Shri Sampangi Pitchaleshwarar temple at Arani near Thandalam, Ponneri-A Pancha Brahma sthalam- Vamadeva sthalam

The temple is right in the centre of Arani town and  is situated at the end of the road where the avatara sthalam of Shri Bala periyava is present

How to Reach:

The place is very easy to reach as it is just adjacent to the state highway.

I travelled on the Chennai Nellore highway and crossed Panjetti over bridge and the road to Siruvapuri was on the left. The next major road after this is the state highway to Uthukottai  I took a left here .This road goes to the centre of Arani and once you reach the market and main bus stand you are welcomed by the  Gopuram of the Sampangi Pitchaleshwarar temple

LEGENDS AND STORIES:
It represents the vama deva face of Shiva which encompass the protective nature of Shiva with water as the element and depicts the North face of Shiva. It emphasises Jnana as a means of enlightenment
There was a forest of champaka flowers here where a cow was found to be emptying it's udders daily. On clearing the space a Swayambu lingam was found. The chieftain injured the shivalinga  in remorse cut off his arms. His wife prayed to the Lord for her husbands arm to be given back as alms .Shiva  restored the arm and hence is known as Sampangi Pitchaleshwarar
The temple is quite old and is in dire need of resources and maintenance. I arrived at 10:30 on a Sunday and was lucky to be spotted by the priest who was closing the door and the Lord gave me darshan below is view from Rajagopuram
The temple is quite huge with an outer prahara with many sannidhis. You can see the gopuram of  both main sanctums here and the entrance is from west

The inner sanctum has a South facing entrance and the outer hall has pillars with many sculptures.

The inner hall has the east facing Lord with a Swayambu lingam which is clearly misshapen and not man made quite small and the avudaiyar (base) is square a common feature of lingam installed by Agastya.

Goddess Sivagamavalli is present on the right side of the Lord facing east as well and this is called  Kalyana Kolam  a rare feature as usually in Shiva temples the Goddess faces South  and is on the left of the shivalinga

There is a Navagraha sannidhi added inside later as an after thought
The outer courtyard has the following  Koshta  vigrahas and sannidhis

Vinayaka

Dakshinamurthy

Edict of Kumbabishekam in 2000