Navagraha along with their wives in Chennai

Site Name: Bala Murugan Temple
Site Type: Hindu Temple
Location:  Thendral Colony, West Anna Nagar, Chennai city, Tamil Nadu state, India
Highlights: A rare temple where Navagrahas are found along with their consorts
Nearest Railway Station: Chennai - well connected from the cities/towns all over India

Nearest Airport: Chennai has both national and international airports
How to reach: Easily reachable by road as this is centrally located in the city
Hotel: Many star hotels, luxury hotels/resorts, and budget hotels are available in Chennai
Restaurants: All options - vegetarian, non-vegetarian, Chinese, South Indian, Gujarati, North Indian, Punjabi,....- you can find everything in Chennai city

Chennai is considered as the gateway to South India. The capital city of Tamil Nadu state of India has hundreds of tourist sites which include museum, British period monuments, temples, beach, etc. Let us explore a little known temple called Bala Murugan temple located in Chennai.

Temple Layout:

Bala Murugan temple is located near Anna Nagar railway station in West Anna Nagar area in Chennai city. Although it is popular in this locality, it remains unknown to the people from the other parts of Chennai. The highlight of the temple is Navagrahas are found along with their consorts. It is unique and it is one among very few temples having Navagrahs along with their wives.

The south facing temple has a small tower. All the mains shrines face the east direction. The sanctum sanctorum has the beautiful idol of Bala Murugan. To the right side of this shrine, there is an equally big shrine dedicated to Lord Ganesha. The wall around the main shrine of Murugan has the niche images of Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Vishnu Durga. A small Chandikeshwara sub-shrine is also found in this prakara. It should be noted that all these niche idols are usually found only for Lord Shiva. It is rare to find all these deities as Koshta (niche) deities around the shrine of Subramanya.

The left side of the main shrine has four small sub-shrines dedicated to Ayyappa, Vishwanatha (Shiva Linga), Vishalakshi and Nataraja. The Ayyappa idol is stone idol which is not usually found in other temples. 

There is a big shrine dedicated to Lakshmi Narayana.

The temple also enshrines Lakshmi Hayagreeva, Kubera Bhairava with his consort, Nagavalli Amman found in front of an anthole, the bust idol of Nagavalli Amman, Danvantiri, the utsava deities of Murugan and other Gods, Sudarshana with Narsimha on his back and importantly Navagrahas (nine planets) along with their respective consorts. 

The highlight of the temple is Navagrahas, the nine planets. Surya is found with his two consorts. All other eight planets are found along with their respective consorts. It is very rare to find planets with their wives.

The details of planets and their consorts are given below.

Surya - Usha and Chaya

Chandra - Rohini

Mangal (Sevvai) - Shakti

Budha - Ila

Guru - Tara

Shukra - Sukirti

Shani - Neela

Rahu - Simhi

Ketu - Chitralekha

Happy travelling.