Sri Kailasanathar Temple at Manimangalam near chennai

A brief history of Manimangalam

Manimangalam Temples

History

Having been inspired by Kalki’s Sivagamiyin sabadham I was very keen to visit this place a small village near Sriperumbudur and Tambaram. This is the place where the pallava king  Mahendravarma and later his son  Narasimha Varma Pallava  (Ma mallan) along with his minister Paranjothi (also known as Siruseedan one of the nayanmars round about 735 AD). defeated Pulakesi II of the chalukya dynasty and they proceeded to chase him as far north as VATAPI (present day Badami in North Karnataka) and vanquished him  The original name of this place was Chaturvedi mangalam and it is said that there are numerous stone sculptures strewn around this village and also the temples here bound with lots of inscriptions which talk of how the chalukyas needed to be decimated and not shown any mercy!!

Dr.Gift Siromoney a legend of madras Christian college in his book has this to say about Manimangalam and its archeological treasures

http://www.cmi.ac.in/gift/Archeaology/arch_mpillar.htm

once I reached I came to know that there is another temple for Vishnu , the Vaikunta perumal temple . There are a lot of inscriptions found here .in these temples

http://www.whatisindia.com/inscriptions/south_indian_inscriptions/volume_3/manimangalam.html

I have been greatly helped by the blogs  of Sri Raju and Shri saravanan about these temples

http://www.dharsanam.com/2009/03/manimangalam-sri-dharmeswarar.html

http://shanthiraju.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/visit-to-somangalam-and-manimangalam-temples/

How to reach::

There are three routes to reach this village.

1) From Tambaram : Just before the Hindu mission hospital take a right turn into Sriperumbudur road /Mudichur road. Proceed for 10 kms when the road takes a turn to the right which is Manimangalam

2) From Sriperumbudur: On NH 4 after you cross the Rajiv Gandhi memorial there is a signal with a left towards Vandalur. It is also called Darkas road State highway 110  or Kodambakkam sriperumbudur road proceed for about 1 km and take a right turn towards Vandalur to reach Manimangalam. It is about 19-20 kms from the NH 4

3) From Kunrathur: From Kunrathur  Thirunageshwaram temple/Sekkhizar school take the highway adjacent to the temple.it will run parallel to the NH 4. After about 1 Km the road cuts across the Outer ring road from thiruninravur to Vandalur. Take a left into this road and you will reach Mudichur in about 10 kms. Manimangalam is a further  km away on the right. The distance is about16 kms from Kunrathur

This trip I could see only the two Shiva temples the Kurukall of the perumal temple had already left by 10 Am after completing the daily pooja so I was unfortunate to find the Vishnu temples locked. I shall maybe come back another day

I read an article  once in the Hindu where a 1000 year temple was in dilapidated condition. http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/02/stories/2006090208830100.htm

Thankfully a group of people from SRI PALANIANDAVER TRUST have come forward and are in the process of renovating the temple since 2009. The temple is supposedly built in 950 AD by the telugu Chola king Vijaya Baalaya Chola. Later, this temple was renovated during various periods by Raja Raja Chola (985 AD), Rajendra Chola (1014 AD) and Kulothunga Chola (1070 AD).as per the local inscriptions available

This is the first temple you see on the left when you enter Manimangalam from Tambaram/ Mudichur.The lord has been shifted to a shed and Balalayam has been done and the temple is being rebuilt

( Main sanctum being built)

(Nandi mandapam in front of the sanctum the lord is now housed in the shed seen behind)

(A view inside the shed)

There is a new Ganapathy temple painted yellow which has been constructed here