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 ...

       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 he...

          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...

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

       This is a temple dedicated to Lord Muruga about half a km from Saidapet railway station.  The presiding deity is Lord Sivasubramaniar with his consorts Valli and Deivanai.There is a small inner prakaram with utsava moorthies.There is a also a small temple of Ganesha by the side of main tower called Sengunda Ganapathy. There are small shrines for Ramalingar, Arunagirinathar, Iyyppa and Navagraham. In the outer prakaram there is a temple for Kasi Viswanathar and Visalakshi.  As per the information given by the temple authorities this is a morethan 200 year old temple constructed by Sengundars who were predominant in this area and under their hereditary trusteeship.The list of Dharmakarthas from 1885 AD is available on the walls of the temple.This is one important temple of Madras alongwith Kandakottam and Vadapalani.

   Sri Prasanna Venkatesa Narasimha Perumal Temple, West Saidapet.  This is a more than 500 year old Vijayanagar Era Temple with its Elephants and Mandapams.  It is under the hereditary dharmakartaship of Balija Chettiar community. The place it seems was origanally called Raghunathapuram and became Saidapet during Nawab period. In the early 1800s one Sami Chetty and Kuppam Kondal Chetty were the Dharmakarthas and line of Dharmakarthas are available on the temple walls. The main deity is Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhoodevi. There is also an idle of Narasimha perumal in the sanctum and hence the name. Thayar Alamelu manga has a separate shrine and said to be swayambu. There is a separate Sannidhi for Andal in the North prakaram. Inside the Perumal Sannidhi there are separate shrines for Ramanuja, Manavala Mamuni, Nammalvar and Thirumangai Alwar facing south. There is a beautiful Unjal Mandapam on the South side near Madapalli. ...

       Agasteeswarar Temple, Villivakkam.  It is said that sage Agasthiya wherever he goes used to worship Siva in Linga form and if he does not find one use to make one and worship it. That's why we find so many Agasteeswarar temple.  It is a  chola era temple as evidenced by the inscription on the walls. The main temple is facing south with a mottai gopuram and as you enter the Sannidhi of Goddess Sornambigai is there facing south. The moolavar Agasteeswarar is in beautiful Linga form facing east. This is a parikara sthalam and Angaragan is believed to have taken bath in the temple tank and got Vimochanam.  People with Angaraga dosham visit the temple in large numbers.  There are shrines for Vinayaka, Subramanyar, Bairavar and Navagraha as in any siva temple. The temple is in Sivan Koil Street and a km away from Villivakkam bus stand.