Sri Agastheeswarar Temple, Villipakkam, Kanchipuram

 

Moolavar: Sri Agastheeswarar

Amman: Sri Muthambigai

A beautiful well maintained 1000 plus years old temple built by chola kings and later renovated by Rajendra Chola II.

The significance of this temples is that it is a parihara sthalam and  serves as a place to remove sins (dosha) for harm done unknowingly to animals.

The puranic significance is related to the 2 men named Kanthan and Umakanthan who used to assist Nandhi devar for his Shiva puja by getting him flowers daily for the puja. One day while plucking the flowers sitting on a tree accidently  one flower fell down in the pond below and turned to a fish and swam away. Amused by this sight both started playing by throwing flowers they had plucked  one after the other into the pond and forgot completely about the time for Nandhi devar’s shiva puja. 

Seeing this lord Nandhi cursed both of them, one to become a cat and one to become a hunter. When pleading for mercy they were told that during their life span as a hunter and cat when they meet each other their curse will be removed and they will get back to serving him again for Shiva Puja.

For a long time, the cat  and the  hunter used to worship the shivalingam here at different times without seeing each other. Once while the cat was worshipping the the Lord in this temple, the hunter saw the cat and his instinct shot an arrow to kill the cat which hit the lingam and blood started oozing, seeing it both the cat and the hunter rushed to wipe it and ended up seeing and meeting each other again and got back their original form and went back to serve Nandhi for his shiva pujai.

Beautiful mandapam and the inner praharam is so beautiful and well maintained. The ghosta vigrahams are very beautiful. Ambal Muthambigai is in a separate Sannidhi facing south. 

Contact: The temple priest Mr. Sanka kurukal can be reached on 9787611643 and he is taking very good care of this temple. Temple Hours 6-11 am, 5.30-7.30 pm.

Location: Sri Agastheeswarar Temple, Villipakkam, Kanchipuram 

Sri Thirumaleeswarar Temple, Thirumathalampakkam Village, Arakkonam

 

Moolavar: Sri Thirumaleeswarar

Amman: Sri Tripurasundari Ambal

A very ancient temple almost 2000 years old  built by Pranthaka chola. 

Legend has that lord Mahavishnu who is otherwise called as Thirumaal in tamil, had sat in this place in meditation and hence the name Thirumaal Thavam Pakkam which in due course became Thirumathalampakkam. It is said that he meditated on lord Shiva here and shiva gave him Dharshan with full brilliance like 1000 suns together in golden hue. Hence even today the shivalingam is very attractive with a bright radiance with golden Color. The Saptha mathar vigram on the backside of the moola Sannidhi is really beautiful and shows the antiquity of this temple.

It is said that this is a place where Hari and Hara is united and the Shaiva Vaishnava unity is also signified. Given Madhava himself sat in utter concentrated meditation, anybody with any kind of wavering mindset really gets solace and peace in this place. 

There is s separate perumal Sannidhi on the east side facing the moolavar and this perumal vigram is very beautiful and they say when milk Abhishekam is done to this perumal it turns blue in color.

During the famous Thakolam war between the chola dynasty and Ganga dynasty, it is said the chola king worshiped this moolavar and went to the war and won the battle. It is belived that if you do 11 pradhakshinam of the tempe and pray for anything that will be granted.

Contact: Daily one Kala pujai happens and the temple Sambu Kurukal can be reached on 9788770879, 9965367272

Location: Sri Thirumaleeswarar Temple, Thirumathalampakkam Village, Arakkonam

Sri Thiruppaleeswarar Temple, Thirupaalaivanam Village, Thiruvallur

 

Moolavar: Sri Thiruppaleeswarar

Amman: Sri Logambigai Ambal

An ancient 1000 plus years chola dynasty temple in a very beautiful, quite and serene village of Thirupaalaivanam. Apparently this village was full of Paalai trees and hence the name Paalaivanam.

The legend has that once the chola king was travelling this route on a horse and also had an elephant along with him… seeing the beautiful trees he decided go rest for sometime and tied his horse and elephant to a tree. When he woke up the horse and the elephant fallen unconscious . He asked his men to cut down that tree to find out the reason. When they did a beautiful white coloured shivalingam was seen emerging out of the tree trunk. Seeing this he decided to build a temple around that shivalingam which is what you see today. Since the lord came out if Paalai tree he is know as Thirupaaleeswarar or Paalvana Nathar in tamil and place also got the Thiru attached to its name and known as Thirupaalaivanam.

Another legend says while the ocean of milk was churned by devas and Asuras the amruth that came out the devas came here to seceretly have the Amrutham and first made a shivalingam out of the Amrutham, installed it under the Paalai tree and then consumed the rest. After consuming it they went to wash their hands in the pond and assuras tried entering the pond in the form of frogs to atlest comsume bit of Amrutham that might be washed from their hands. But the devas cursed that no frogs can enter the pond and since then no frogs can survive in this temple tank. The moolavar has  another name as Amrutheswarar. The pond is named amruthapushkarani.

You also have Kalasamhaara murthy here. Pitchadanar statue is very beautiful. There are separate corridors for siva and amman. 

Temple itself in the form of somaskandar. Lord murugan in between Shivan Sannidhi  and Ambal Sannidhi . Markandeyar lingam can be seen and hence this place is considered equal to Thirukadayur and all sashtyabhdha poorthi is done here too.

There is beautiful and clean temple pond and interesting fact is it is not habitable for frogs due to curse of Devas.

Contact: Daily one Kala pujai is performed and the temple Kurukal Murali can be reached on 9150161169

Location: Sri Thiruppaleeswarar Temple, Thirupaalaivanam Village, Thiruvallur

Sri Kaya Nirmaleswarar temple, Kottai, Attur, Salem

 

Moolavar: Sri Kaya Nirmaleswarar

Amman: Sri Akilandeswari

This temple is called Agni Thalam because the Lord appeared to Vasishtha in the form of a flash of light. Many festivals including Pradosham, Shivaratri, and Soma week fasts are held. 

There is a five-tiered Rajagopuram facing east. Next to the main hall is Nandi. The temple has many Ganeshas, the Lord of the five holy places, the Goddess Valli, along with Murugan, Chatur Puja Bhairava, Ash Puja Bhairava, Swarna Akarshana Bhairava, Mahalakshmi, Saraswati, Dakshinamurthy, Lingodbhavar, Brahma, Durga, Ayyappa, Surya, Shaniswaran, and Nagas. There is also a Hanuman shrine. During Deeparadhana, the light of the lamp is beautifully displayed on the Linga Thirumeni.

Vasishtha had to face many trials while performing penance here. Based on Narada's advice that if one worships Shiva with flowers and water, one can overcome those trials, Vasishtha created the river Vasishtha. While searching for a suitable place to perform puja, he found a Linga Thirumeni there, which had stopped him at one place. When he started performing puja with it, he saw a crack caused by his foot tripping. After thinking for a while, he had an idea that he could perform puja with it. When he finished the worship, a flash of light appeared and when he saw the Linga Thirumeni, he realized that the crack had disappeared. The deity was called Kaya Nirmaleswarar because the Lord removed the defect in the Linga and gave him a vision

Location: Sri Kaya Nirmaleswarar temple, Kottai, Attur, Salem