Govindhawadi Guru temple near Kanchipuram

I heard about this famous temple recently and visited this place today on myway back from Kanchipuram. It is a famous temple for Dakshinamurthy and a Navagraha kshetra for Guru.
How to reach:
The  temple issituated in the village of Govindawadi on the Kanchipuram Arakonam  state highway. From the Chennai Bangalore highway  cross the left turn to kanchi and proceed  straight .You will see a railway road overbridge
( called Vellai gate railway gate locally).Do not go over  the bridge instead  proceed below the bridge and turn righy towards pallavan engineering college and proceed straight towards arakonam. After about 15 kms you will see the saffron arch of the village take a left turn here an in a couple of Kms you will reach the temple



View from the front

The temple is supposedly 2000 years old and was visited by adishankara as per records in the temple as narrated by the gurukkal.
The main entrance leads to the guru sannidhi which is a  5 foot statue of dakshinamurthy actually  situated in the outer wall of the Kailasnathar sannidhi along side.
The `kalalam' (the tree canopy above the head of the deity) is not there and a panchasanam has been carved out below the Muyalagan (the monster on whom Dakshinamoorty rests his right leg).
The panchasanam - consisting eight simhams' (lions), eight nagams (five-headed snakes), ashta dwarabalaka (eight armed guards), eight gajams (elephants) and `ashta dikhbalakas' (regents of eight cardinal points) - has the koormam (tortoise) as its base.
Though the Dakshinamoorthy idol has been installed south of thesanctum santorum of Sri Kailasanathar (like in any other Siva temple), the construction has been done in such a way that the deity has a separate shrine.
The panchaloka idol of Dakshinamoorthy is also as exquisite as the granite one. The deity is seen seated on the Mount Kailash where the Sanakathi sages are performing penance.
Legend has it that Lord Dakshinamoorthy is said to have appeared before one of his ardent devotees, Thandavarayar, a resident of Govindawadi and bestowed on him His grace and the `scared ash.' Thandavarayar established a religious math at Govindawadi and observed Visaka nakshatram in the Tamil month of Chitirai as Guru Puja day by taking out Viboodhi kavadi from his math and performing special pujas to Dakshinamoorthy. This practice is continued by his descendants.
The Kailasanathar  sannidhi has akhilandeshwari and in both the sivan and amman sannidhis we are allowed very close to the idols.
Exquisite stone carvings - referred to as kumbachara, said to be a form of sculpting promoted by the Chola Kings(http://www.hindu.com/fr/2004/08/13/stories/2004081302080400.htm)



There was a free annadanam being  performed in front of the sivan sannidhi


There were idols of Perumal, durgai, Brahma around the main sanctum

Brahma

(Durga )
there was a separate area where ghee deepam could be lit for pariharam It was done in the coconut shell as seen below


Murugan sannidhi behind

View of the Nandi and dwajasthambam in the outer prakaram
Another important aspect exclusive to this temple is that devotees, whose marriage proposals face hurdles because of the influence of Raghu, Kethu or Angaragan, are allowed to perform abhishekam to the naga kanni idols installed at the north-west corner of the temple.
After performing the anointment, they have to worship Dakshinamoorthy to get their marriage proposals through, say the villagers.
A nice temple to uplift our spirits !!

Surutapalli Pallikondeshwarar Temple

It was a long felt desire of mine to visit this temple. After finishing darshan at the Thandalam temple another 15 kms drive  towards Tirupati took us to Uthukottai . About half a km outside the town is this famous temple where Lord Shiva is found in the lying down form.

This temple represents the Tathpurusha face of Shiva in the Pancha brahma Kshetrams on the Arani river  near Chennai for details of this please visit my blog on this

 Pancha brahma Kshetras





The Legend here is that shiva drank the poison churned out from Vasuki’s mouth when the ocean of milk was churned and he swooned. Parvathi held the poison in his neck .( If he had consumed it fully the entire world would have been wiped out). Once the amrutham was obtained all the devas rejoiced and forgot Shiva. When realisation hit them they went to Shiva thanked him for saving the whole world and appeased him though a bit late. Shiva being “Asutosh” (easily pleased) forgave them and was joyous and danced here, The rapturous dance was so spell binding that all Devas and asuras were watching in awe,  this was the first  Pradosha time. Hence it is believed that at this time every fortnight Shiva dances in front of the Nandi between the two horns of Nandhi and all gods come to witness this dance, So in all temples no pooja will be done and the screen will be closed as the respective gods would have gone to see Shiva’s Dance. Thus anybody who prays at pradosham time in a shiva temple  will have the benifit of his prayers reaching all the gods at the same time in the same place at one go!!

The main gate leads us to the Mandapam where Nandi is housed. This is a large hall and this is where Pradosha pooja takes place.

From this you enter the goddess's Sanctum. This sanctum complex  houses three gods ,Maragathambikai, Valmkeshwarar and Ramalingeshwarar. Goddess Maragathambikai is standing and is the same proportions as the idol I saw at Thandalam Dharaneeshwaran temple. To the left of her is the Shrine of Valmikeshwarar. This is a Shivalingam which was worshiped by Valmiki. Legend says this place was Valmiki's ashram where Seetha and Lava Kusha came to live after being banished by Rama.

The sanctum wall on the south has a beautiful dakshinamurthy with consort ( a rarity)


( photo courtesy The Hindu)
on an excavation inside the temple  a stone with the impression of small feet ( Lava and Kusha’s feet) was found . This is kept on display even today.

The uniqunes of this sannidhi is that in front of a sivalinga it is usually a Nandhi, instead  here there is a sivalinga which was installed by Rama on his return from Lanka , The Ramalingeshwara. The uniqueness does not end here, In the Sanctum on one side you can see Rama and Seetha and on the other side there is Bharatha and Shatrugna who have Anjeneya facing them instead of Rama and Seetha!! 

The main Sanctum complex has lord  Shiva in lying down form on Goddess Parvati's lap with all the Devas , Saptharishis in attendance Vinayaka andSkanda are also  seen
(photo courtesy shantraju.wordpress.com).



A View of the Main sannidhi from outside