The century-old unknown shrine of Sowcarpet - Satyanarayana Temple

By -

Satyanarayana is a form of Vishnu, one who symbolises eternal truth. Satyanarayana Puja or Vrath is a common religious ritual worship observed across the nation from time immemorial. The puja is described in Skanda Purana. The puja, described in Skanda Purana, is carried out during full moon days or any auspicious event.

In Tamil Nadu, it is rare to find a temple dedicated to Satyanarayana. Chennai has two such rare temples. This article focuses on the century-old temple located in the Sowcarpet locality.

Seth Chotadoss, son of Hargovind Doss, belonging to the Gujarati Modh Visa Adalja community from Sojitra, established a Dharamsala (a shelter for pilgrims) in Rasappa Chetty Street on 25th May 1918. It was inaugurated by Sir S. Subramania Iyer, popularly known as "the Grand Old Man of South India". (He was the first Indian to become Chief Justice of Madras High Court). 

Within one year, on 5th February 1919, the icon of Satyanarayana was installed in the open courtyard. The century-old temple and the Paramanand Doss & Chotadoss Dharmasala had been frequented by Gujarati and North Indian pilgrims until the 1990s. 

Exactly after one hundred years, in 2019, the temple was rebuilt with a two-tiered superstructure (vimana) full of colorful stucco images. Among them, Satyanarayana flanked by Lakshmi and Narada is a notable icon.

The century-old structure has an open courtyard surrounded by multiple rooms on two floors. The sanctum enshrines a beautiful metal icon of Satyanarayana. The four-armed deity holds conch and discus in his upper arms. He is in the standing posture. 

An equally beautiful metal image of Garuda faces him in the opposite direction. The circumambulatory path has many old unusual photographs of various Vaishnavite deities.

Amidst the congested and crowded streets of Sowcarpet, it is unbelievable to find such a calm and serene shrine.

Happy travelling.












Visit my site, krishnakumartk.com, to know more about the travel guides and other books that I have written.


Location: Sowcarpet, Peddanaickenpet, George Town, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600001, India

Comments

  1. AnonymousWednesday, January 11, 2023

    Late Mrs. Sushila Chitale and I have done poojas inthis temple many, many years ago.80's&90's. The priest Shri Pandyaji used to do the regular ooja early morning, and he used to recite the thousand namesof the Deity .

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Tallest Murugan of Chennai

By -
Image
Consecrated in March 2021, the 40 feet high Bala Murugan icon at Saveetha Medical College campus is the tallest image of Murugan in Chennai. Malaysia has 140 feet tall Murugan. In April 2022, the 146 feet tall image of Murugan was consecrated near Salem in Tamil Nadu. However, they are all stucco images. But, the one that we find on the college campus is a monolithic granite icon. Thus, it is the tallest stone icon of Murugan in the entire world. A stone weighing 320 tonnes was brought from Siruvambur near Wallajah, and it was carved to 140 tonnes to get this beautiful and gigantic sculpture. The entire temple complex is designed in the shape of the Devanagiri letter "Om", which can be appreciated in the aerial view.  The west-facing gigantic sculpture is located atop the star-shaped pedestal. It dominates the entire landscape. A large meditation hall is situated below the pedestal. On the open corridor in front of the presiding deity, smaller shrines are found. They enshrine
Read more

Putlur Angala Parameswari Temple - Chennai

By -
Image
Angala Parameswari Temple in Putlur, near  Chennai  city of South India, is a unique temple. The Goddess is in the form of a pregnant woman in this temple. The icon of Angala Parameswari is believed to be self-manifested, called swayambhu.  As per the legend, a village head tortured a poor for borrowed money. The poor was forced to plough an infertile land. While ploughing the ground full of rocks, the villager noticed that blood was oozing out from a particular place. There, he discovered the image of the Goddess. It is a snake hole (putru in Tamil - where snakes live) in the form of a woman in a sleeping posture with her mouth kept open, and her bulged stomach like a pregnant woman. The villagers built a temple with this putru and named the Goddess Angala Parameswari. Hence, they started calling the village Putlur the town with the divine Putru.  Putlur Angala Parameswari temple is basically a village temple. It is visited by thousands of people. Primarily it will be tough to en
Read more

A 17th century Dargah with healing power - Mount Road Dargah, Chennai, India

By -
Image
Mount Road or Anna Salai is one of the most happening places in  Chennai . There are two famous Islamic shrines on Mount Road – one is  Thousands Light mosque . The other one is Dargah-e-Hazrath Syed Moosa Shah Qadri Baghdadi (Rahmatullah Alaihi), also known as Mount Road Dargah. It is the most popular Dargah across the city. It draws devotees of all faiths and all walks of life. Especially every Thursday, a large number of devotees gather to the Dargah. A lot of city-based celebrities regularly visit the site. This Dargah is the shrine of a Muslim Saint named Hazrath Syed Moosa Shah Qadri Baghdadi. He was also known as Rahmatullah Alaihi. Hazrath Syed Moosa Shah Qadri Baghdadi arrived from Baghdad in the middle of the 17th Century CE. He made Chennai his home and lived here. It is believed that he had healing powers. During his time, he had so many devotees regularly visiting him. After his demise, his family buried him next to his house, which is the current Dargah. You can easily lo
Read more