Dr.Ravishankar's blog: Manimangalam Shri Rajagopalaswamy temple

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Manimangalam Shri Rajagopalaswamy temple

This is also a very old temple I could not go inside as the bhattar had already left by11:30 Am

Mandapam in front of the main entrance

Main entrance

A couple of ornamental pillars seen here by the side of the main entrance

More details after I visit the temple

I had the opportunity to revisit this temple on 21/5/17 .. First a little re cap about 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 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

Legends: The temple is more than 1000 years old and there are many inscriptions here to support this. The Cholas have made so many contributions for the upkeep of the temple

The Perumal here is in standing posture with Sridevi and Bhoodevi and the conch and chakra are reversed here he holds the conch in the right hand and the Chakra in the left hand. there are many sculptures in the thorana requires a more detailed visit. Since there is poor patronage the Bhattar comes and leaves early and there was some construction going on the workers told me to wait by 11 AM the Bhattar would return to lock but I was keen to move on so I will visit again later

Sri Ramanujar has prayed here and it is a place for curing ailments of the eye