Temple Visits of Parantharami Mani

      Ponneri is around 36 km from Chennai connected by local train services on the Gummidipoondi line. There is an ancient Siva Temple here called Agastheeswarar Temple. The temple is situated at a distance of 1 km from the railway station. In the good olden days the place where the temple is situated was called Kumbhamuni Mangalam. The lord here is said to have been installed and worshipped by Sage Agasthiar. Sage Agasthya is also called Kumbha muni since he collected the whole of river Cauvery in his Kamandalam.      The presiding deity is called Agastheeswarar and Ambal Anandavalli is by his side with a smiling and graceful look showing her mercy to the devotee. The temple is said to have been constructed during the Chola period as  is evident from the Gajaprishta Vimanam over the sanctum. There is a beautiful Vijayanagar era  16 pillar Mandapam outside the Rajagopuram. The Mahamandapam of the temple is rich in sculptures including the image of Sage Agasthya carved in one of the pi

VARADARAJA PERUMALTEMPLE, KANCHI ================================ Had the opportunity to visit this Temple recently. This is one of the biggest  Chola era temple built around 1050 AD in the  temple city of Kancheepuram.  It was later expanded by Kulottunga Chola I and Vikrama Chola. The  moolavar here is next in height to Lord  Venkateshwara of Tirupathi. The temple has a 100 pillared hall of Vijayanagar era with exquisite  carvings and stone  rings. The  moolavar faces West  and the Eastern  Gopuram is taller than the  western  Rajagopuram.  The temple is spread over 23 acres and has 32 shrines.         In the year 1688 the Temple idol was shifted to Udayarpalayam in Tiruchirapalli district due to Moghul attacks and the idol was shifted back after normalcy returned. In the year 1532 Achuta Raya the  Vijayanagar King was accused of unequal distribution of land between Ekambaranathar and Varadaraja Perumal Temple.  Achuta raya found that Vira Narasimha SaluvaNayak had made this uneven d