Amareswarar Temple - Kanchipuram

Amareswarar Temple is one of the lesser-known Pallava period temples of Kanchipuram. It is located in a small lane on West Raja Street in the town.

The west-facing temple, which is believed to be of Rajasimha Pallava's period, must have been the pride of the town once. But, it is no more the pride of the city. When some of the other ancient temples in this town lost their grace due to neglect, this temple lost its grace due to maintenance and renovation. All those beautiful sculptures are replaced with modern-day stucco images which look laughable.

The west-facing sanctum enshrines Shiv Linga called Amareswarar. Kanchi Puranam calls him as Tripurantakesa. The Somaskanda panel is also found in the shrine. The vimana is two tiered Nagara vimana.

As per the legend, the Devas won the battle against the Asuras due to the blessing from Shiva. However, their victory turned them proud and ignorant. Shiva appeared to them as a Yaksha. He challenged them to cut a thin piece of straw. None of the Devas could do that, and they all felt themselves very low in front of the Yaksha. Then, Shiva appeared in his own form along with his consort Uma and blessed them. They all installed a Shiv Linga on the same site and performed poojas. It is said that this Shiv Linga, called Amareswarar, is installed by them.

Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga are the niche images. All are new icons. Similarly, the standing lions on the walls are also new.

The Bhuta mala icons are definitely old, but they are poorly painted. The old icons of Brahma and Sukasana Murti are found in the greeva koshtams. A few original relief images of Ganesha are located above the niches.

Happy travelling.