Pozhichalur Agasteeswara - A Gajaprshtha Temple

Till forty years ago, it was a quiet and fertile village where migratory birds would be found. Due to its scenic beauty, till twenty years ago, it was a favorite shooting spot for South Indian movie directors. Today, it is like any other southern suburbs of Chennai - a congested and ever-growing urban area. Yes! I am talking about Pozhichalur, a locality near Pallavaram. And, this article is mainly about the Chola-period Shiva temple located over there.

(Note: I have covered this temple many years ago in my blog. After my visit to this temple before the COVID situation, I wanted to write a better article about the temple. Hence, this article has been written with more information and additional details.)

Location

Tambaram is a vital locality south to Chennai city. From Tambaram, if you travel via Pallavaram and Pammal, you can reach Pozhichallur. The name of the temple is Agasteeswarar. This is the most famous temple in the locality. Hence, once you reach Pozhichalur, anyone over there could easily direct you to the temple. 

No worries! I have embedded Google Map with Geo-coordinates at the end. It would help you to reach the destination without any hassle.

The Agastya Connection

If you wonder why Lord Shiva in this temple is called Agasteeswara...yep! You got it correct! As per the tradition, the Shiv Linga idol was installed by the sage Agastya. It is one of 108 Shiva Lingas that were installed in the Tondai region (in and around Chennai) by him.

Why did Agastya install Shiva Linga on this site? Here, you go with the background!

When Lord Shiva was getting married to Parvati in the Himalayas, all the celestials went there to witness the ceremony. This caused the earth to lose balance. As per the advice from Shiva, Agastya traveled to South India and restored the equilibrium. 

Agastya, although was happy to follow the instruction of the Lord, was unhappy to miss the opportunity to participate in the divine wedding. Shiva satisfied his devotee's wish repeatedly. Yes! He granted divine sight to Agastya that the latter witnessed Shiva and Parvati's marriage in multiple sites. All those sites have Shiva temples now. This place called Pozhichalur is one such site where Agastya enjoyed the sight of the divine wedding and then prayed to Shiva by installing his idol.

The Shaneeswara Connection

The temple is famous nowadays, not for Agastya or Agasteeswara, but for Shaneeswara. So, what is the Shaneeswara connection?

Those who believe in astrology would always love to be in the good books of Lord Shaneeswara (the Saturn planet). Tirunallar is a holy site in Puducherry Union Territory, known for its Shani shrine. Those who could not travel to Tirunallar come to this place to get the blessing of Shani. Known as Vada Tirunallaru (the northern Tirunallaru), this site is considered a Shani sthalam (holy site). Thus, this becomes one of the Navagraha sthalams of Chennai. (Yes, Chennai has its own Navagraha sthalams, nine temples sacred for nine planets).

As per the legend, Shani got rid of his sin by taking a dip in this temple's holy tank and worshiping Agasteeswara.

History

Who built the temple? There is no record. The apsidal (Gajaprstha) style of Vimana, the iconography of a few icons and two broken Chola period inscriptions make us conclude that the temple was built during the later Chola period.

The damaged 12th century CE inscriptions are there on the wall of the Goddess shrine. 

I personally believe that all the Gajaprstha style temples were originally built by the Pallavas and later rebuilt in stone by the Cholas. Thus, this must be initially a Pallava temple, renovated by Kulotunga Chola III or some other Chola. Originally, the temple had only the sanctum. When the renovation happened during the Chola period, the temple was probably expanded with the shrine for the Goddess. Maha Mandapa appears to be a much later addition. The other extensions with new sub-shrines must have been built in the 19th or 20th century CE.

 

Temple Layout

The temple occupies a large area. There are two entrances - one in the east and the other in the north. The north side entrance is used as the main entrance nowadays.

The sanctum or Moolasthana faces the east direction. There is an Ardha Mandapa and a wide Maha Mandapa. The south-facing shrine of Goddess is located in Maha Mandapa.

There is just a single prakara around both the shrines. It is a wide corridor in open space without any ceiling. 

Few sub-shrines are located in Maha Mandapa and a few other sub-shrines are found in the prakara.

The temple tank, known as Shani Teerth, is situated outside the complex.

Architecture

The sanctum has apsidal Vimana. It is called as Gajaprstha in Sanskrit and Thoonganai in Tamil. Many temples in the Tondai region follow the Gajaprstha style. 

Most of them have only the base in apsidal form. However, here, both the base as well as the Shikara are in the Gajaprstha style. As many temples have an inner prakara with a ceiling around the Vimana, we do not get to see the complete view of Gajaprshtha vimana. However, this temple's advantage is the broad corridor (prakara) without any ceiling around the Vimana. We could get a very clear view of the complete structure. (The yellow paint on shikara is an eyesore though.) 

There is no tower at the entrance. Except for the Vimana, there is no other specific point to mention about the architecture.

Presiding Deities

The presiding deity of the temple is Agasteeswara - a big Shiv Linga - it is probably 4 feet wide. He is found in the east-facing sanctum with the Gajaprstha vimana.

On the 7th, 8th and 9th days of Tamil Chitrai month every year, the Sun rays directly fall on Shiv Linga.

Anandavalli is the presiding Goddess. She has four arms and is in the standing posture. Her south-facing shrine is located within the Maha Mandapa. She is also known as Tirukkamakottam Udaiya Nachiar. 

Important Deities

Shaneeswara sub-shrine is located in the diagonally opposite direction to the main shrine. As stated already, this is a Shani Kshetra and many devotees come to this temple to get darshan of Shani more than Shiva. Shani's right arm is in chin mudra and he carries no weapon. It is an unusual form.

In the northeast corner on the outer corridor, Maha Kala Samhara Bhairava's sub-shrine is located. The icon of Bhairava is larger than the usual ones. Here, he has ten arms. His vaahana, dog, is found facing towards his shrine. Besides Shani, this temple is known for Bhairava too. A lot of devotees visit the temple only to get the blessing of Bhairava.

Unusual Icons

As stated already, the Maha Mandapa is big. A section of the hall houses the stone idol of Agastya. As you may know, Agastya is not usually found in all Shiva temples of Tondai region. It is due to his connection with the site, his image is found. 

Next to Agastya, the idol of Surya is found. Both these icons face the east direction.

Facing towards them, the idols of Ganesha and Subramanya-Valli-Devasena are found. Usually, these icons are found at the entrance of Ardha Mandapa. Here they are found in an unusual location.

Other Deities and Icons

In the sanctum's entrance, two bas-relief images of Dwarapalas are found. 

A big Nandi, tall flagstaff and a bali peetha are located in the outer corridor, facing the sanctum.

The pillars in Maha Mandapa have many later period bas relief images.

Kala Bhairava is found on the true left side entrance of the Goddess shrine. Navagrahas are found nearby.

In the prakara, there is a holy peepul tree under which a Ganesha idol is installed. There is also a Vilva tree with the icons of Linga and Nandi beneath.

A big stucco image of Shiva is the latest addition. (It is an unnecessary addition to a beautiful old temple.)

A new sub-shrine of Hanuman is also found in the prakara.

Niche Images

The images of Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Vishnu Durga are found as the niche images (Koshta idols) on the outer walls of the sanctum. Chandikeshwara is found near Durga's icon.

Renovation

The temple is renovated majorly with modern-day structures and paints applied to old structures. Most of the idols appear to be new. Although I am not an expert in this field, based on my experience, I could find only the below mentioned icons as the later Chola period images. Everything else seems to be a later period or modern-day icons.

• Agasteeswara Linga
• Anandavalli
• Agastya
• Surya
• Chandikeshwara

Happy travelling.