Nedunkundram Agasteeswarar Temple

The citizens of Chennai would hardly be heard about this sub-urban locality called Nedunkundram. Two to three years down the line, this location might become one of the most happening places in the city, thanks to the real estate giants who focus on this part of the outskirts.

In this tiny hamlet, an old temple of Lord Shiva is located. The temple is called Agasteeswarar temple. It is a serene location surrounded by trees and a big temple tank full of pure water. It is indeed a rare sight in Chennai to find a pond with water.

Around 5 km from Perungalathur railway station, a narrow street called Iswaran Koil Street that branches out from the Gandhi Road leads us to this temple.

The temple is east facing. It has no Raja gopuram (I heard that the tower would be constructed shortly by a real estate company promoting its project in this village). There are two entrances to the temple, one in the east and the other in the south. At the eastern entrance, there is an icon of Ganesha located. To the true left side of the temple, the big temple tank named Brahma Teerth flows. The holy banyan tree is found between the tank and the temple. It is the Sthala Vruksha of this temple.

The villagers claim that the temple is 1000+ years old (it is definitely not that old, though). I inquired about the possibilities of the inscriptions. But no one could provide a solid response. I believe the inscriptions were lost during the renovation of the temple. I understand that the original temple was a stone temple in a dilapidated state, and it was renovated in the early 2000s.

The current concrete modern-day structure does not give even an iota of clue on the period of the temple. The original temple might have been a later Chola-period temple. Except for Shiv Linga and Chandikeswara, I don't see any other old sculptures in this temple. Probably, these are the icons that were there even in the original temple. The scholars could throw light on the age of the temple from these sculptures.

The presiding deity is Agasteeswarar. He is found as a big Shiv Linga in the east-facing sanctum. It is believed that it was installed by Agastya Rishi. It is said that the Rishi installed 108 Shiv Lingas in the Tondai region, and it must be one of them.

There is a small Ardha Mandapa. The Maha Mandapa is bigger in size. At the entrance of the Ardha Mandaap, Bala Ganapati and Subramanya are found. There are no Dwarapalas found.

The south-facing shrine of Goddess Tripura Sundari is located in the Maha Mandapa. At the shrine's entrance, the idol of Bala Sundari is found. I believe this icon was originally the Goddess. During the renovation, it would have been shifted here.

Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga are seen as the niche images around the sanctum. Maha Vishnu is beautiful. Chandikeswara seems to be an old icon.

The sub-shrines of Iyappa, Murugan-Valli-Devasena, Maha Lakshmi, Navagraha, Bhairav and Shaneeswara are found in the prakara. The stone images of Nalvar are located in Maha Mandapa.

All the utsav (metal) icons, including Nataraj-Sivakami, Uma-Chandrashekhar, Ganesha, Chandikeswara and Somaskanda are located in Maha Mandapa.

Nandi Mandapa and a very tall flagstaff are located facing toward the sanctum.

The locality is very calm, and there is hardly any devotee found.

Due to its proximity to Vandalur Zoo, many monkeys roam around the temple complex. Due to my fear of monkeys, I could not shoot good photographs.

Happy travelling.

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