Sri Margabandheeshwarar temple at Virinjipuram near Vellore

Today I was blessed to visit this 1000 year old temple on the Chennai Bangalore highway near Vellore. It has been sung about by Appayya Dikshithar, Thirumoolar, Pattinathar,  Arunagiri nadhar and many others. It is the birth place of Shri Appayya dikshitar a renowned scholar of the 16 century( Click here to know more about this great scholar)
How to Reach:
On the Chennai Bangalore Highway after you cross Vellore after about 14 kms you will see a service road leading to Sethuvalai take this road and turn right under the highway . This road leads to Virinjipuram in 1 km and the temple is just off the road on the left..The majestic  7 tiered and 110 feet tall Raja Gopuram beckons you
The temple is famous for its compound wall(Madhilazhagu) which is exquisite in having minute stone carvings all around which is no mean feat!!
Legends and facts connected to the temple:
Brahma wasborn as a human being Siva sharma in this town as he had falsely stated he had seen the top  of Shiva in the lingothbhava form at Tiruvannamalai. (That is why he does not have many temples dedicated to him). At a young age Shiva sharma' s father, the priest died and Siva Sharma as a boy had to shoulder the responsibility of doing the daily poojas. He first had his upanayanam the thread ceremony by Vishnu here at the selva vinayagar sannidhi in the first praharam and came to the sanctum. Since the lord was too tall for the small child to do abhishekam the merciful lord bent to show the child his head in a north east direction (EEshana)this act where Shiva showed brahma his head released Brahma from his curse. The place is famous for young Brahmins to have their thread ceremony in the months of November Dec( Last sunday of Karthika masa) .
Virinji is another name for Brahma hence the place is called Virinjipuram

A merchant Dhanapalan who was a carrying pepper  was looted by dacoits here.On Dhanapalan’s prayer the lord accompanied him as a soldier on horseback and helped retrieve the pepper and also travelled with him for protection on the way hence  he is called Margha=way Bandhu=Friend (Abath sahayaka and Vazhi thunai katrunathar in tamil).
Appayya dikshidhar was once poisoned by enemiesand set upon him some black magic. Dikshidhar prayed here to be relieved of these menaces and was saved here. Hence it is a place where protection against black magic is assured by the lord He composed the Marga bandhu stothram which is displayed in a flex board in the temple.
Sri Adishankara consecreted the pond called Simha theertham here after bheejakshara mantra prathishtai  here. It is believed that a bath in the Palar river followed by Brahma theertham  and later simha theertham in the temple precinct with prayer to Lord Shiva ensures good progeny
Simhatheertham in the outer praharam
Brahma theertham

The temple was originally built by Cholas, Pallavas and later by the Hoysalas hence it is full of exquisite stone sculptures.
The Sun rays fall on the shivalingam directly in the sanctum in the month of Panguni (March to April).

Entrance is via the eastern facing main Raja gopuram

The Selva vinayagar behind the nandi and dwaja sthambam in the entrance to the second praharam
The Kala bhairavar sannidhi is seen behind the nandi in the outer praharam

The outer praharam has the Simha theertham and Brahma theertham already alluded to Next to the Brahma theertham is the mani kal (Time Stone) which tells the time with a shadow . I was there at 9 AM and this was the shadow seen then .
There are many splendid multi pillared halls in the outer praharam which are truly stunning for the array of sculptures and are very bewitching. It will take a whole day to appreciate each hall and there are 3-4 halls I could count!!

The middle praharam houses the Selva vinayagar, Bhikshandavar,  Murugan and  Bhairavar sannidhis and also the Maragadhambikai sannidhi in the north side

Swarna vinayagar seen below

Entrance to the main sannidhi and inner praharam
 


Bhikshandar sannidhi in the second praharam look at the wonderful art work


Murugan sannidhi
 

Entrance to Amman sannidhi


The sthala vruksham palm tree in the second praharam

The inner praharam houses the Majestic  resplendent Shiva lingam tall and you can get really close to the main Shiva lingam
The acoustics are so well engineered here that the deep resonant archanai by the kurukkal had a resounding vibration and it was electrifying in the morning same was felt in the ambal sannidhi too.
The Kosta vigrahas are Ganapathy,Dakshinamurthy, Vaasudeva perumal in the back with Brahma
and durgai.
 

The Gajaprushti vimanam is easily seen here

There are also statues of the 63 Nayanmars and also the sapthakannikas

A rare sight Lakshmi saraswathy and Sundareshwarar

The ambal sannidhi is a self contained structure with its own dwaja sthambam and Balipeetam
The Maragadhambikai is about 3 feet tall very dainty and we can get very close to the idol during archanai. The resounding voice of the kurukkal  with the "OHM" of the pooja namas echoing from behind and the ambience was  really a divine experience.There is a tunnel which the priest said runs up to the Jalakanteshwara temple in the Vellore fort about 15 kms away . Only about 5 kms have been explored so far. . After receiving kumkum in the sannidhi I slipped into the mouth of the covered tunnel and that is when the kurukal enlightened me about the existence of this tunnel which was used by royalty and the shilpis who would run around protecting the main vigrahas by transporting jewels and vigrahas during alien invasions!!
 
The margabandhu shlokam composed by Appayya dikshithar
                      The address and telephone number of the temple is displayed in this board below



The temple timings



The temple legends and history  as displayed in the temple

Sri Kanchi mutt Acharya's Adhishtanams in Thiruvotriyur chennai

The adhishtanams in Tiruvotriyur ( 55 th and 61 st acharyas)
Last Sunday 20/06/10 I had an oppurtunity to visit the Thiruvotriyur temple in Chennai. The Thyagaraja sannidhi , Vaduvudaiamman and the thataka prathistai sannidhi were enchanting. Adi shankara is believed to have camped here and was responsible for stopping human sacrifices and codified the practices to be followed in the temple. There is a ancient stone building next to the temple on the south side where we can find his statue with two sishyas. This building is now under the custody of the Kanchi kamakoti mutt and functions as the kanchi mutt office. It also houses the adhishtanam( Jeeva Samadhi) of the 61 st pontiff, shri Mahadevendra saraswathy III. This day happened to be the aradhanai for the swamiji and I was fortunate to have witnessed the same and received prasadams.

61st Sri Mahadevendra Saraswati III: He was previously known as Narayana. He was a great yogi. It was during his pontificate that Atma Bodha wrote his commentary Susama on the Gururatna Malika. He attained mukti at Tiruvottiyur, now a part of Chennai on Sukla Navami in the month of Jyesta of the cyclic year Krothana (1746 ,AD).This is also a jeeva samadhi. His pontificate was for 42 years

A stones throw from this area is the Sankaracharya colony a colony of devotees of the mutt. Situated in the south mada street ( this is about 1/2 a km from the vadivudaiamman koil  bus stand, and tiruvottriyur railway station),  Situated in the entrance of  this colony is the adhishtanam of the

55 th pontiff Sri Chandrchuda III: He was a native of Asmachala near manimuktha river in south Arcot district. He was the son of Purari and Shrimati. his former name was arunagiri. He was a dravida brahmin and he died in the year swabhanu, mina shukla ekadasi .(In the year 1524 A.D). His pontificate was for 17 years

Today 25/7/10 being the day of Vyasa puja We had the good fortune to visit the adhishtanam in the morning. Mr Seshadri the caretaker ( he is an engineer working in a private company but does service here to personally take care of the adhistanam daily with utmost reverence) was kind enough to show us around the place. He informed us this is a jeeva samadhi.  In the year 1524 A.D.I could take a few photos of the Adhishtanam with his kind permission

( View of the Brindavanam  complex inside the colony)



( A stone tablet in Telugu and grantham language which speaks of the brindavanam)

(The Brindavanam inside the enclosure)
http://www.kamakoti.org/peeth/origin.html#appendix2

From theKanchi calender 2018

55. Sri Chandrachudendra Saraswati
1507 - 1524 A.D.
आचाय - 55 - अणिगिरचचूडेः
मधुिरत ··· चचूडेनामा ॥ १०८ ॥
इं ···ोितिष॥ १०९ ॥
अयं गतः ॥
Heaps of merits embodied as the son of Purāri and
Śrămati of the town Aśmaśālapura on the banks of
the sweet river Maṇimukta, Aruṇagiri governed the
preceptor-ship of the Păṭha surrounded by the four
oceans as preceptor candracūḍa.
Sri Kṛṣṇapremi’s edition
Thus having imparted the teachings to me, the
insignificant disciple and guiding me through various
aspects pertaining to the Păṭha, the preceptor
who remained in the Păṭha for sixteen years and
attained siddhi in a moment, he merged in the
Supreme Effulgence (of the nature) Saccitsukha
devoid of calamities, on the eleventh day of the
bright fortnight early morning of the month of
Măna of the year Svabhānu at Kañci.
Polakam Rāmaśāstri edition
Thus having imparted the teachings to me, the
insignificant among disciples and guiding me
through all aspects relating to the Păṭha, the
preceptor who stayed at the Maṭha for only six
years at siddhi in a moment, he merged in the
Eternal Bliss, the Supreme Effulgence, devoid of
calamities at the dawn of eleventh day of bright
fortnight of the Mārgaśărṣa month in the year
Āṅgărasa at Kañci.
This preceptor attained siddhi at Kañci.
Thus the text Puṇyaślokamañjarī along with
Laghuvṛtti authored by Śră Sarvajñasadhāśiva
Bodhendra, the fifty-sixth preceptor and disciple
of His holiness Jagadguru Śră Candracūḍendra
Pūjyapāda of Śră Kāñci Kāmakoṭi Păṭha.
पुयोकमिरपिरिशम ्
Appendix to Puṇyaślokamañjarī
आबोधेिविनिमतम ्
ीमदाबोधेसरती िवरिचतः थमभागः

On 16/05/24

Shri Balaperiyava was on a visit to this adhistamam in connection with the kumbabhishekam of Ganapathy temple in the colony and we had an oppurtunity to revisit this adhishtanam and obtain blessings. The main brindavanam has been covered with a roof now . 

Pic from todays visit