THIRUVINDADHAI - VISIT

Sunday 29thMay2016

Thiruvindadhai is about 35 Km from Kalpakkam and we left at 5pm in the evening to visit the temple. The deity at the temple is Shri Nitya Kalyaana Perumal, where Lord is holding ShriLakshmi on left lap.

The beautiful temple on East Coast Road belongs to Chola period.  The Lord Sri Varaaha Perumal is seen in the standing position with left leg folded, facing east,resting on Adisheshan. He has Thaayaar KomalaValli seated on His left lap.

The temple is huge and is made of stone all throughout. There was general renovation taking place and the idol is shifted from moolasthana, lots of people coming to the temple and pray.

Also the Lord blesses the unmarried ones for a speedy marriage here. Many unmarried men and women visit this temple to worship the Lord and get married soon. There is a procedure for the unmarried to offer worship here. They are offered a garland to wear and walk around the temple 9 times after which they are given a garland to carry home and keep safely till they are married. They have to bring back the same dried garland back to the temple after marriage along with their spouse. One can see many unmarried youths walking around the temple.

With Mr & Mrs Sundaresan

There is a beautiful 16 pillared stone Mandapam in front of the temple in which all the pillars have wonderful sculptures on them.

After the visit we left the place and drive back of 45minutes to Kalpakkam.

Written Saturday 4thJune2016

THIRUPORUR - TEMPLE VISIT

Friday 27thMay2016

It was Friday evening, 6 pm , left from Kalpakkam toThiruporur, distance of 40 km to visit Sri KandaSwamy (Murugan) Temple. Six people in the car, Srinivasan, his wife Bhuvana, son Rakesh, PremaSundaresan and V2....., me in the driving seat.

Sri KandaSwamy Temple also known as Subramanya Swamy Temple is an ancient temple dating back to the Pallava period and is one of 33 major temples in Tamilnadu dedicated to the worship of Murugan.

Thiruporu Devasthanam preserves Pallava inscriptions from as early as the 10th century as well as from the period of Vikrama Chola of 12th Century CE. As evdenced from an inscription found on a stone pillar in this this temple.

During the middle of 17th Century, Thiruporur was rediscovered and renovated by Chidambara Swamigal who was desendant of the poets of Tamil Sangam of Madurai.

A huge tank (sarovar) in front of the temple is very pleasant  and after darshan of Murugan, going round the temple, we left back to Kalpakkam,

Written Friday, 3rd June2016

SINGA PERUMAL KOIL - VISIT

Sunday 29thMay2016

SingaPerumal Koil is about 30 Kms from Chennai and 45 Kms from Kalpakkam, where we were staying. We four, Sundaresan's wife, servant Pramila and V2 left from the house around 8am, and had breakfast at ChengalPet and reached SingaPerumal koil by 9.30am.

steps around the temple hillock

The beautiful rock cut temple, and the deity is Lord Narasimha also carved out of a single rock in the small hillock. Here the Lord is known as Sri Paatalaadri Narasimhar. The deity has three eyes where it is shown during aarthi. There is a separate shrine for Goddess Lakshmi called Ahobila Valli.

According to sources, the temple has been referred in Brahmaanda Puranaam. Lord Vishnu in Narasimha Avataar killed demon King HiranyaKashipu.

When we circumambulate around the temple, actually we go round the small hillock as Gir Pradhakshina.

Dose and Puliogre-Koil special

When walking round the temple, there is a an Azhinjal tree, which is considered most sacred. People praying for marriage or children, tie a small piece of thread from their clothes on the branches of this tree, by doing this with a wish, their wishes are fulfilled.

After the visit, we started back at 11.30am and reached Kalpakkam by 12,30 pm

written Friday 3rdJune2016

THIRU KALU KUNDRAM - VISIT

Saturday 28thMay2016

ShivaTemple on the top

ThiruKaluKundram is one of the most famous pilgrim centres in TamilNadu, renowed for Hill Temples. It is about 70 km from Chennai, towards MahabaliPuram.

It is named after two sacred eagles who every noon at hill temple called PakshiTheertham.

Lord Sri VedaGiriswarar resides at the top of hills. A unique phenomenon takes place at this place everyday at 12 noon. Two eagles appear over the temple to worship the Lord and they come down to a rock where sweet rice is offered. The sacred eagle are believed to be sons of Lord Brahma, who for their sins were cursed by Lord Shiva to be born as eagles on Earth. They are known as Pusha and Vidhadha.

We didn't see any of these happenings and when we reached the bottom of hills at 9am from ChengalPet, where we went to drop Seinivasan's family, the gate was still closed.

After 5-10minutes, a person comes with a key and opens the gate and fee of Rs 2.00 was charged for going up the hill and visit the temple.

There are about 650 steps to climb and are wide, covered and as you go up, it becomes steeper. One has to sit, relax and then proceed. Lot of monkeys greet you on the way and some are arrogant and demanding. When we reached the top, door was closed and probably priest was performing pooja.

Parvathi Temple

After Darshanam of the Lord, beautiful scenic view of the city and Sangha Theertham, it was time for us come down the steps which took about 20 minutes.

The temple at the foothils is dedicated to Parvathi, consort, known as ThripuraSundari Amman. The temple has four Towers (Gopurams)

After the visit, whether being hot, drove back to Kalpakkam by 12 noon.

written Thursday 2ndJune2016

KANCHIPURAM - CITY OF TEMPLES

Thursday, 26May2016

Our house group of 6 people, except Sundaresans, left from DAE Township, Kalapakkam at 6.30am to KanchiPuram, a distance of 60 km, reached around 9 am after having breakfast at ChengalPet. Mr Srnivasan hired a an Innova car for all of us to accomodate.

Kanchipuram was the capital of Pallava Empire in the 4th Century, and it was the height of power during the 7th Century AD.

It is believed that the name Kanchi is derived from "Ka" referring to Hindu God Brahma and "Anchi" referring to his worship of Lord Vishnu at this place. The earliest inscriptions were from the Maurya period (325 - 185 BCE).

The VijayaNgara Empire ruled Kancheepuram from 1361 to 1645. The earliest inscriptions attesting to VijayaNagar rule are those of KumaraKampanna, which were found in the precincts of the KailasaNathar and VaradaRaja Perumal Temples.

The Mughals defeated the Marathas under Sambaji, the elder son of Shivaji in a battle near KanchiPuram in 1688. Soon after Priests at Vardaraja Perumal, Ekambareshwarar and Kamakshi Amman Temples shifted the idols to Southern TamilNadu and restored them after the death of Aurangazeb in 1707.

There are number of temples, huge ones and to see all of them, you need several days. We manage to see see briefly three of them.

1. Vardaraja Perumal Temple : Is the largest. huge Vishnu Temple, covering an area of 23 acres, built by Cholas in 1053. The features carved lizards, one plated with gold and another with silver over the sanctum.It took about 45 minutes in the line of crowd to get darshana and see the lizards and touch them. The temple has three outer Prakarams, 32 shrines and 19 vimanams and 389 pillared halls, most having liom type of sculpture.

2. Kamaskhi Amman Temple: The temple dedicated to Kamakshi, one of the forms of Goddess Parvathi, seated in padmasana, posture signifying peace and prosperity. There were lot of devotees waiting in the queue and it took about 30 minutes to have darshanam and the temple was under full renovation.

3.  Ekambareshwarar Temple: The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, is the largest temple in the town. The temple Gopuram is 59m tall, one of the tallest gopurams in India. There is no shrine for Parvathi within the complex. There is small shrine for Vishnu and prayed as VamanaMoorthy. The temple tree is believed to be 3500 years old mangoetree whose braches are said to yield four different types of Mangoes.

We also visited Adi Shankaracharya Mutt where the present Swamiji was about to leave after pooja at the mutt.

After visiting all these temples and mutt, we had lunch at SaravanaBhavana and headed back to Kalpakkam. 

It's amazing that such beautiful, huge temples were built in those days. One wonders about the architecture, sculpture and the dedication.

written on Thursday 2ndJune 2016