excellency of Mammalla pallava got this idol from there and placed it in his hometwon itself). A nice vigraha, but in different shape.
Route: It is very near to Thirukannapuram. Many buses are going till thirukannapuram. Or else get down at thirupugalur. From there, fix a auto. Temple is much much old and when I went noone was there except myself.
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STHALAM: Deivadanapatti
MOORTHI: Moongilanai Shri Kamakshi Devi
THEERTHAM: MANJALARU
Route: It is near Periakulam and Andipatti (You can get buses upto deivadana patti, from there wait and get minibus for Moongilanai). By car, it will be Ok always.
Timings: The temple will be opened from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Legend: Goddess Kamakshi killed a demon, Mayasura near this place and to get cool, she is doing penance here. There are so many so many new things in this temple
1. There is no ambal at all. I mean you cannot see visible idol form in the sanctom sanctorium to worship.
2. There is no sanctum sanctorium at all. I mean you cannot see the Garbagruha also as it remained closed forever. All the poojas are done only to the doors of the shrine here.
3. The offerings here are quite different. The coconuts will not be halved and bananas will not be eye-opened (it means just a prick will be done always as a sign of naivedya, here that wont done)
4. Only pure ghee is used for lighting the lamps. That too if you provide ghee to the temple, they can use that only six or seven months later. They have such a stock. But the astonishment is they will keep your ghee as such in a open-godown where you can see lots and lots of ghee pockets, ghee vessels and all. But not even a single ant or fly you can see there.
5. The festival here is Mahashivarathri. Only on this day, the roof of the holy shrine is repaired and rethatched. A separate sect of people from Batlagundu, who will be in fasting for 45 days, will tie their eyes with black cloth and thatch the roof without seeing what is the thing inside the shrine.
6. As mother is doing penance here, she doesn't want any disturbances. So the town has been shifted a long from this temple. So temple will be alone near a greenery forest in the foothills of kodaikanal and manjal aru (Haridra nadhi) will be flwoing nearby. The scenary there will be like you wont leave the place if you go there.
7. The cow-sheperd who saw kamakshi as a small child drinking milk from "EENADA KIDRAI PASU" (It means a cow, which has not given birth to young calf. So, naturally expecting milk from such cow is a follish attempt. But kamakshi beacuse of her power did everything), lost his eyesight. Then with the grace of mother, he regains it after touching the idol of kamakshi. (So this sthala is famous for getting eye-sight and also for getting remedy from eye-disorders).
LEGEND: After this sheperd lost his eye-sight, mother appeared in the dream of zamindar and said him that "after a week, great rain will splash the city and the manjal aru will be flooded. in that flood, i will come to save you". Similarly, after a week, Haridra nadhi got flooded and a bamboo case came in that. The case was stopped by the bamboos grown in that river-side. Hence the name (MOONGIL- bamboo; ANAI- stopping), (MOONGILANAI). In a hastiness, all the people worshipped amba without halving the coconut and pricking the banana. Amba was totally happy on seeing the bakthi of those people and said them let they continue their worship like this itself. She also added that only "MAAVILAAKKU" should be offered as maha neivdyam ever.
After certain period, there was a fight aroused between Manradiyars (the pusaris of Kamakshi at that time) and zamindar, and zamindar asked them to leave the place. Angrily, the manradiyars cursed the temple that "let the door closed by us shall closed forever" and so only even now we are unable to see the sanctum sanctorium. Even now, the manradiyars sect of people never come to this temple. They even dont walk in this road at all.
The kamakshi amman, is so divine, whatever we wish in our heart, she will fulfill that. The temple will be so calm, without any disturbances we can worship. A very very very nice temple I have ever seen.
I WISH EACH AND EVERY READER OF THIS POST TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DARSHAN OF THE TEMPLE.
_________________________________________________________________________________
THIRUCHAAYAVANAM (CHAAIKADU)
Swami: Rathna chayavaneswarar
Ambal: Kuyilin in mozhiammai (kokilavani)
Theertham: Iravaa theertham
Route: It is very near to Thiruvenkadu (Famous budhan sthalam). You can go from sirkazhi. Chayavanam temple is located in the main road itself (Towards poompuhar). It is a very small village. You wont get anything there.
Legend: Athithi, mother of Indira was harbouring a desire to come to earth and worship Chayavaneswarar. Therefore, she landed on the earth. Indira was searching for the missing mother and found that she had come to earth. To fulfill the desire of the mother, Indira wanted to take the temple to his place pulling it through his white elephant Iravadha. While he made the attempt, Mother Parvathi made a sound that was sweeter than that of a nightingale, hence the name to the Goddess. Lord Shiva also appeared before Indira and told him to drop the idea of taking the temple to his place and advised him to do the worship on Earth itself and be blessed.
Visesha moorthy: Shri subramanya (Ursavar)
Shri subramanya holds the bow and the arrow instead of his usual weapon Velayudham, readying for the war against Soorapanma. It is also said that the idol of Lord Muruga was found in the sea and taken from there to the temple. Muruga also wears the Veeragandamani (anklet) in his right leg, presented by Father Lord Shiva. Those who have fear of enemies, worship this Muruga for freedom from enemy fear. While Mother Shakthi offered the Vel to Muruga, the Lord gave him the Veeragandamani. Those who come and worship here sum up all courage to advance in life.
"Iyarpagai nayanar", who is one among the 63, belongs to this village.
The temple puja time is from 7.00 a.m. to 12.00 a.m. and from 4.00 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.
NEARBY: You can see Thiruvenkadu temple, chayavanam and also pallavaneeswaram in a single visit
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Sthalam: Tharamangalam
Swamy: Shri Kailasanadhar
Ambal: Shri Sivagamasundari
Constructed by: Ketti mudaliyar (a local king) in 13th century.
Hi,
This Tharamangalam temple is unique.. The temple is right opposite the bus station. An impressive 5-tiered gopuram greets you. In this temple from the main gopuram you have to get down steps to reach the temple praharam. Such type of entrance is available only in two temples in TN. When you see the Gopuram from inside it looks like two elephants hauling the gopuram. Stalapuranam says that the two elepants are the one, which helped during the construction of this temple, so in the memory of these elephants the king ordered to provide these stone elephants. The inner courtyard is spacious. A pillared corridor surrounds the courtyard. A nandi shirne stands before the main temple.
Entering the temple you will notice the following features:
·two subsidiary shrines face the main shrine. It is the latter that create a central passage towards the main shrine. I found this scheme to be unique, not seen by me in any temple in Karnataka. Incidentally, this is the first temple I am studying closely as I begin my tour of Tamil Nadu.
·on the left corner of the inner prahara has a small underground cave or an underground chamber and antechamber with a stone door, which can be accessed by a few steps, which leads us to a spacious shrine of paadhaala lingam (UNDERGROUND LINGA). It is a small stone linga, Just bigger than one’s thumb. We can be sure it’s a linga because it stands on a substantial peeta.
·Here the specialty is Swamy shrine is facing towards west and the Ambal shrine is facing towards east just like a Bride and Broom exchanging their wedding garland.
·just above the Swamy shrine a fantastic sculpture, which depicts the reason for the name Tharamangalam (Tharai + Mangalam), its narrates the marriage of shiva and parvathi, as Mahavishnu handing over Parvathi to Shiva (Tharam varthal). The other main shrine is of Shri Subramanyar.
·the space between these three shrines has a fascinating ceiling. A stone wheel ringed with pecking stone parrots is the highlight. It is claimed that the wheel can be freely rotated. Chains, probably of stone too, hang from the same ceiling.
·the main shrine stands at a level slightly below the level of the pradakshina patha. A well stands next to the main shrine at the same level.
·the ambulatory is full of interesting sculptures of gods, goddesses and saints. I admired greatly the figures of Rathi and Manmatha. There is an 18-armed sculpture of Nataraja, excellent by its own merit but not surpassing that of Badami Caves. Included among the saints are the 63 Nayanmars and 4 Nalvars. These are not sculptures for the sake of art alone. The temple is in active use. The sculptures glisten at times in oil. They are often decorated with vermilion and lamps burn in offering before them.
It is the pillars that deserve separate praise. Looking at the details, they are exquisitely carved. Looking at the overall arrangment, they are harmonious. They are formal but not rigid. Each pillar is essentially of a square base with octogonal or 16-sided sections or bands. In every section are carvings in bas-relief. This basic pillar is joined to a much slender pillar by latticed stonework. These two form a composite pillar. At the corners, three such slender pillars together with the primary pillar form the composite pillar. The slender secondary pillars are not just ornamental. They support the overhanging stonework that rises gracefully towards the capital. On some pillars, elephants, horses and lions are beautifully carved. Yalis, or mythical lions, are carved on some pillars. It is said that stone balls in their mouths can be freely rolled.
Tamil Nadu is full of magnificent temples. In the grand scheme of things, no one even notices this temple at Tharamangalam. Most people would not even have heard of this temple unless he/she has passed by this region.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Sthalam: Thirusoolam
Swami: Thirusoolanathar
Ambal: Thirupurasundari
Route: The temple is located near Thirusoolam (Chennai Meenambakkam Airport). After crossing the railway track from Thirusoolam, we can reach the village.
Special Dieties: Though the temple is old, I couldn't get any legends related to this.
But there are so many special deities which we cannot see in other temples. Let we start with Ganesha.
1. Nagayagnopaveetha ganapathy- We heard the name of ganapathy in asthothram. But we can see the ganapathy here.
2. Veerasana Dakshinamoorthy- This even we couldn't hear. The dakshinamoorthy is very charm. A nice sitting posture in veerasana. It means his left leg will be placed in the seat itself but not in the folded form.
3. Durgadevi- The durgadevi here is in the auspicious form called as "Thribangi". It means folded in three parts (like meenakshi amman).
4. The amman thripurasundari is like of chola-type. (I.e. in her two hands she is carrying a lotus and japa-mala, instead of usual pallava-type, where you can see Paasa-angusa)
5. A spacious navagraha shrine (infact I never visited such big shrine for navagraha anywhere) with huge sized 9grahas.
Although the temple is located even within the chennai limits, most of us are unaware of this temple. Even persons may wonder whether such a quiet village is there within the Chennai locality. Hence I request every chennai reader to visit this treasurous temple atleast once.
_________________________________________________________________________________
MOORTHI: Moongilanai Shri Kamakshi Devi
THEERTHAM: MANJALARU
Route: It is near Periakulam and Andipatti (You can get buses upto deivadana patti, from there wait and get minibus for Moongilanai). By car, it will be Ok always.
Timings: The temple will be opened from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Legend: Goddess Kamakshi killed a demon, Mayasura near this place and to get cool, she is doing penance here. There are so many so many new things in this temple
1. There is no ambal at all. I mean you cannot see visible idol form in the sanctom sanctorium to worship.
2. There is no sanctum sanctorium at all. I mean you cannot see the Garbagruha also as it remained closed forever. All the poojas are done only to the doors of the shrine here.
3. The offerings here are quite different. The coconuts will not be halved and bananas will not be eye-opened (it means just a prick will be done always as a sign of naivedya, here that wont done)
4. Only pure ghee is used for lighting the lamps. That too if you provide ghee to the temple, they can use that only six or seven months later. They have such a stock. But the astonishment is they will keep your ghee as such in a open-godown where you can see lots and lots of ghee pockets, ghee vessels and all. But not even a single ant or fly you can see there.
5. The festival here is Mahashivarathri. Only on this day, the roof of the holy shrine is repaired and rethatched. A separate sect of people from Batlagundu, who will be in fasting for 45 days, will tie their eyes with black cloth and thatch the roof without seeing what is the thing inside the shrine.
6. As mother is doing penance here, she doesn't want any disturbances. So the town has been shifted a long from this temple. So temple will be alone near a greenery forest in the foothills of kodaikanal and manjal aru (Haridra nadhi) will be flwoing nearby. The scenary there will be like you wont leave the place if you go there.
7. The cow-sheperd who saw kamakshi as a small child drinking milk from "EENADA KIDRAI PASU" (It means a cow, which has not given birth to young calf. So, naturally expecting milk from such cow is a follish attempt. But kamakshi beacuse of her power did everything), lost his eyesight. Then with the grace of mother, he regains it after touching the idol of kamakshi. (So this sthala is famous for getting eye-sight and also for getting remedy from eye-disorders).
LEGEND: After this sheperd lost his eye-sight, mother appeared in the dream of zamindar and said him that "after a week, great rain will splash the city and the manjal aru will be flooded. in that flood, i will come to save you". Similarly, after a week, Haridra nadhi got flooded and a bamboo case came in that. The case was stopped by the bamboos grown in that river-side. Hence the name (MOONGIL- bamboo; ANAI- stopping), (MOONGILANAI). In a hastiness, all the people worshipped amba without halving the coconut and pricking the banana. Amba was totally happy on seeing the bakthi of those people and said them let they continue their worship like this itself. She also added that only "MAAVILAAKKU" should be offered as maha neivdyam ever.
After certain period, there was a fight aroused between Manradiyars (the pusaris of Kamakshi at that time) and zamindar, and zamindar asked them to leave the place. Angrily, the manradiyars cursed the temple that "let the door closed by us shall closed forever" and so only even now we are unable to see the sanctum sanctorium. Even now, the manradiyars sect of people never come to this temple. They even dont walk in this road at all.
The kamakshi amman, is so divine, whatever we wish in our heart, she will fulfill that. The temple will be so calm, without any disturbances we can worship. A very very very nice temple I have ever seen.
I WISH EACH AND EVERY READER OF THIS POST TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DARSHAN OF THE TEMPLE.
_________________________________________________________________________________
THIRUCHAAYAVANAM (CHAAIKADU)
Swami: Rathna chayavaneswarar
Ambal: Kuyilin in mozhiammai (kokilavani)
Theertham: Iravaa theertham
Route: It is very near to Thiruvenkadu (Famous budhan sthalam). You can go from sirkazhi. Chayavanam temple is located in the main road itself (Towards poompuhar). It is a very small village. You wont get anything there.
Legend: Athithi, mother of Indira was harbouring a desire to come to earth and worship Chayavaneswarar. Therefore, she landed on the earth. Indira was searching for the missing mother and found that she had come to earth. To fulfill the desire of the mother, Indira wanted to take the temple to his place pulling it through his white elephant Iravadha. While he made the attempt, Mother Parvathi made a sound that was sweeter than that of a nightingale, hence the name to the Goddess. Lord Shiva also appeared before Indira and told him to drop the idea of taking the temple to his place and advised him to do the worship on Earth itself and be blessed.
Visesha moorthy: Shri subramanya (Ursavar)
Shri subramanya holds the bow and the arrow instead of his usual weapon Velayudham, readying for the war against Soorapanma. It is also said that the idol of Lord Muruga was found in the sea and taken from there to the temple. Muruga also wears the Veeragandamani (anklet) in his right leg, presented by Father Lord Shiva. Those who have fear of enemies, worship this Muruga for freedom from enemy fear. While Mother Shakthi offered the Vel to Muruga, the Lord gave him the Veeragandamani. Those who come and worship here sum up all courage to advance in life.
"Iyarpagai nayanar", who is one among the 63, belongs to this village.
The temple puja time is from 7.00 a.m. to 12.00 a.m. and from 4.00 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.
NEARBY: You can see Thiruvenkadu temple, chayavanam and also pallavaneeswaram in a single visit
_________________________________________________________________________________
Sthalam: Tharamangalam
Swamy: Shri Kailasanadhar
Ambal: Shri Sivagamasundari
Constructed by: Ketti mudaliyar (a local king) in 13th century.
Hi,
This Tharamangalam temple is unique.. The temple is right opposite the bus station. An impressive 5-tiered gopuram greets you. In this temple from the main gopuram you have to get down steps to reach the temple praharam. Such type of entrance is available only in two temples in TN. When you see the Gopuram from inside it looks like two elephants hauling the gopuram. Stalapuranam says that the two elepants are the one, which helped during the construction of this temple, so in the memory of these elephants the king ordered to provide these stone elephants. The inner courtyard is spacious. A pillared corridor surrounds the courtyard. A nandi shirne stands before the main temple.
Entering the temple you will notice the following features:
·two subsidiary shrines face the main shrine. It is the latter that create a central passage towards the main shrine. I found this scheme to be unique, not seen by me in any temple in Karnataka. Incidentally, this is the first temple I am studying closely as I begin my tour of Tamil Nadu.
·on the left corner of the inner prahara has a small underground cave or an underground chamber and antechamber with a stone door, which can be accessed by a few steps, which leads us to a spacious shrine of paadhaala lingam (UNDERGROUND LINGA). It is a small stone linga, Just bigger than one’s thumb. We can be sure it’s a linga because it stands on a substantial peeta.
·Here the specialty is Swamy shrine is facing towards west and the Ambal shrine is facing towards east just like a Bride and Broom exchanging their wedding garland.
·just above the Swamy shrine a fantastic sculpture, which depicts the reason for the name Tharamangalam (Tharai + Mangalam), its narrates the marriage of shiva and parvathi, as Mahavishnu handing over Parvathi to Shiva (Tharam varthal). The other main shrine is of Shri Subramanyar.
·the space between these three shrines has a fascinating ceiling. A stone wheel ringed with pecking stone parrots is the highlight. It is claimed that the wheel can be freely rotated. Chains, probably of stone too, hang from the same ceiling.
·the main shrine stands at a level slightly below the level of the pradakshina patha. A well stands next to the main shrine at the same level.
·the ambulatory is full of interesting sculptures of gods, goddesses and saints. I admired greatly the figures of Rathi and Manmatha. There is an 18-armed sculpture of Nataraja, excellent by its own merit but not surpassing that of Badami Caves. Included among the saints are the 63 Nayanmars and 4 Nalvars. These are not sculptures for the sake of art alone. The temple is in active use. The sculptures glisten at times in oil. They are often decorated with vermilion and lamps burn in offering before them.
It is the pillars that deserve separate praise. Looking at the details, they are exquisitely carved. Looking at the overall arrangment, they are harmonious. They are formal but not rigid. Each pillar is essentially of a square base with octogonal or 16-sided sections or bands. In every section are carvings in bas-relief. This basic pillar is joined to a much slender pillar by latticed stonework. These two form a composite pillar. At the corners, three such slender pillars together with the primary pillar form the composite pillar. The slender secondary pillars are not just ornamental. They support the overhanging stonework that rises gracefully towards the capital. On some pillars, elephants, horses and lions are beautifully carved. Yalis, or mythical lions, are carved on some pillars. It is said that stone balls in their mouths can be freely rolled.
Tamil Nadu is full of magnificent temples. In the grand scheme of things, no one even notices this temple at Tharamangalam. Most people would not even have heard of this temple unless he/she has passed by this region.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Sthalam: Thirusoolam
Swami: Thirusoolanathar
Ambal: Thirupurasundari
Route: The temple is located near Thirusoolam (Chennai Meenambakkam Airport). After crossing the railway track from Thirusoolam, we can reach the village.
Special Dieties: Though the temple is old, I couldn't get any legends related to this.
But there are so many special deities which we cannot see in other temples. Let we start with Ganesha.
1. Nagayagnopaveetha ganapathy- We heard the name of ganapathy in asthothram. But we can see the ganapathy here.
2. Veerasana Dakshinamoorthy- This even we couldn't hear. The dakshinamoorthy is very charm. A nice sitting posture in veerasana. It means his left leg will be placed in the seat itself but not in the folded form.
3. Durgadevi- The durgadevi here is in the auspicious form called as "Thribangi". It means folded in three parts (like meenakshi amman).
4. The amman thripurasundari is like of chola-type. (I.e. in her two hands she is carrying a lotus and japa-mala, instead of usual pallava-type, where you can see Paasa-angusa)
5. A spacious navagraha shrine (infact I never visited such big shrine for navagraha anywhere) with huge sized 9grahas.
Although the temple is located even within the chennai limits, most of us are unaware of this temple. Even persons may wonder whether such a quiet village is there within the Chennai locality. Hence I request every chennai reader to visit this treasurous temple atleast once.
_________________________________________________________________________________
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