As soon as we reached Kundrathur bus stand, we noticed this temple and the Thiruvooraga Perumal temple next to each other.
We were under the impression that this Sivan temple is the Rahu Sthalam of the Navagraha sthalams in Chennai and were very keen to visit it. We entered the temple and first saw the board Nagaimuga Valli sametha Kandhazheeswarar Thirukovil.(நகைமுக வல்லி சமேத கந்தழீஸ்வரர் திருக்கோவில்) I liked the name Nagaimuga Valli - smiling faced Valli - very much. We could see the Ambal directly in front of us. We went further inside and the Siva lingam was on the left side. It is a very huge lingam but the alangaram was minimal with just a flower on top and a veshti on aavudayar. (ஆவுடையார்)
We asked the kurukkal about the history and he said that this temple is also 1100 years old and built by Kulothungan. Karikala chozhan is also said to have done a lot for this temple. He showed us the carvings of the symbols of Cheras, Chozhas, Pandyas namely, bow & arrow, tiger and fish on the ceiling indicating that all of them have contributed to this temple. The kurukkal also clarified that this is not the Rahu Sthalam temple and that was elsewhere in the same area.
On either side of the Siva lingam, we could see Ganapathy and Valli Deivanai Sametha Murugan. On the left side of the Siva lingam was the Nagai muga Valli Ambal. Again, Ambal had very little alangaram with just a single flower on her crown and wearing a simple red sari but with a smiling face just as her name suggests. The Nandhi in front of the Lord was looking very cute with a metallic bell around his neck.
Usually at Sivan temples we can see the Lingam from the entrance whereas at this temple in front of the Lingam there is a wall with a small hole in it. When we came out and completed our pradakshinam, we noticed that there was another slightly bigger Nandhi in front of the bali peedam facing the Siva lingam beyond the wall and we had a glimpse of the Lingam again through the hole. The other sannidhis in this temple were only Dakshinamoorthy and Durgai and we were surprised to notice that there was no Navagraha sannidhi here.
மிகவும் நேர்த்தியாக இருந்தது உங்கள் கட்டுரை .
ReplyDeleteகோவிலுக்கு பணமுடைய? ஏன் அலங்காரம் குறைவாக உள்ளது?
இனி விடாமல் படிப்பேன் உங்கள் எழுத்துகளை
:) yet another jewel from Lakshmi's repertoire. I think you should name these TEMPLE TRAIL OF TAMIL NADU giving your blogs a brand. Put this as your link in only the temple blogs. will soon get picked up by google. what say?
ReplyDeleteI just happened to come across this blog. The temple has been renovated and they are doing Kumbhabhishekam for the same on march 6 2011. Please do join us.
ReplyDeleteI am providing a small write up about this temple.
Temple History
After slaying Suran Lord Subramaniya travelled to Thirutanni from
ThiruPorur for peace. On the way he stopped on this hill as it
resembles Linga and prayed obeisance to Lord Shiva. This is only one
of the two temples in the entire world where Lord is facing the North.
The other temple is Thiruparunkundram.
Lord Muruga's temple is located on top of the hill. Lord Shiva (
Kandhaeshwar ) and his escort Nagai Mugai Velli ( The ever smiling
goddess ) is located on the foothills of this mountain.
Sekhizar was from this place. He used to worship in this temple and
according to Thala Purana ( history of the temple ), he composed
significant portions of Periya Puranam inside this temple. Later he
constructed another temple of Siva at a nearby location.
There is a misconception about the name of Lord Shiva. Every one is of
the opinion that Kandhaeshwar means Lord ( Eashwar ) of Kandha (
Murugan ). But that is not the real meaning. There are couple of
meanings. I have listed them below.
In pure tamil Kandhu stands for tree. The story is there used a very
ancient tree right at the spot where the Linga is today. People used
to worship the tree as it was considered very auspicious. Once the
tree withered away they constructed a temple at the same place and
hence the name Kanhdaeshwar.
Also in tamil Kandhe stands for evil. Kandhaeshwar is the destroyer of all evil
Another meaning for kandhu is infinity. Since the linga in pure form
is a beam of light with no beginning and end, Surya worshiped Lord
Shiva in this place and hence the name Kandhaeshwar. There is a
separate worship place for Suriya in this temple.
All these different interpretations are found in different puranas.
But according to periya puranam the last one is the correct
interpretation of the Lord's name.
From the inscriptions found around the temple during the cleaning
process, we discovered that this temple was constructed around 600 AD
during the period of King Kulothunga I. The other significant aspect
of this temple is the inner sanctum is constructed in the shape of an
elephant's back. There are very few temples which have this kind of
architechture.
More interesting details about the temple plus snaps taken from 2006
illustrating the dipliated state of the temple
http://maraboorjc.blogspot.com/2006/04/3_08.html