Madampakkam Kagapujandar Temple

In Madampakkam (in the southern outskirts of Chennai), there is a lesser-known temple of Kagapujandar. Before I delve into the details of the temple, let me give a brief introduction to Kagapujandar.

Kagapujandar is one of the Siddhas. As per the legends found in the Siddha tradition, he is the son of Brahma and Saraswati. The Supreme God, Shiva, created him, to guide and help Tri Murtis (Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra) on their tasks. He is immortal and has seen multiple Kalpas. (In Hinduism, a Yuga is an era, and there are four Yugas in each cycle; Kalpa is equivalent to 72 Yugas). As he has been living for many Kalpas, he has advised various Trimurtis. (Even Trimurtis have an end, but this Siddha does not have the end.)

Kagapujandar has sixteen arms and Bagula Devi is his consort. She is the daughter of Sambuga Rishi. She is also depicted with sixteen arms. Ramosa Rishi was their son. 

It is unusual to find Kagapujandar in any regular temple. There is a separate temple dedicated to him in Chennai, which is very rare. This lesser-known shrine is located in Alamelapuram, Padmavati Nagar in Madampakkam.

It is not a temple in true sense. Known as Arul Koodam, it appears like a residential building. The person who is in charge of the temple is a Nadi astrologer. He practices astrology using palm leaves. He is residing in an independent house, which is the adjacent building of this shrine.

The shrine enshrines a lot of stone and metal icons, which are small in size. They are listed down below:

• Raja Rajeswari silver icon seated on a chariot
• Ganesha metal icon
• Shakti metal icon
• A pair of Nandi metal icons facing us
• Two metal icons of Kagapujandar and Bagula Devi
• A metal icon of Kagapujandar
• Metal icon of Yogi Ramsuratkumar
• Metal icon of Sharbeswara
• Small metal icon of 16 armed Shakti
• Small metal icon of 4 armed Shakti
• Tiny metal icons of Rama-Sita-Lakshmana

In the front side hall, the stucco images of Hanuman, Agastya, Kagapujandar and Bagula Devi are found. A stucco image of Kagapujandar in the form of crow is also found here.

In the adjacent section, small sub-shrines of Ganesha, Agastya and Surya are situated.

Big stucco images of Tirupati Balaji and Alarmel Mangai are found on two pillars.

In the hall that is located on the other side of the street, the big stucco images of Shiva with his family, Agastya and Kagapujandar-Bagula Devi are found.

Happy travelling.