Kulathur Kalyana Ranganathar Temple

Kulathur is a quiet and remote village around 2 km from Mambakkam junction on the Vandalur-Kelambakkam Highway. From Tambaram, the distance to this village is around 21 km. There is a vast pond situated in the center of this village. The village is probably named Kulathur because of this (the word Kulam means pond in Tamil).

In this village, there is an old Vishnu Temple. We have always seen Ranganatha in the reclining posture. However, in this temple, he is found in a standing posture. It's a small murti. He has four arms and holds a conch and discus in his upper arms. His two consorts are found on either side.

The bronze icons of Kalyana Ranganath and his two consorts, Ranganayaki and Andal, are also found in the same sanctum.

In Ardha Mandapa, the bronze icons of Hanuman, Ramanuja, Nammalvar and Desikan are located.

In Maha Mandapa, the big Dwarapalas are found. In addition, a small stone image of Andal and the idols of Ramanuja, Desikan and Nammalvar are located.

In the prakara, the Goddess Ranga Nayaki is found in a separate sub-shrine.

The flagstaff, Garud's sub-shrine, bali peetha, and a tall stone lamp post are found one after the other facing towards the sanctum.

A small sub-shrine for Hanuman is also located in this temple.

The east-facing temple has a three-tiered tower. The big pond is located on the road backside to the temple.

As the entire temple is renovated and painted, and due to the unavailability of any inscription, there is no way that we could ascertain the actual date of the temple. The locals claim that the temple is 800 years old. However, I think this temple could probably be 300-400 years old and built by the Nayakas.

About 500 meters from this temple, an unknown Shiva temple is in the same village. Shiva is named as Somanatheeswarar temple. It is supposed to be an old temple. But, the temple has been completely renovated and reconstructed in recent years, and hence we could not appreciate any heritage value in this site.

The east-facing temple has no gopuram. Somanatheeswarar is found in east facing shrine. His consort Amritambikai is located in a separate south-facing shrine. The temple is a typical Shiva temple with regular Koshtams such as Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Lingodbhava, Brahma, and Durga, along with the sub-shrines of Ganesha, Subramanya, Navagraha, Surya, Chandra, Bhairav and Chandikeshwara.

The Ayyappan (Shasta) icon alone appears to be an old icon. Chandra is found in Anjali Mudra in front of a Shiv Linga to depict the legend that he got rid of his sin by worshiping Shiva on this site.

There is a temple pond nearby. The area is tranquil, with so many trees surrounding it.

It should be noted that Chennai has another Kulathur near Villivakkam. There also, there is a Shiva temple named Somanatheeswarar.

Happy travelling.