Temples of Tiruvottiyur

Tiruvottiyur is a historic town near North Chennai of Tamil Nadu state in South India. Tiruvottiyur is famous mainly because of its gigantic ancient Tyagarajar and Vadivudai Amman temple. You cannot find such a magnificent and old temple anywhere in the surroundings of Chennai city.

Tiruvottiyur has many important temples, apart from the Tyagarajar temple. I have written about all those temples in separate blog posts. However, it is worth mentioning all the temples of Tiruvottiyur in a single blog post as it would be helpful to many travelers visiting Tiruvottiyur.

The center of attraction of Tiruvottiyur is certainly the gigantic temple of Tyagarajar and Vadivudai Amman, also called Adi Pureeswarar temple. Various kings and emperors are associated with this temple. Various saints and poets such as Kambar, Ramalinga Adigal, Adi Shankara and Sundarar are related to the history of this temple. Hence, this temple is considered a historic temple. As far as my knowledge goes, this temple must be the oldest and most significant temple in and around Chennai. Vadivudai Amman, the goddess of this temple, is a mighty goddess and very popular among the public of Chennai. The temple is so huge that it would take at least one hour to explore it thoroughly. The Shiv Linga icons representing 27 stars, the temple tower, the sculptures, and Shiva in three different forms are some of the temple's highlights.

The second temple which I wanted to mention is Dakshinamurti temple. Dakshinamurti is the yogic form of Lord Shiva. It's infrequent to find a dedicated temple to Dakshinamurti. There is a 400 years old temple for Dakshinamurti near the main entrance of Thyagarajar temple. The highlights of this temple are the giant image of Dakshinamurti and he facing north direction.

Nandi is the vahana (vehicle) of Lord Shiva. Even though there are temples dedicated to Nandi, there might not be any other temple where Adhikara Nandi is the presiding deity. A small temple dedicated to Nandeeswarar is located on Southern Car Street adjacent to Thyagarajar temple, where Nandi is represented as human. This is a rare temple.

Pattinathar is a famous Tamil saint and poet who lived in the 10th century CE. He attained samadhi (expired) in Tiruvottiyur. There is a samadhi temple (temple having a tomb) of Pattinathar located near the seashore around 1 km from Tyagarajar temple.

There is yet another Shiva temple in Tiruvottiyur, named Agastheeswarar temple. Even though the temple's history and period are not known, it is a fact that this is one of the ancient temples of Tiruvottiyur. It is believed that the temple of Agastheeswarar was worshiped by none other than the famous old saint Agastya.

When you visit Tiruvottiyur, ensure that you see all the above temples.

Happy travelling.

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