Vadapalani Murugan Temple, Chennai

By -

Vada Palani Andavan temple in Vadapalani is one of the most famous temples of Chennai city. 

There are six most important temples for Lord Murugan, which are known as Arupadai Veedu. One of those temples is located in a small town named Palani. As Chennai is located to the north of Palani, this temple to Palani Andavan is called 'Vada Palani Andvan temple'. (The word 'Vada' means north in the Tamil language.)

There lived a devotee of Murugan named Annaswami Tambiran. In a small hut, he had kept a picture of Murugan and used to meditate. One day, he experienced a sort of divine power entering into his body. Since then, he started getting into a trance and uttering wise words (called Arul Vakku in Tamil). Many believed that his words healed their problems. After his demise, his disciple Ramaswamy uttered Arul Vakku. During his time in the early 20th century CE, this place was developed as a temple, with the aid of public collected funds). Even today, we can find the same old picture of Murugan in the meditation hall in the temple.

The temple is very big and has entrances in all four directions. The sanctum is facing the east direction. However, the south direction entrance is prominent and is used by the people as the main entrance. The five-tiered Gopuram at this entrance is bigger than the other three towers of the temple.

The sanctum enshrines the beautiful icon of Murugan. He is in a standing posture and is 4 feet tall. There are two prakaras around the sanctum. The sanctum wall has niche images of Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga. 

The flagstaff and bali peetha are found facing the sanctum.

In the inner prakara, there are many small-sized icons such as Nalvar, Surya, Chandra, Chandikeshwara, Shaneeswara, Vaiyapuri Pandya, Vishwanatha Linga and Vishalakshi, Maha Lakshmi, Bhairava, Veerabhadra, Subramanya-Valli-Devasena, Naga Subramanya and Nataraja.

There are many sub-shrines situated in this temple, including Vara Siddhi Vinayaka, Chokkanathar Linga, Meenakshi, Shanmukha-Valli-Devasena, Angarak (Chevvai), Arunagirinathar, Subramanya-Valli-Devasena and Hanuman.

A massive temple tank is situated outside the temple complex.

There is a big hall in this temple where generally marriages and essential functions are arranged. Hundreds of weddings happen in this temple every year. Also, devotees sacrifice their hair by tonsuring their heads (mundan/mottai) in this temple.

Happy travelling.

Visit my site, krishnakumartk.com, to know more about the travel guides and other books that I have written.




Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Tallest Murugan of Chennai

By -
Image
Consecrated in March 2021, the 40 feet high Bala Murugan icon at Saveetha Medical College campus is the tallest image of Murugan in Chennai. Malaysia has 140 feet tall Murugan. In April 2022, the 146 feet tall image of Murugan was consecrated near Salem in Tamil Nadu. However, they are all stucco images. But, the one that we find on the college campus is a monolithic granite icon. Thus, it is the tallest stone icon of Murugan in the entire world. A stone weighing 320 tonnes was brought from Siruvambur near Wallajah, and it was carved to 140 tonnes to get this beautiful and gigantic sculpture. The entire temple complex is designed in the shape of the Devanagiri letter "Om", which can be appreciated in the aerial view.  The west-facing gigantic sculpture is located atop the star-shaped pedestal. It dominates the entire landscape. A large meditation hall is situated below the pedestal. On the open corridor in front of the presiding deity, smaller shrines are found. They enshrine
Read more

Putlur Angala Parameswari Temple - Chennai

By -
Image
Angala Parameswari Temple in Putlur, near  Chennai  city of South India, is a unique temple. The Goddess is in the form of a pregnant woman in this temple. The icon of Angala Parameswari is believed to be self-manifested, called swayambhu.  As per the legend, a village head tortured a poor for borrowed money. The poor was forced to plough an infertile land. While ploughing the ground full of rocks, the villager noticed that blood was oozing out from a particular place. There, he discovered the image of the Goddess. It is a snake hole (putru in Tamil - where snakes live) in the form of a woman in a sleeping posture with her mouth kept open, and her bulged stomach like a pregnant woman. The villagers built a temple with this putru and named the Goddess Angala Parameswari. Hence, they started calling the village Putlur the town with the divine Putru.  Putlur Angala Parameswari temple is basically a village temple. It is visited by thousands of people. Primarily it will be tough to en
Read more

A 17th century Dargah with healing power - Mount Road Dargah, Chennai, India

By -
Image
Mount Road or Anna Salai is one of the most happening places in  Chennai . There are two famous Islamic shrines on Mount Road – one is  Thousands Light mosque . The other one is Dargah-e-Hazrath Syed Moosa Shah Qadri Baghdadi (Rahmatullah Alaihi), also known as Mount Road Dargah. It is the most popular Dargah across the city. It draws devotees of all faiths and all walks of life. Especially every Thursday, a large number of devotees gather to the Dargah. A lot of city-based celebrities regularly visit the site. This Dargah is the shrine of a Muslim Saint named Hazrath Syed Moosa Shah Qadri Baghdadi. He was also known as Rahmatullah Alaihi. Hazrath Syed Moosa Shah Qadri Baghdadi arrived from Baghdad in the middle of the 17th Century CE. He made Chennai his home and lived here. It is believed that he had healing powers. During his time, he had so many devotees regularly visiting him. After his demise, his family buried him next to his house, which is the current Dargah. You can easily lo
Read more