Access Card, Burger Prasad and the Air Conditioned Temple

Access card, burger prasad and the air-conditioned temple - it's true, and I am not kidding. A temple near Chennai offers everything mentioned above. This article focuses on that temple.

Jaya Durga Peetham is a private temple. There was a saint who was called Jaya Durga Siddhar. His disciples run a trust and also this temple. It is located in Raghavendra Nagar in Padappai, a suburb of South Chennai.

You will be required to show your original ID card at the counter and provide your details for registration. Then, you will be given an access card. You could enter and exit the temple only with this. Once you enter the temple, you will feel like you are inside an IT company. The temple is very neatly maintained.

Before entering the temple, you will be given a water bottle. And, before leaving the premises, you need to swipe your card to get Prasad. The temple authorities do not charge for this, and no Hundi exists. However, they have a laundry list of various sevas and services with the pricing details.

On special occasions, the temple authorities give burgers and brownies as the prasad. They even send cakes to nearby regular visitors during their birthdays.

The sanctum enshrines Jaya Durga, the presiding deity. She has twelve arms and holds discus and conch in her upper arms. She is found seated on a lion.

In another shrine, Ucchistha Vinayak is found along with his consort. Interestingly, he holds a conch and discus in his upper arms.

Varahi is found in a seated posture in a separate shrine. The stucco images of different forms of Varahis are seen as the niche images on the walls of this shrine.

The sub-shrine of Hanuman is very interesting. He is found along with his parents. When Vayu is depicted with a traditional deep (light), Anjana is depicted in human form. She does not have vanara face.

Panchakshara Ganesh, Mahamayi and Bhuvaneswari (utsava icons), Dhanvantri, Subramanya-Valli-Devasena, Swarna Akarshana Bhairav with his consort and Raja Karuppar with his consort are some of the other deities who are found in separate sub-shrines.

The samadhi of Swamiji and a Mukha Linga installed on top of it are located in a shrine.

Happy travelling.