Temple Visits of Parantharami Mani

  Chidambareswarar Temple, Choolai. This  is  a unique temple  situated on Avadhanam Paupiah Road in Choolai  where the  moolavar  is Lord Nataraja with his consort  Sivakamasundari. There is a spatika Lingam before the moolavar. This is more than 150 year old temple.  Six special abhishekam are done every year  during  Marghazhi Thiruvadhirai, Chitirai Thiruvonam, Aani Uthiram  , Avani Chaturdasi, Puratasi  Chaturdasi, Masi Chaturdasi. The  Annual  Brahmotsavam is celebrated  in month of January  starting from  Arurdra Dharisanam. There are separate shrines for Goddess  Umaiyambigai,  Thirumoolar,  Thirupurasundari and Valli  Deivanai  samedha  Subramanyar. There  is a Kalvettu  at the entrance of the temple mentioning about the endowment of two houses one in Peddanaickenpet and the  other in Choolai  by Kancheepuram  Venkatesa  Mudali and his  wife  Muniammal. Avadhanam Paupiah  was a Brahmin  dubash  of Governor  Holland  brothers in late  18th century  who  indulged in l

       In early  nineteenth century  Mylapore there lived a Siddhar by name called Apparswami. He was a great  devotie of Siva and kept  on chanting  his name. An  English man who saw this  Siddhar and his devotion to  Lord Siva ridiculed his devotion.  Later when  he went back to  England  he had an attack of Chronic stomach pain. He thought it may be due to  his ridiculing the  Siddhar Apparswami. He came back to India and asked for forgiveness from the swamI.   Apparswami forgave him and asked for  a piece of land  for his jeeva samadhi. The  English man donated the place where the temple lies now. When Apparswami attained Moksha on 25th June 1851 his disciple  Chidambaraswami  interred his mortal remains in the place donated and kept a Lingam over the samadhi. He also built a 16 pillared  mandapam in 1855 outside the samadhi. The  Lord in Lingam form here is called Viswanathar and Amman Visalakshi.  There are also  separate  shrines for Sekkizhar,  Kalabairavar,  Needhi Vinayagar

          This temple is situated in Kundrathur a suburbs of Madras around 10 km from Porur junction.  The Lord is atop a small hillock(Kundru) and hence the place is called Kundrathur.  There are 84 steps leading to the top and the main tower and sanctum are facing North unlike other temples. The black and white photograph is dated 1870 when the steps were not proper. The Lord is with his consorts Valli and Deivanai and the temple was built 800 years ago by Kulothunga Cholan II. There are inscriptions dated 1720 AD mentioning the developments made during Naick period. There is a separate shrine for Valazsuzhi Vinayaka on the right hand side. Inside the temple there are separate niche for Dakshinamoorthy, Durgai, Vishnu and Bairavar. Entering the temple from east side one can see the shrines of Varasidhi Vinayakar and Visalakshi Samedha Kasi Viswanathar. Kundrathur is the birth place of Sekkizhar who wrote Periya puranam. The temple is a Prarthana Sthalam and there is tank called

Varaheeswarar Temple,  Damal. This temple is situated near Kancheepuram 86 km away from Madras on the  Madras  Bangalore  highway.  This temple which is more than  1000 years old has been extensively  renovated during Chola,  Pandya and Vijayanagar  period.  The  legend of the temple says that  Vishnu after  the  Varaha avatara forgot about himself and did not reach back Vaikuntam. Everybody went to Siva for remedy. Siva than pierced Varaha with a bow and Vishnu than realised the purpose of his Avataram. Here Vishnu is in the form of a Linga with Sanku and Chakra. Goddess here is Sornabikai with an Elephant before her. There are separate shrines for Ganapathy and Shanmugar. This village Damal is the home town of D.K. Pattammal, D.K.Jayaraman and Seshadri Swamigal