Sri Kaaraneeshwarar Temple–Saidapet Chennai

Today I took an unplanned trip on a whim to visit this temple.I have always been hearing of Saidapet temple though I could not get much info about this temple I know it is a very ancient one. The sudden rain pouring down was very heavy and added to the thrill of the visit today

How to reach: 

Saidapet is a sprawling area between the Adayar river , Mount Road and T.Nagar.Proceeding from Anna flyover side I took a turn on the right side at East Jones road junction on mount road after the South Usman road junction and proceeded straight on this road .You will go under the railway tracks near the station and immediately after take the left turn .On the right is the temple pond                                              Tank supposedly built by Indra it is named “Gopathi Saras “ and on taking a left here I reached the front of the Majestic Temple

new pic from a friend who visited on 23/09/24(many thanks Dr.S)

legend of this temple:

Lord Indra had sent his cow with sage vashishta.He was saddened to know that owing to some reason Kamadhenu had incurred the rishis wrath and was under a curse.Indra was advised to build a temple between Mylapore and Adyar river and pray to lord Shiva to retrieve Kamadhenu. He first asked Lord varuna to pour rain and make this area fertile and then built the temple here. Lord Shiva was happy and conferred the title “Gopathy” lord of the Cows to Indra here and released Kamadhenu back

As you enter the Rajagopuram we see the wide praharam.Right in front is the Ambal Swarnambikai Sannidhi

There is a Vinayaka sannidhi at the entrance facing east.

The outer praharam has multiple sannidhis for murugan, Various replica of lords of different temples and Navagraha sannidhi with Shani bhagavan and Surya bhagavan ,Bhairava  seen below

The back of the temple with images of various lords of famous temples

Murugan Sannidhi

Navagraha sannidhi

The Kodi maram and in the foreground a sannidhi for Kasi Viswanathan and Tripurasundari

Kasi Viswanatha Sannidhi

Tripurasundari Ambal

There are also sannidhis for Shani and Bhairava

View from the Nandi in front of the Kodimaram facing the Main Kaaraneeshwarar Sannidhi

Ambal Sri Swarnambikai sannidhi as seen from the South side entrance

Having circumambulated the outer praharam we enter the main sannidhi where there is an  east facing Shiva Lingam and a South facing sannidhi for Ambal

The inner praharam has the Koshta vigrahas and vigrahas for the nayanmars. The statue for Karaikal ammaiyar  and a small  Shiva Lingam and Nandi was eye catching