Temple Visits of Parantharami Mani

         This temple one of the 108 Divya Desam is situated at a distance of 50 km from Chennai on the road leading to Tirupathi. It is a Pallava era temple with inscriptions dating to 9th century. The temple is under the control of hereditary trustees of Shri Ahobila Mutt and the present head  Sri Ranganatha Yatheendra  Mahadesikan Azhagiyasinger is running the affairs of the temple. The mutt has a hoary history of more than 600 years.      The presiding deity of the temple is Vaithya Veeraraghava Perumal who is in a Sayana kolam ( kidantha kolam)in the sanctum blessing his devotees. The right hand is positioned on the head of Salilhotra Muni and left hand in Gyana Mudra blessings Brahma. It is believed the lord here cures the illness of his devotees and they put rock salt and milagu in one of small mantap in the outer prakaram to get rid themselves of their illness.  The moola vigraham of solid granite is around 15 feet in width. The Artha Mandapam reflects the Chola era architecture

 Vijayalaya Choliswaram Temple, Narthamalai , Pudukottai, TamilNadu        This is an 9th century stone rock cut Shiva Temple situated on Narttamalai Hill in Pudukottai district of TamilNadu. The approach to the temple is through tiring journey up an hillock. The beautiful stone temple was constructed in second half of 9th century by a  local Mutaraiyar Chieftain Cattan Pudi who was ruling this part of the country and was aligned with the Pallavas. It was latter redeveloped by Tennavan Tamiladi Araiyan. There is also a view that this temple was constructed by the founder of Imperial Cholas Vijayalaya( 850-870 AD) and hence the name Vijayalaya Choliswaram. The controversy still survives to this day.        The stone temple is a beautiful piece of architecture of that era. The temple has a main shrine in the centre and eight sub shrines on the outside of which only six survive now. The main shrine which has the Shiv lingam inside is entered through a small door on both sides of which  ar