Tiruvottiyur Thyagarajar and Vadivudai Amman Temple - Part 2

I have been writing about the ancient Tiruvottiyur Tyagaraja temple, located near Chennai, in the past two blog posts. This article is a continuation of my earlier posts about this temple. Let me partly describe the structure of the temple in this post.

The Tyagaraja and Vadivudai Amman temple at Tiruvottiyur has a seven-tiered tower (raja gopuram) facing east. This temple tower is considered a masterpiece of South Indian temple architecture. 

The layout is somewhat confusing, and we might wonder where to start visiting the temple. 

Once we enter the temple, we can find various shrines in front of us and two dhwajastambhas (flagstaffs). One flagstaff faces toward the shrine of Goddess Vadivudai Amman, whereas the other flagstaff faces the sanctum. However, we can find various shrines between the flag staff and the main sanctum, thus making the temple design a bit complex and unique. There is a small Nandi (bull) on a raised platform.

It is better to start by moving towards our left, where we find a small shrine for Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is named Jagannatha in this shrine. An exciting thing is, generally, Lord Vishnu is called Jagannatha. However, in this temple, Lord Shiva is named Jagannatha. The shrine also houses the icons of Ganesha and the goddess named Jagadambikai. There is a Nandi located facing this shrine. 

Adjacent to this shrine, there is another shrine for Shiva named Amrudhakadeshwar, which is a big Shiva Ling. In the same shrine, there is Ganesha. Opposite these shrines, the icons of Surya, Moovar and Sundarar, with his consort Sangili Nachiar are found. (We can recall that this temple is associated with the devotee Sundarar. Let me provide more details about this later.)

There is a shrine for Sahasra Linga, the Shiva Linga with thousand eyes. There is another shrine for one more Shiva Linga - Ekambara Nathar. The icons of Ramalinga Swamigal and Ganesha are also found.

I will write more about the structure of this temple in my next post.

Till then...Happy travelling.

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