Monday, August 9, 2010

Andarkuppam Balasubramania swamy

I had the occasion to visit this temple yesterday. Ponneri is a small town about 30 kms from Chennai towards Gummidipoondi on the Chennai  Calcutta highway. The new 4 lane road being converted to 6 lane is wonderful.At the intersection to Ponneri on the right go in and you will see the road to Andar Kuppam on the left in half a KM . The temple is at the end of the road.
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The Small temple has a main sannidhi for Murugan in the standing posture with the Vel on the right side .To the right of the main sanidhi is the sannidhi for Vinayaka. outside is the main sannidhi to the right is the sannidhi of Vishwanatha ( Lingam)and Kamakshi.
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In front of the main sannidhi is an oval stone which is Brahma. The temple legend says that Brahma was held captive  by Murugan as he did not answer his question of the meaning of Pranava manthra and so he was incapacitated by Lord Muruga .Lord Muruga then  took over Brahma's kamandalam ,rudhraksham and took over Brahma's duties. These are brought out in beautiful carvings in the fore court pillars
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( view of the gopuram from the right side)
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(The left wall of the temple complex)
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In the mandapam outside the sannidhi there are nice sculptures in the pillars.

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This is the replica of the moolavar. Note that the hands are not in abhaya  mudhra but on the hips showing authority in censuring Brahma
There is a panel showing  a Saint   being blessed by Murugan with the temple carved above. The legend andava kuppam is inscribed at the base of the temple carving in the fresco.DSC_7583
The other panels are of Shiva and ParvathiDSC_7581
And NatarajaDSC_7577

8 comments:

  1. This is a small but very beautiful Temple with nice sculptures. I have never seen the image of a temple carved in a Temple.Very unique.Looks compact and clean. thank you for posting it.
    Rajaraman

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  2. Its a unique temple and I am trying to get expert opinion on that particular sculpture of the temple

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  3. Am proud to be a resident of Andarkuppam

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  4. May I Know the Exact Route from chendrambakkam

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  5. I am not sure about location of chendrambakkam. If it is Chembarambakkam you can come upto Koyambedu junction and take a left on 100 ft road to reach the Padi fly over.from here proceed on the calcutta highway. Turn left towards red hills and puzhal and proceed straight to ponneri.

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  6. if i want to come from nellore to visit Andarkuppam temple..
    please help me where i have to get down and reach the temple to pray murugan...

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  7. From Nellore to Chennai on the Highway please get down at Ponneri after Gummudipoondi. From here there are autos available and also buses going into ponneri will stop at andar kuppam

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  8. dr sir
    thanks so much for your guidance
    c thiyagarajan
    madhavaram

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