Thazhuva Kuzhaindeeswarar Temple - Padappai

Padappai is a small developing town near Tambaram on the southern outskirts of Chennai city in South India. Padappai is classified into two parts, Keezh Padappai and Mel Padappai. Mel Padappai has an ancient temple for Lord Shiva called Thazhuva Kuzhaindeeswarar. Let me discuss this temple in this article.

Legend

As per the legend, the Goddess Parvati was born human due to a curse. She did severe penance towards Shiva in Mangadu village. As per the direction from Shiva, she moved towards Kanchipuram. On her way to Kanchipuram, she installed a Shiv Linga on this site. As the icon was about to be washed away in water once, she embraced the Linga tightly. Hence, Shiva is called Thazhuva Kuzhaindeeswarar, which refers to embracing,  in the Tamil language.

Some stories about the other Shiva temple, Veeratteswarar, are told for this temple too. It is believed that Sambandhar has referred to this temple in his hymn, and hence it becomes a Devara Vaippu Sthalam. It is also thought that it is one of those 108 Shiva temples consecrated by Nandi Varma Pallava on the same day.

Temple Layout

The ancient temple is majorly renovated. The east-facing temple has a three-tiered tower. Bala Ganapati and Bala Murugan icons are found at the tower's entrance.

The east-facing sanctum enshrines a small Shiv Linga called Thazhuva Kuzhaindeeswarar. In Ardha Mandap, the idol of Ganesha is found.

The Goddess Kamakshi is found in a separate south-facing shrine. Her shrine has a separate small Mukha mandapa.

The flag staff, bali peetha and Nandi Mandap are found facing toward the sanctum. The tower of Nandi Mandap has four interesting stucco images of Nandi in different postures.

The shrine of Ananda Nataraja and Sivakami (small metal icons) is in Maha Mandapa.

There is only one prakara. The sub-shrines of Ganesh, Subramanya-Valli-Devasena, Veerabhadra, Bhairav, Sharbeshwara, Shaneeswara and Navagraha are located in this prakara.

The icons of Surya and Chandra are found in the opposite direction of the sanctum.

There is a shrine of Paleeswarar (Linga) along with his consort. There is another small Linga and Nandi with stucco images of Shiva and Parvati behind them.

The relief image of Shanmukha is found near the Sthala Vruksham, Mango.

Ganesh, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga are the Koshta Murtis of the sanctum. Saraswati, Lakshmi and Vaishnavi are the Koshta Murtis of Kamakshi's shrine. Chandikeshwara is found in his usual location.

Happy travelling.