Indian Columbus

Tiruputkuzhi is a small village located near Kanchipuram. The easiest way to reach the village is via Chennai -Bangalore High Road. The village has a temple dedicated to Lord Ram. Lord Ram is named as Vijayaraghav in this temple. Tiruputkuzhi Vijayaraghava Perumal temple is one of the 108 Divya Desam temples (108 important temples of Lord Vishnu). Rama and Krishna are the most popular incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Even though there are plenty of temples for Krishna in India, the number of temples dedicated to Lord Rama is comparatively less. This temple dedicated to Lord Ram (Vijayaraghav) is very unique, as Ram appears in the form of Lord Vishnu along with two consorts. As per the legend associated with this temple, Jatayu, the eagle king, fought with Raavan while he was carrying Sita to Sri Lanka. However, Jataya was not successful in his attempt. He lost his wings and fell down. Ram, in search of Sita, reached this site, where he found Jatayu. Jatayu died in front of Ram and R...

Tiruparkadal, a small village on the Chennai - Bangalore Highroad, near Kanchipuram, is considered as equivalent to 107th Divya Desam by devotees. The small village has two Vishnu temples located adjacent to each other. There is a big tank located outside the twin temples. The first temple is dedicated to Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal, where Vishnu is standing on Shiv Linga. The second temple is dedicated to Ranganath, Vishnu in the reclining posture. The highlight of the temple is the presiding deity, which is made up of Atti tree (wood). The idol looks unique and beautiful due to this. The small temple doesn't have many other shrines. The sanctum enshrines Ranganath reclining on Adi Sesha, the five hooded serpent, along with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi, and also with Brahma. All these idols, found in the sanctum, are made up of Atti tree. The small temple also has separate shrines for Hanuman and Garud. Alwars are also found in a separate shrine. The idol of the Godde...

You can find thousands of Shiva temples and thousands of Vishnu temples in India, the country where you cannot find even a village without a temple. In fact, you can even find some temples where Lord Shiva as well as Lord Vishnu are found. However, I am going to introduce you to a rare temple in South India, where Vishnu is found standing on Shiv Linga. Tiruparkadal is small village full of green paddy fields near Kaveripakkam junction near Kanchipuram. It is located on the Chennai -Bangalore high road. This small village of Tiruparkadal has two important temples of Lord Vishnu located adjacent to each other. One of those twin temples is dedicated to Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal, in which Lord Vishnu is found standing on Shiv Linga. As per the legend, the sage Pundareeka Maharishi, an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu, visited the adjacent temple of Lord Ranganath. When he passed over this temple, he noticed Nandi idol in front of the temple. As he didn't want to visit Shiva templ...

On the Chennai - Bangalore high road in South India, near the famous Kanchipuram temple city, there is a small place named Kaveripakkam. In Kaveripakkam, in an area named Konda Puram, there is an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is found. In this temple, as there are five Shiv Lingas  found, the temple is called as Pancha Lingeswarar temple. As per the legend, the Goddess Kamakshi installed five Shiv Linga idols representing Pancha (five) Bhootas such as earth, water, fire, air and sky, before doing penance at Kanchipuram. This small ancient and beautiful temples has five shrines each having one Shiv Linga. Apart from that there are two shrines enshrining  Kamakshi idol. There is also a shrine for Ganesha and another for Shanmukha with Valli and Devasena. The walls of the temple have the niche images of two Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, and Brahma. Navagraha is also found in this temple. Happy travelling. Fast Facts: Site Name:  Pancha Lingeswarar Temple ...

Vellore , the Fort city of Tamil Nadu state in South India, is of course famous due its gigantic fort. The main building within the fort is the magnificent temple of Jalagandeswarar. In my previous post, I wrote about the legend and history of Jalagandeswarar temple. In this post, let me briefly write about the idols, sculptures and the temple structure. Jalagandeswarar temple has seven tiered tower which look gigantic along with its fort like long walls. Once you enter into the temple through this gigantic tower, you will find the Kalyana Mandap (wedding hall, if translated in English) and another temple tower with three tiers. The Kalyana Mandap is the highlight of this beautiful old temple of  the 16th century. If you visit this mandap alone and do not proceed to the temple, I would say it is more than enough. The mandap is so beautiful that it is very difficult to explain in writing. The mandap is full of extraordinary sculptures, artistic pillars and artistic ceilings. Th...

When any South Indian hears the word "Vellore", he might think of two things immediately - one is Vellore Jail and another is Vellore Fort. Vellore Fort is very popular in South India, as it is very rare to find forts and palaces in South India. Vellore Fort is one of the largest forts among those very few forts of South India. It is located near Chennai city on the Chennai-Bangalore route. Inside the gigantic Vellore Fort, there are a lot of government buildings, a museum, a Church and a mosque. However, the most important structure inside the Vellore Fort is the magnificent Jalagandeswarar temple. The fort was in fact built due to this temple. Before I write about the architecture, structure, sculptures and idols of Jalagandeswarar temple, I would talk about its history. As per the legend the current site where the temple is located was an island surrounded by a lake. On the island, there was an snake hole. Near the snake hole, there was a Shiv Linga idol which was ...

Vellore, a small city, located near Chennai in South India is mainly famous for its Fort. Vellore Fort is one of the largest forts in South India where it's very rare to find forts or palaces. Vellore fort is very huge and it houses various government buildings, a church, a small mosque, and a gigantic beautiful Jalagandeswarar temple. Apart from all those structures, there is also a small but well maintained Government museum located inside the Vellore fort. The Vellore Fort Government Museum is well maintained and it has a lot of rare collections. To start with, you can find a lot of sculptures belonging to different periods even outside the museum structure. You can even find some Sati stones there. Apart from typical sculptures, there are rare stones such as hero stones, stone pillars, and gun powder flasks found outside the museum. All these sculptures and stones belong to various period starting from pre-Christian era to 18th century AD. Even though the museum is small, i...

Shenbakkam, a small village near Vellore, on the route of Chennai to Bangalore in South India, is famous due to its rare temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva, is named as Selva Vinayakar in this temple. Shenbakkam Selva Vinayakar temple has totally 11 Pillayar (Ganesha) idols. The highlight is not the number of idols but the shape of those idols. All the idols are shapeless and formless. They are considered as Swamyambu - meaning which formed on their own. You cannot find a proper shape for any of those Ganesha idols. That is the highlight of this temple. The original name of the village was Shenbagavanam as there used to be a lot of Shenbaga trees. The name got diluted to Shenbakkam later. As per a legend, Adi Shankara on his way to Virinjipuram Margabandeswarar temple visit, he came to this site and installed Sri Chakra. However, the Chakra is nowhere found in the current temple. It is also believed that all the idols were buried into the grou...

Vellore Fort is one of the largest forts in South India. In South India, it's very common to find magnificent temples, but it's very rare to find palaces and forts. Vellore fort of Vellore city near Chennai , the gateway to South India, is one of those few forts of South India. Vellore Fort was built by Chinna Bommi Nayak and Thimma Reddy Nayak, subordinate Chieftains under Sadasiva Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire in the year of 1566 CE. Vellore Fort got prominence under the Vijayanagara reign. Vellore city even became their capital. The empire used Vellore Fort as the base to fight a lot of battles. The fort was captured by Bijapur Sultan in 1656 CE. Later, it was captured by the Marathas and the Mughals. Ultimately, the British took the control of the fort. It was under Hyder Ali for a brief period in-between. Interestingly, the first rebellion against the British rule broke in Vellore Fort in the year of 1806 CE. Indian soldiers stationed in the fort attacked the Brit...