Indian Columbus

Hanuman with five heads is common in the name Pancha Mukha Anjaneya. Have you ever seen  Hanuman with two heads ? I found one such lesser-known temple in a small village called  Unamancheri . It is located around 13 km from Tambaram in the outskirts of Chennai city of Tamil Nadu state in India. It is easily reachable via Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road. As per the legend, a physically challenged king visited the Rama temple of this village, and he got rid of his limp with the blessing of the deity. Hence, the village is called Unamancheri (the Tamil word Unam refers to limp here). Kodanda Ram Temple of Unamancheri was built by  Achyuta Ray a, the brother of the famous Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagar Kingdom, in the  16th century CE . The temple has a beautiful vimana, which is painted in vibrant colors in the name of renovation. The curse of getting poorly renovated in the modern days could not wholly spoil the temple's beauty. The sculptures on the pillars of Maha Man...

This is a road less traveled, or on a lighter note, perhaps it's a road never traveled. Locating this rare and unique Gaja prshtha (apsidal) vimana temple of Vishnu took around one hour. It is not rare to find Gaja prshtha Shiva temple in and around Chennai. However, to my little knowledge, this is the only Vishnu temple having apsidal vimana. This Vishnu temple is located in a small lane called Perumal Koil Street in the Vandalur area of Tambaram, near Chennai. This lane is located near Bhajanai Koil Street. There is no specific name for Vishnu in this temple. There are many small and old Vishnu (Perumal) temples in and around this area, so it is very difficult to locate this particular temple. The small temple has an east-facing sanctum with a beautiful Gaja prshtha vimana. It enshrines Vishnu and his two consorts, Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi. In addition, the stone idols of Maha Lakshmi and Hanuman are also found in the sanctum. Lakshmi and Hanuman idols should have been kept in ...

I have already covered the biggest and the second biggest Muneeswarans of Chennai in my blog. This is about another such big idol of Muneeswaran. Muneeswaran is a popular Grama devata (village deity). He is found all over Tamil Nadu and even in some parts of Karnataka. For the region around Chennai, the presiding male village deity is always Muneeswaran. Many small and big Muneeswaran temples in and around Chennai remain unknown or lesser known. Let me discuss one such lesser-known Muneeswaran temple in this article. Medavakkam is a well-known locality of Chennai, which is very crowded and congested. But the region where this temple is located is peaceful, although it is also part of Medavakkam. In fact, it is a proper village setup. It is like having a village inside the city. The temple is named Pachai Amman Temple. Pachai Amman is a form of Parvati, worshiped as a village deity. The temple also has the shrines of Vedapureeswarar Linga and Nagathamman. Nathamman's icon is fou...

If you live in Chennai and want to visit Tirupati Balaji Temple but could not travel due to some reasons, don't worry. There is Mela Tirupati Temple located in Chennai. The deity is a replica of Srinivasa Perumal of Tirupati. Mela Tirupati Temple is located in a peaceful location in Medavakkam in Chennai. The high roads of Medavakkam are busy and congested, but the area surrounding the temple is unbelievably peaceful. In fact, one would get the feel of a village and not of a city. The temple is located on top of a small hill. Instead of steps, there is a slope way which is more accessible even for the aged people to climb up the hill. The temple is small, with three main shrines, a cluster of other sub-shrines, and a prakara. The flagstaff and bali peetha are found. There is no tower. It is a stone temple. Although the temple's history is unknown, it appears to be 300-400 years old to me. The sanctum enshrines Srinivasa Perumal, a.k.a. Balaji. It's a small icon but resem...

Muthialpet Higher Secondary School is one of the earliest schools in Chennai, still surviving. It was started in the year 1847 CE. This should be considered as a heritage structure. This school is located in Thambu Chetty Street in the Mannady area of Chennai city. It is very near the famous Kalikambal Temple. Sri V. Vijayaragavalu Chetti, Sri P. Somasundaram Chettiar, Sri A. Subbarayulu Chettiar and Sri S. Appaswami Chetti were notable among the few gentlemen who started this school in 1847 CE. Their objective was to impart instruction in Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil to the locality's children. It was called as "Samskrita Andhra Dravida Patasala". English education was introduced in 1857 CE, and the school was renamed "The Muthialpet Anglo Vernacular School". When the school was elevated to a high school in 1896 CE, it was renamed "The Muthialpet High School". Initially, the school was in a rented building, and it moved to the present building in 1895 ...

Let me introduce you to a lesser-known Hoysala-period temple near Chennai. Agaram Then is a village around 10 km from Tambaram (outskirts of South Chennai). A small Shiva temple called Pozhichaleeswarar temple is located in this village. The east-facing temple does not have a tower. The sanctum enshrines a small Shiv Linga called Pozhichaleeswarar. The Goddess Anandavalli is found in a separate south-facing shrine. Nandi is found facing toward the sanctum. Nardana Ganapati, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga are found as the niche images. In Ardha Mandapa, the beautiful bronze images of Somaskanda are located. Bhairava, Navagrahas, Chandikeshwara and Hanuman are also found in this temple. A big shrine on the right side of the sanctum enshrines the big icon of Sharbeshwara holding Narasimha on his lap. The holy trees of Arasu and Bilva are found together with a few images of Nagas and Ganesha installed in front of them. The icons of Ganesha and Subramanya are located at the e...

In this article, let me discuss Subramanya temple, located in the most happening Sholinganallur locality of Chennai city. The hustle and bustle of Sholinganallur or the busiest OMR, do not affect the serenity of this temple. This well-maintained temple, known for its cleanliness and neatness, was built in the late 1990s. The temple does not have a tower. Instead, there is an arch at the entrance. The sanctum enshrines Subramanya and his two consorts, Valli and Devasena. Vaidyanatha Linga and Thaiyal Nayaki shrines are on either side of the sanctum, and all three shrines face the east direction. The temple does not follow the typical layout of the South Indian temples. All three main shrines are in the middle of a big mandapa. There are many sub-shrines located all over this mandapa. The list of deities found in this mandap include: Pamban Swamigal Chandikeshwara Navagraha Veera Bhagu Sapta Matas Anjaneya Ram-Sita-Lakshman Maha Vishnu Maha Lakshmi Vana Durga with eight arms Saraswa...