Vellishwarar temple- Mylapore, Chennai

  Mylapore area, in the heart of the Chennai city has a cluster of ancient temples and  today I am taking you to Vellishwarar temple which is situated very near to Kapaleeshwarar temple 

Vellishwarar is Lord Shiva and His consort is Kamakshi. It is a small temple and one cannot miss this on South Mada street.

This is one of the   7 Shiva Sthana temples of  Mylapore . It is believed to be more than 300 years old.

This temple also has sub shrines for Ganesha, Muruga, Dakishnasmoorthy Lingodhbhava and Navagrihas and  celebrates its yearly festival in May.

Do add this to you list when you plan for Mylapore temples.

Madhava Perumal temple- Mylapore, Chennai, Tamilnadu

Madhava Perumal temple at Mylapore is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is said to be at least 800 years old.

Legend- The great sage Bhrigu was yearning for a child and Lord Vishnu instructed Lakshmi to be born as the sage's daughter. Later Vishnu as Madhava Perumal married Lakshmi , known here as Amrithavalli . The Lord here is also known as Kalyana Madhavan as he married Goddess here.
Devotees offer worship for getting good match in life and also for getting off springs.

The main sanctum has Lord Madhava and on either side of the main temple are shrines of Amritavalli  and Andal.
Sub shrines inside the temple are  for Boo Varahar , Peyazhwar, Ramanuja and Manavala Mamunigal.

It is also believed that sage Vysa also performed his penance here as this was a Holy place.

The temple is easy to locate as it is just a few meters from the Mundakanniamman temple and about a  kilometer walk from Kapaleeshwar temple.
The serene divine atmosphere of this temple is captivating as one can have darshan of  Lord peacefully

                                                           

                                                           

Vaidya Veeraraghava Perumal temple- Tiruvallur,Chennai

 Veeraraghava Perumal temple , one among the 108 Tirupatis of Lord Vishnu is situated at Tiruvallur, a suburban town of Chennai city.

The temple has  Veeraraghava Perumal- Evvulukidandan  in sanctum reclining on His Ananta and Utsavar, a resplendent idol flanked by His  consorts.

The  God here is believed to be a physician hence the name Vaidya. Childless couples and  those who want relief from various ailments pay obeisance to Perumal here and get blessed.

The Huge crowd of devotees waiting patiently in temple queue is  ample proof of the faith they have in almighty.

In the outer circumambulatory path there are shrines dedicated to Kankavalli Thayar  and Andal., Lord's consorts

There are also shrines for Rama and Krishna.

The great devotees of Vishnu ; Alwars have sung mangalasanams ( hymns) in praise of Lord here.

The huge mandapams in front of the temple serve as venues for multiple weddings which are conducted  simultaneously.

How to reach- From Chennai many suburban trains are available. It would take just about an hour and about 15 minutes to reach Tiruvallur.

From Tiruvallur one can get share auto rickshaws which would drop one near the temple.

Mundakanniyamman temple- Mylapore , Chennai

 Mundakanniyamman, the name is unique,so is the  Goddess in this  temple, which is situated in the Northern side of Mylapore Kapaleeshwarar temple.

The main idol in the sanctum appears small but is considered to be very powerful.  Since the manifestation is just  like a head resembling a lotus - the deity bears the name Mundakam which means lotus in Tamil. There is also a big image of Goddess etched in silver above the manifestation with huge sparkling eyes .

The Goddess here, is believed to be Saraswathi, and she has thousands of devotees flocking to her  abode with fervent prayers to protect them from various problems and also to ward off curses, occult, illness and influences of bad spirits. A major chunk of her devotees are women and they offer her milk, fruits, flowers, silks with fervent prayers  she in turn grants their wish.

A huge banyan tree behind the sanctum provides shade to Goddess and she is happy sitting under a thatched roof in natural surroundings . There is an ant hill under  the tree,and it  is believed to be the place of temple nagam. Offering prayers here also removes Nagadosham. 

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This temple is considered to be more than 1300 years old.

Aadi month festival is very famous and women flock here seeking Her blessings.
This temple is just a 10 minute walk from Kapaleeshwarar temple.

Sri Vedanta Desikar Devasthanam-Mylapore, Chennai

A small walk from the Mylapore temple tank towards Chitrakulam will take one to the Vedanta Desikar temple. He is considered as the reincarnation of Divine bell of Lord Vishnu.

The temple is situated very close to  Peyalwar temple.
Desikar was a  great Acharya who mastered all sastras and became a scholar. He has written thousands of stotras on Lord Srimannarayana.

All Acharyas walked the length and breadth of the country extolling the beauty and grace of Lord but in case of Mylapore temple, Lord Srinivasa  with his consort came in search of Desikan ,to be with him.

The main sanctum has Lord Srinivasa's idol ; a beautiful one which would give one a feeling of visiting the Tirumala temple and outside on the left side we can find  Lakshmi Hayagreeva and an idol of Desikan in a small shrine.
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 A detail history of Desikar here
There also shrines for Anjaneyar, Garuda,Peyazhawar,Hayagrivar, Lakshmi Narasimha, Sudarshana and Lord Lakshmi Narasimha and Sri Andal.

Aadikesava Perumal Peyalwar Tirukoil , Mylapore, Chennai

Adikesava Perumal  Peyalwar temple is situated near Chitrakulam in Mylapore.

It is one among the 108 divyadesam and this temple along with Tiruvellikeni is considered as one divyadesam.

This temple is believed to be 5000 years old and also  believed to be in existence from dwaparayuga though it has undergone renovations many times.

This is the birth place of Peyalwar; one of the first 3  Alwars ( saints)of the 12 Alwars

In the sanctum of the main temple there is the beautiful idol of  Adi Kesavaperumal ( Lord Vishnu). Facing the God is Garudar sannidhi and dwajasthambha.

 His consort Mayurvalli thayar  blesses all the devotees from a separate shrine.Here at this sacred place Peyalwar received blessings from Thayar. On her advice he worshiped Kesava Perumal here.Every Friday a special worship known as  Vilvarchanai is performed to the Goddess  Mayuravalli  by devotees and she makes everyone happy by granting their wish.

Andal is also enshrined within the complex  and there are also idols of Alwars here.

It is also believed that Sri Rama while returning from Lanka got attracted to this place and stayed here for sometime before returning to Ayodhya.

Poigai Alwar and Booththa alwar also sang mangalsanams ( hymns)to Lord here.

Peyalwar goes in a procession to Tiruvellikeni during Tamil  month of Purattasi , and enters the sanctum there, offers worship there by singing hymns.

 More details can be found here about the temple.

One needs special permission to use camera.

I have just a couple of pictures.

Please refer the link for more pictures.

                                    
                                            

Vainkunta Perumal Mangadu

Just half a kilometer form Kamakshi Amman temple is the abode of Vainkuta Perumal , He is the brother of Kanchi Kamakshi, and He came down to Mangadu to perform the wedding of Kamakshi Amman with Lord Shiva.

The wedding could not be solemnized in Mangaadu.

Perumal in this temple  is in a sitting position  with His consorts Boo devi and Sree devi.

He sits holding a ring in  His right hand which he carried as gift for his sister.

There are sub shrines here for  Kankavalli Thayar, Andal, Anjaneyar.

 There is also one more temple, temple of Shiva known here as Velleswarar  which is related to  Kamkshi amman temple. Will post the same soon.

Kamakshi Amman temple- Mangadu, near Chennai

Kamakshi Amman temple on the outskirts of Chennai at Mangadu  is very popular and Goddess Sakthi is worshipped here. This temple is  draws huge crowd on Tuesdays and Fridays as these days are considered to be auspicious to pray and perform rituals to Goddess and seek her blessings.

It is believed that Goddess Parvati arrived here from Kailasha once she was cursed by Shiva . To reunite with Shiva she did severe penance standing on one leg and other leg folded over fire in a Mangaadu ( mango forest). One can see this idol of Amman doing penance in a shrine here.

Lord Shiva pleased with her penance came down to Mangadu and blessed Her and married her at Kanchipuram and both bless their devotees in Ekambereshwar temple in Kanchipuram.
Read my blog Kanchi Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram

The temple main sanctum houses a Ardhmeru Sri Chakra by Sri Sankaracharya when he found out that the place where Godess did the severe penance still was hot by  the power of Agni( fire) which did not subside even after the penance was complete.

The main worship with kumkum ( vermillion ) is performed for the Sri Chakra and no abhishegam here as Sri Chakra contains rare herbs.

There is also an idol of Kamakshi behind the Sri Chakra which was installed by Sri Kanchi Paramacharya.

Maangaadu is just 24 kms from Chennai city and is located off the Chennai Bangalore highway on the way from Poonamallee to Kunrathur.

Buses as well as cabs are available to reach this temple.

Also make it a point to visit Vaikunta Perumal temple near Kamakshi Amman temple. God came here to help Goddess Kamakshi, His sister during her wedding.
Temple timings.6 AM - 1.30 PM, 3 PM - 9.30 PM  ,
Sunday,Tuesday and Fridays : 5 AM - 10 PM (Without Break)