Tiruvottiyur Tyagarajar and Vadivudai Amman Temple - Part 8

I have been writing about the gigantic ancient temple of Tiruvottiyur Thyagarajar and Vadivudai Amman temple near Chennai in the past 6-7 blog posts. This post is a continuation of those posts, where I will write about the Vadivudai Amman shrine and the remaining areas of the Thyagarajar temple.

In my previous post, I have written about the Tiruvottreeswarar shrine. Now, I am continuing from where I left off. Once you visit the Tiruvottreeswarar shrine, you will enter the northern corridor of the temple. There is a big tank located in this corridor. This temple also has another big tank located outside the temple complex. Near the temple tank, there is a separate shrine for Bhairava. Vasanta Mandapa (the hall) is also located near the tank, where you can always find some musical consorts or religious functions.

The holy tree (sthala vruksha) of the temple "Magila" tree (Ficus tree) is also located near the tank. The great devotee of Lord Shiva, Sundarar, married Sangili Nachiar in Tiruvottiyur. He already had a wife. Hence, Sangili wanted Sundarar to swear in front of God that he would not leave her. Sundarar requested Lord Shiva to shift from the main shrine to this Magila tree so that he could avoid swearing in front of God. However, Shiva played a trick and appeared in Sangili's dream, asking her to request Sundarar to swear near the tree. Hence, Sundarar had to swear in front of the Magila tree, where God was present. It's a different story that he broke the oath and lost his eyes. I mentioned this story over here because the Magila tree located in this temple now is believed to be the same tree where Sundarar took oath in the 7th century CE. There is a Shiva Linga beneath the tree.

Near Vadivudai Amman shrine, there is another hall named Kalyana Sundara Murti Mandap. The entrance of the hall has a small shrine for Shaneeswara. There is a shrine having two icons of Ganesha named Rettai Pillayar shrine.

We have visited all the shrines of the famous Thyagaraja temple so far. Let us explore the shrine of Vadivudai Amman. She is, in fact, more famous than Tyagarajar or Adi Pureeswarar, and due to this, people often refer to this temple as the Vadivudai Amman temple. Hundreds of people visit the Vadivudai Amman shrine alone in this temple by neglecting the other sections of the temple.

Vadivudai Amman, the Goddess of the temple, is considered Gnana Shakti. She is regarded as one of the three prominent Goddesses of the Chennai region. The other two Goddesses are Tiruvudai Amman (Ichchaa Shakti of Melur and Kodiyudai Amman (Kriya Shakti) of Tirumullaivayil. Vadivudai Amman is believed to have served the 19th-century saint Ramalinga Adigalar, who used to visit her shrine daily. Vadivudai Amman, as per the name, looks beautiful and appears in the standing posture. The shrine of Vadivudai Amman also houses the utsav (metal icon) of the Goddess and Sukravaramman. There is also a small shrine with Shiv Linga and the Goddess. The shrine faces the southern direction.

I complete my series of blog posts on the Tyagarajar temple of Tiruvottiyur. When you get a chance to go to Chennai, ensure that you visit this historically and architecturally rich ancient temple of Lord Shiva.

Happy travelling.

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