APPARSWAMI TEMPLE,MYLAPORE

       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 and Subramanyar. There is  Navagraha in the Maha mandapam.  Chidambaraswami donated many properties and created a Trust for running the temple. Both the Guru and Shishya are remembered by streets around the temple.  Pradosham  festival is famous in the temple.