Elambayankottur Arambeshwarar koil- A padal petra sthalam

This temple is  about 3 kms away on the other bank of the Cooum away from the Koovam temple and about 2 kms from the Narasimhapuram temple. It is right in the middle of wilderness. The temple is open from 6 am to 8 pm and the dedicated kurukkal is patient as he does the 6 kala pujai daily. He has a quarters inside the temple compound and was very helpful.
How to reach:
This was real cross country driving on bad roads from the Narasimhapuram temple in sheer open fields and roads lined with thorn trees.
 
Legends of the temple:
The lord here is Devanayakeshwarar/ Chandrashekara/ Rambeshwarar and the ambal is kanakakujanayaki. This temple was the place where Ramba urvasi came to pray to Shiva.
The nayanmar Thirugnana sambandar was travelling around this area when the lord asked him to visit this temple initially as a small boy later in the form of  an old man and finally as a white cow which dashed against the nayanmars palanquin and led the way to the temple. It is a guru sthalam. Gnanasambandar has composed many pathigams on the beauty of this place as well as the greatness of the lord. He years for the love of the lord here.
It is a very small temple with bare maintenance. The outer praharam has ambal sannidhi. The inner praharam has a mud brown coloured Shivalingam who is covered with a brass cover. He is also a lord who can not be touched by human hands so puja is done with the cover on “Theendaa Thirumeni” the lord who can not be touched.
The Dakshina murthy in this temple is famous as it has the Chin mudra close to his heart hence is in Yoga dhyana
The dwaja sthambam in front  
The priest is hard of hearing but very kind hearted sincere in his work.

Shri Lakshmi Narasimha swamy at Narasimhapuram

After I finished darsan at Koovam this temple is about 2 kms from the Koovam temple and on guidance from the priest I travelled through cattle track like roads and saw this temple
How to reach:
The temple is on the Arakonam Perumbakkam road close to Koovam.The roads are horrible as they are all washed out in this rain.
 
The temple is in the wilderness and was very peaceful
Legends:
This is the place where Narasimhaswamy is shanta swaroopi and the ambal and lord are embracing each other but both their eyes are looking at the bhaktas unlike in other temples.
The outer praharam has a separate thayar sannidhi  as seen below
The main Sannidi is seen above. It is a small temple well maintained

Sri Tripurantakara temple at Koovam- a padal petra sthalam

Having seen Poondi temple I decided to go to this famous temple which is the place of origin of the Cooum River which starts from a huge pond at this place. The temple is ancient and has been sung about by Gnanasambandar .Today was a local festival in the temple and it was crowded.
How to reach:
The temple is situated between Tiruvallur and Arakonam. I took the road from Tiruvallur just by the side of the Tiruppachur temple on the tiruttani road. The road is good and in about 20 kms  I reached the Arakonam Poonamallee road. A right turn led me to  Koovam town.
Alternatively from Chennai on NH 4 after crossing Saveetha Medical college take the right turn before Empee distilleries towards perumbakkam and arakonam in 25 kms you will reach Koovam.

Legends of the temple:
When Shiva started his journey to kill the asuras his axel broke( See my blog on accharapakkam by clicking here blog on Accharapakkam temple) and he got down. When he alighted the Konrai flower on his head fell at this place
Saint Tirugnanasambandar in his Pathigams – set of 10 verses – had sung in praise of Lord’s destroying the Tripuranthaka demons. The demons, Tharaka and Vindyunmali are the Dwarapalakas (securities) of the sanctum sanctorum. The shrine where Lord Nataraja played the Kathal Thandavam (protection dance) is opposite the Rajagopuram – main tower. Mother’s shrine is right of that of Lord facing east in a standing form. Sri Chakra is installed in the shrine. Devotees believe that worshipping Mother would break the obstacles in the way of wedding proposals. The Vimana of the sanctum of Mother is in the form of a tower.
Lord Muruga with His six faces and with His consorts Valli and Deivanai is in a separate shrine. Lord Bhairava is without his dog vehicle.

Both the main sanctums of Shiva and Ambal are facing east.
The lord here is called Theendaa thirumeni he is not touched by the priests also all pujas are done without touching the lord. He is supposed to be in penance here.
The locals believe that when there is going to be good rains the Lord appears like crystal and transparent and in bad rain years he appears red. He was red when I saw him today. There were no decorations of vibhuti or sandal. He was draped in a clean dhoti .A spectacular sight with the huge Sivalingam resplendent in simplicity  
   

Oondrateeshwarar Koil at Poondi- a padal petra sthalam

The original temple was in Thiruvalampudhur . In about 1943 when the poondi reservoir was built it was to be submerged hence the temple was relocated to poondi town. It is a padal petra sthalam sung by Sri. Sundarar.

How to reach:

Poondi town can be reached either by Tiruvallur or from uthukottai periyapalayam. It is about 8-10 kms from Tiruvallur. The road to uthukottai  from Tiruvallur is in front of the Collectorate and this road reaches Poondi after skirting the reservoir. The temple is right on the main road of Poondi

Legend of the temple:

The legend of Sri Sundarar the nayanmar who was also known as Van thondar is very captivating. After breaking his promise to his wife he is rendered blind as he married again. In his wanderings he comes here depressed and Shiva taunts him with a boon of a walking stick when he asks for restoration of eyesight. As he is very depressed the ambal here steps out and gives him light and confidence by telling him not to lose faith in Shiva . The lord hence is known as Onndrateeshwarar one who gave the walking stick and the ambal as Minnal oli ambal one who gave light/ sight. It is a temple meant to increase self confidence of the depressed devotee.

The Devotee Sundarar is so mad that he throws the staff offered by shiva which breaks the horn of Nandi.There is a Statue of Sundarar next to the Nandi with the missing horn  in front of the Main sannidhi

The temple is a very small one with tremendous peace as you enter. The main praharam has two sannidhis with Shiva facing east and the ambal facing south.

The Kosta vigrahas are unique. The Dakshinamurthy is shown as having the Chin mudra that is right hand showing the pinching action,The Lingothbavar and Kala Bhairavar are also powerful.

View of the inside of the temple

The outer praharam has sannidhis for Ganapathy, Murugan and

Mahalakshmi (seen below)  

The priest Sri.Subramaniam was helpful

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Sri Perumbudur temple the birthplace of Shri Ramanujacharya

Sriperumbudur is close to Chennai on the NH 4 and well connected . The temple drdicated to Shri  Ramanujar is on the  main road and easily seen as you enter the town.
This is the birth place of Sri.Ramanujachaarya to whom we owe the existence of Hinduism as it is today when it withstood the onslaught of invasion, war etc etc.
For a detailed history please click on the link below in wiki
Shri Ramanujacharya
AS you enter

The main entrance leads to the outer praharam . there is a south facing sannidhi for sri Ramanuja just outside the Adi kesava perumal sannidhi. This Idol of Ramanuja was consecrated by himself. There are three Idols of this saint  one in Melkote, the other here and one more in Srirangam .His remains are mummified and present at Srirangam too.
This main Sannidhi has Adi kesava perumal with Sridevi and Bhoodevi facing east
The Vimanam of this temple is Gold and was constructed by the Maharaja of Mysore. It has Various Idols and is considered a temple by itself!!There are four Kalasas representing the four Vedas with Lord Paravasudeva Perumal, Sri Ranganathar under the Kalasas. Still below are Namperumal with Sridevi and Bhoodevi, Garuda the eagle vehicle of Lord Vishnu and Dwarapalakas.
The outer praharam has sannidhis for Thayar Yathindravalli, Andal
In front of the temple is the birth place of Sri Ramanujar