Ravishwarar Temple - Vyasarpadi, Chennai

Chennai, the gateway to South India, has a lot of important tourist sites and religious places. There is an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, named Ravishwarar, located in Vyasarpadi in North Chennai, which remains unknown to most of the public residing even in Chennai. The Ravishwarar temple belongs to the Chola period. However, it has yet to be known which Chola king built this temple or the history of the temple.

As per the legend, Surya worshiped Lord Shiva here and took a dip in the holy tank to get rid of his Brahma hatya Dosha (a kind of curse). Hence, Lord Shiva in this temple is named as Ravishwarar (Ravi means 'Sun' in the Sanskrit language), and the temple tank is called Surya Teertha. The place was originally called 'Bhanu Puram', whereas Bhanu means 'Surya' in Sanskrit. Later, as Ved Vyasa lived in this locality, this place was also referred to as Vyasarpadi.

The Ravishwarar temple is located on the main road near Ambedkar College in Vyasarpadi. As North Chennai is underdeveloped, this ancient temple remains unknown to Chennai citizens nowadays. 

There is a small Raja gopuram (tower) for this temple. The temple tank is located on the other side of the road. 

The east-facing sanctum enshrines a big Shiva Linga called Ravishwarar. Nandi, flagstaff and bali peetha are found facing toward the sanctum.

Adjacent to the sanctum, the Goddess Maragadambal is found in a separate south-facing shrine.

The entrance of Ravishwar sanctum has the icons of Ganesha and Murugan on either side.

The icons of Surya and Chandra are also found in the main shrine. Additionally, various deities such as Bhairava, Nalvar, utsava (metal) images of Nataraja-Sivakami, and various other utsava icons are also found in the main shrine.

In the prakara, the sub-shrines of Sundara Vinayaka, Subramanya-Valli-Devasena, Ramalinga Swamigal, Munnai Kaththa Perumal (Vishnu)-Sri Devi-Bhoo Devi, Iyappa, Hanuman, Chandikeshwara and Navagraha are located. Interestingly, the icon of Ved Vyasa is also found in the prakara.

Nardana Vinayaka, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga are found as the Koshta deities on the outer walls of the sanctum. Koumari, Brahmamukhi, Vaishnavi, Maheswari and Varahi are the Koshta deities of Maragadambal.

Happy travelling.

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