Temple of Lion Goddess

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 Let me explore an unusual temple in this post. You would have heard of Lion God - Lord Narasimha; but, only a few of you would have heard about Lion Goddess Pratyangira Devi. Pratyangira Devi has only very few temples in the entire world- hardly 3 or 4. Chennai's suburb Sholinganallur (around 25 km from Chennai railway station), has one temple for Devi.

Let me first brief the story of the Goddess, as she is one of the rare deities of Hinduism. Lord Vishnu took the form of Narasimha - a combination of lion and man to kill a powerful Asura. Even after killing the Asura, he couldn't control his anger, and everyone was afraid of him. Lord Shiva took the form of Sharbeshwara- a combination of bird and man to pacify Narasimha. The bird had two wings - Shoolini Devi and Pratyangira Devi. Sharbeshwara was not successful in his attempt. However, Pratyangira Devi could successfully control Narasimha, and hence she obtained the name Narasimhika.


Pratyangira temple in Sholinganallur is a private temple located in the ring road connecting OMR and ECR. 


The presiding deity of the temple is Pratyangira Devi. Besides this, there are many rare idols of various deities in this temple, which cannot be normally found in other temples. Some of the deities found in the temple include Varahi, Neela Saraswati, Sharbeshwara, Ganesha, Kartikeya, Hanuman, Kalikambal, Ayyappa, Shiva Linga, Guruvayurappan, Shaneeswar, Rahu, Ketu and Narasimha. There are some hugs idols for some Nagas and Agni. The temple is full of icons of almost all the Hindu deities. Do visit this place for a unique experience.


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

  1. mannabTuesday, August 04, 2009

    The information provided by you regarding this goddess is new for me. Can you give me refernece of the origin of the mythological story? Thanks for this unusual place in Chennai
    Mangesh Nabar

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMonday, August 10, 2009

    Good information provided by you...
    you can also visit this to get information about Amarnath Temple
    http://www.ashokaholidays.com/amarnath-yatra.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFriday, September 04, 2009

    Splendid work on temples... Keep going.. Keep exploring. Best wishes.
    Saravanan

    ReplyDelete
  4. RajagopalanTuesday, January 26, 2010

    I have gone to Sarabeswara temple. Prathyankira is a new deity I have learnt now. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. BaluTuesday, March 02, 2010

    i have heard of this temple but never knew the legend behind it. thnks for the info

    ReplyDelete

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