Peedari Maakali Amman Temple visit anna nagar.

Saptha Kannimar sannidhi

The fourteenth of Feb happened to be the growing moon phase of Ekadesi and my mom promptly lit up the earthen lamps for the virgin mothers.She wants to do it this for 27 times.She has been frequenting this temple at Naduvakkarai Anna Nagar,called the Peedari MaaKali Amman Sidhi Vinayagar Temple.This is situated on third main road near Nalli silks.



The gopuram of this temple

 

Bairavar accompanied by the moon and the sun gods

 

Shanthi sells flowers and earthen lamps inside the temple sits close to the bairavar sannidhi.She has been here for the past thirty years 



Peedaari Maakali Amman Vimanam

  

Cute nandi Vahanam


The main deity here is known as Mahalingeshwarar and his consort Goddess Kamakshi.The other deities inside the temple are Lord Ganesh,Lord Muruga with consorts,Peedari Maakali,Adi Peedari Maakali and Lord Hanuman.Initially this temple contained Goddess Adi Peedaari Maakali,later a sprawling temple was constructed in the year 1990 and the Kumbabisekham performed in 1992.On the whole it was a pleasant visit. On March 2 2011, a special homam is going to be conducted 4 times on Maha Shivaratri day .Check the timings here

7 in the evening-First Kalam
10 in the night-Second Kalam
1 midnight-Third kalam
4:30-Early morning-Fourth Kalam  

Do join in on Maha Shivaratri day.

A guest Blog with Suchitra Venkatesh

Suchitra Venkatesh who is an accomplished culinarian,has an exhaustive collection of recipes at her blog.She loves crafts and is big on DIY projects.She is also very passionate about visiting temples and has a wealth of information about temples.She has written a small note about 108 Divyadesams.She has already visited 60 Divyadesams .It is interesting to note that of the total 108 Divyadesams two of them do not belong to the realm of the earth.They are called Thirup paaRkadal and Paramapadham.  Read on 



Image courtesy:Srivaishnavam.com

Lord Vishnu is considered to be supreme by the Sri Vaishnavas. Alwars who are believed to be the amsams of Lord Narayana dedicated their lives towards the Lord. There are in all 12 azhwars of which one is a woman Sri Andal. 11 of these 12 Alwars have sung verses praising the Lord in 108 temples.

The collection of all these verses sung by the azhwars is called Naal ayiram divya prabantham wherein naal ayiram means 4000 verses. The temples are collectively known as Divyadesams. Of these one temple is in Nepal, 105 in India and the other two in the celestial world. Most of the temples are in Tamilnadu and the temples are classified as

Chozha naatu divyadesam - 40 temples

Pandiya naatu divyadesam - 18 temples

Tondai naatu divyadesam - 22 temples

Malai naatu divyadesam -13 temples

Vadu naatu divyadesam -11 temples

Nadu naatu divyadesam - 2 temples

Vinnulagam - 2 temples   

 

Thank you Suchitra for this informative note.The benefit of visiting all the Divyadesams is Moksha.I think all Jivatams finally seek the lords feet. 

Uthukadu Ellamman Temple visit

Soul mates

Rajagopuram being constructed

My granddad's favourite Deity

The Goddess herself Ellamman of Uthukadu

I frequent this temple very often with my mom and dad.This temple is situated in Uthukadu Chennai.The main Deity here is Ellamman.I really enjoyed my temple visit as always.This temple was established in the year 1608.There is a story associated with this place.It seems Krishnadevaraya and his team came hunting here with his dog.In those days this place was called Utrukadu.The king became tired and went looking for water.He took rest under the canopy of a tree.His pet dog bairavar decided to go looking for water.He chanced upon a spring of fresh water and bathed in it.He decided to wake the king up and let him know of his discovery.The king on waking up followed his friend to the spring and quenched his thirst.While doing so he found a lemon floating toward him and after a while he found an amman icon which was two and half feet tall .Nagal Naidu who was the head of his army established this temple.The best part of this temple is the garbhagriham.The main Deity was moved to the right hand side because of her "ugram" nature. I'm sure She is the epitome of kindness.In Chitra Maasam ,brahmotsavam is conducted for ten days and is celebrated with pomp and splendour.The route we took was Tambaram-Mudichur-Padappai-Oragadam Junction-enroute to Wallajabad-Uthukadu.The sthala Vriksham is Vanni maram.Many people from Saurashtra also worship this deity as their Kula Deivam.Check out some of the pics.

Snapshot outside the Sanctum

Love these triangular slots on the walls

Inside the temple courtyard

My dad's favourite Deity

The welcome arches indicating the temple's presence

My favourite Kala Bairavar

The vimanam on top of the sanctum

The kodimaram

Lord Hanuman

An antique chest

Neem Leaf thoran

The Temple Door

Temple instrument

shadow play

Musical Instrument at the temple

Simply love this village home.Its so charming.Look at the sit out.The lady of the house invited me over to take a look inside.

People in the village

The temple tank

Landmark:Near Nissan Renault and Komatsu which is in  Oragadam SIPCOT Industrial park                                                   

Picnic@Tiger Caves

Rock Cut Shiva temple with linga

Nandi squatting in front of the temple

The tsunami unearthed this temple in 2004

The tiger cave highlights the Pallava architecture.

A cool boulder standing tall!

A Durga temple

A dried trunk a masterpiece by itself

We had a lovely little picnic at Tiger caves on ECR on Sunday.The place is well maintained with the sea and the casurinas in the backdrop.We packed mats and lots of food like puli saadham,thair saadham and molaga podi smeared idlis.I could finally eat the puli saadham,i was so glad.It was nice break from the usual grind. I was reminded of the movie "Picnic at hanging Rock" where a bunch of Australian school kids vanish after getting attracted to a mysterious rock formation .I just cannot get over this film.Maybe you should check out the movie and head out to the tiger caves for the effect! Incidentally it was also the 6th anniversary of the tsunami tragedy on Dec 26th.The fishermen stayed out of the sea as a mark of respect to the departed.

Of Peacocks and Paisleys

Well,last weekend was Diwali shopping.I told my parents not to get me a silk saree.I do not use it regularly and nor do I know how to tie one!!.They just did not listen to me and this is what they got me a pure kanchipuram silk saree.It has a blue green tinge with paisleys all over.So thanx to my mom and dad for this lovely gift.This happened on a Saturday.

On Friday since it happened to be a full moon I set off to go and see a temple with my folks.I visited this ancient temple called Pancheshti,(I have already made a post of this temple here).The lingam here was completed covered with white cooked rice.This decoration is known as Anna(rice) Abhishegam.It was a sight to see.Do check out some of the picture of the temple here.

Cute sculpture of a five headed Ganesh

Another form of Lord Shiva Dakshinamoorthy-The Lord of all knowledge

 I also made some friends in the temple.These girls were so curious about my digital camera.It was so refreshing to talk to them.Their innocence and spontaneity was a delight to watch.

The rice used to adorn the deity was made into sambar sadam.Check out the pic.

Temple Sambar Saadam

 On sunday it was food again.Went to Shri Rajashtani Dabha.Their rotis are amazing,plus wallet friendly.They are located at Anna nagar

Thali at Rajasthani Dabha

It was great weekend with a mix of Temples,food and Diwali shopping.Of course this post is going to Patty's Weekend Wrap up-3.

Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple: A Geologist's perspective

Entrance to the Narasimha Swamy Temple

The July 2010 blog meet churned out many friends for me.One amongst them is Niki Shetty,Lataji's daughter. She is this bright,witty and extremely adorable young lady.For starters she happens to be a geologist.How rare is that. I was very keen that she does a post for me on the temples in Namakkal and she obliged.Such a deary.To sum up Niki Shetty in two words."SHE ROCKS".So do read up her version of the Namakkal Anjaneyar Temple Visit and her memories around her native place.The collage on top is the picture captured by her and the butter decorated Anjaneyar  is a picture I have used from namakkal photos.com.

 My hometown, Namakkal is a city in the Namakkal district in central Tamil Nadu, with a population of about 53000, according to the last census. The city gets its name from “Namagiri”, a rock that sits in the centre of the town. There are two temples in the town – the famous Namakkal Anjaneyar temple and, across the street, the Namagiri Thaayaar and Narasimha Swami temple.

Eating juicy Malgova mangoes whole and playing badminton in thatha’s car shed with my cousins form some of my fondest memories of childhood summer holidays. When I think of those vacations, temple visits to these shrines with amma, appa, grandparents or cousins, also comes to mind. There is a sense of comforting attachment, for me, to these temples and the deities.

Sculpture on pillar

The Narasimha Swami shrine is a cave temple that has been dug into a side of the Namagiri. On the other side of the hill is a Ranganadhar Swami shrine. The Anjaneyar temple stands across the street from the Narasimhar shrine, as the Lord Hanuman is having darshan of Sri Vishnu in the Narasimha avatar. 

There is a story that is often told about how the Namakkal hill came into being. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi did not get to witness the Narasimha avatar as it happened, and prayed to Lord Vishnu that she be granted to see it. Lord Vishnu tells her to go to the area that is now known as Namakkal, and that she would witness the avatar there. As the Goddess waited by a pond in the area, Lord Hanuman comes there to take a dip before he performs his prayers. He presents to the Goddess Lakshmi, a Saligraamam stone, which He asks Her to hold until He has finished with his rituals – and He strictly instructs her not to put the stone to the ground. As Lakshmi holds the stone, She realizes it starts to grow heavy in her hands until She has no choice but to put it to the ground. As She does so, Lord Hanuman comes back, and they realize the stone has become immovable. It is said that on the face of the stone, both Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Hanuman witnessed the Narasimha avatar, and that Saligraamam stone stands today as the Namagiri in Namakkal town. It is also interesting to note that in this temple, the Namagiri Thaayaar shrine faces Narasimha Swami – it is said that She faces Lord Vishnu, so that She can witness him in the Narasimha avatar.

Namagiri Thaayar Gopuram

Being a geologist, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went to the temple one evening, armed with a hand lens to see what rock the hill really was made of. Life was made easy for me as the hill is a bare rock, and all I had to do was to stick my eye up close to take a look! The hill seems to be some kind of an igneous structure that is highly quartz rich –my guess is that it is either granite or dacite. I am still wondering what a Saligraamam stone is (in mineralogical terms) but, the belief of the people is that the Saligraamam is what we see today, as the Namagiri.

Small mandabam in the temple courtyard

The architecture in these temples is beautiful – as I mentioned earlier, the Narasimhar shrine sits inside the Namagiri. The shrine has Lord Vishnu, as Narasimhar and Lord Shiva and Brahma on either side, and is called a Trimurthi sthalam. All the deities in the shrine have been chiseled into the cave wall. When the archagar in the shrine finishes with the archanai and deepaaraadhanai, he will point out to you, the fine intricacies in the stone work. The texture of the nails on Narasimha Swami’s fingers and a red hue of the rock on His palm (believed to be blood stains from the Hiranyasamhaaram) are some of the things that are pointed out. 

Kodimaram and the front area of the temple

Also in the shrine, one can see carvings of the young Prahlad during the Hiranyasamhaaram, the Vaamana avatar, the Varaaha avatar and Vaikuntanaadhar. The Namakkal Anajneyar statue is a monolith that stands eighteen feet tall, with palms folded to His chest, as he takes darshan of the Lord Narasimhar. He stands with no gopuram over his head, open to rain and shine. The two temples are about 250 feet apart and the statues are built in such a way that Lord Hanuman’s eyes are in line with Lord Narasimhar’s feet. Standing at the Garudaalwar shrine, today, one can witness this! 

view of the hill and fort from outside Thaayar sannidhi

The temples are extremely beautiful and, to me, they are peaceful spaces I have enjoyed immensely all my life.

Thank you for the wonderful write up Niki.These temples are sheer poetry in stone.  According to Ramanujan,the mathematical genius,it was Namagiri Amman who whispered equations to him! 

Guest Blog: Simhachalam Temple A.P

Machetti Srikant, who hails from Visakhapatnam, is a budding photographer. He is also interested in temples. He wanted to share his temple pictures in this forum. He recently visited Simhachalam temple, located in Visakhapatnam dedicated to the Vishnu avatar Narasimha (the Lion-Man incarnation).Check out the Collage

According to Wikipedia, this is the second richest temple in India after Tirupati, earning revenue of 520 million. The presiding deity is Varaha Lakshminarasimha, combining the iconographic features of Varaha and Narasimha . The image resembles a Shivalingam covered with sandal paste. It is only once a year, during the Chandana Visarjana that the sandal paste is removed, and the image is seen by pilgrims. This temple combines the Orissan and Chalukyan features of temple construction, and it attracts scores of pilgrims from both Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. This is a west facing lion hill Temple.For more details check out Wikipedia and TempleNet .

Kapaleeshwarar Temple Visit , Mylapore

Goddess Karpagambal and Lord Kapaleeshwarar at Mylapore.This is the miniature imprint of the presiding deities,used during processions also known as Utsava Murti.