The Chitrakuta of Chennai

Somangalam - it is such a picturesque village, surrounded by a beautiful lake and fertile lands. It's hard to believe that it is a Southern suburb of the highly congested Chennai. The village has two Chola period temples, Somanatheeswara (Shiva) and Soundararaja Perumal (Vishnu). Although both the temples have less number of visitors nowadays, Shiva's temple is known to the heritage enthusiasts. However, the Soundararaja Perumal Temple remains unknown to the people outside the village. This article focuses on that Chola-era beautiful shrine. 

Once we pass through the east-facing entrance adorned with a tiny tower, we might wonder if it is a Kerala-type shrine. The tiled roof and the supporting timber work of Maha mandapa make us believe so. This beautiful work is a later addition, though.

The enchanting Soundarararaja Perumal is standing along with his two consorts, Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi. He holds conch and discus in his upper arms. His lower arms are in abhaya and kati mudras. (Abhaya is the gesture of reassurance and safety; Resting arm on the hip is termed as Kati mudra).

Besides the stone images, the metal icons of Perumal and his consorts are also found in the sanctum.

Ardha mandapa has a few stone images of various deities and saints such as Andal, Ramanuja, Nammalvar and Visvaksena.

An old lamp-post (Deepa stambha) made of granite and small Garuda are seen opposite the main shrine.

The beautiful Goddess, Soundaravalli is enshrined in an east-facing sub-shrine located in the prakara.

There are a few newly made sub-shrines enshrining Hanuman and Narasimha with Sudarashana on his back.

The temple's highlight is the long inscription that runs on three outer walls of the main shrine. Dated 1073 CE and from the period of Kulotunga Chola I, this inscription (No. 182 of 1901) calls the temple Chitrakuta. Without mentioning the name, it adds a reference to one of his queens. As per the etching on the walls, we understand that Somangalam was also called Rajasikhamani Chaturvedimangalam, and it belonged to Maganur-nadu, a sub-division of Sengattu-Kottam, a division of Jayankonda Chola Mandalam. The inscription records the gift of land by the Mahasabha of the village to hold various services and lighting of lamps in the evenings. Importantly, it states that the presiding deity was named Tiruchitrakuttathu Azhwar.

Happy travelling.