Sri Dhenupureeshwarar temple Patteeswaram- famous Durga and a PadalPetra sthalam

Right in the middle of Kumbakonam this magnificent temple is one of the major attractions.it is more famous as the Durga temple as it houses one of the magnificent Vishnu durgas in its outer praharam.

The Lord of this temple Sri Dhenupureeshwarar ( one who was worshipped by a cow) wanted to see the full majesty of Sri Thirugnana sambandar the boy saint and hence asked Nandi to  stand aside 

How to reach:

The temple is in the south-western part of kumbakonam and  is easily reached on the road to papanasam

Legends of this temple:

The sage Vishwamitra obtained the Gayathri Mantra in this temple only.This was the Ashram of Sage Vashishta who was the custodian of the Divine cow Kamadhenu and he finally conferred the title of Brahma Rishi on Vishwamitra here.

When Parvati selected this place to do thapas for attaining Lord Shiva the divine Cow Kamadhenu sent her calf  - named Patti to help Parvathi.Seeing Parvathi the calf Patti also got inspired and built a mud lingam and started worshipping Shiva by dropping her milk on the linga.Pleased Shiva blessed her and this place was then called as Patteshwaram where Shiva gave a vision to Patti

Devotees pray to Mother Durga for relief from the adverse aspects of serpent planets Rahu and Ketu during the Rahu Kalam times, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays in particular and on new moon, full moon, Ashtami and Navami days and for child and wedding boons and from the adverse aspect of Mars-Sevvai planet.

View of the main Eastern gopuram

Inside the first praharm with the durga temple facing north seen on the right side below

 

The Durga temple complex has multiple statues and the main Goddess has 4 arms and is about 6 foot tall and is on a Mahisha

 

The temple legend with a picture of the main durga

The Shiva temple complex has a huge Shiva Lingam facing east and the atmosphere when I visited at 7 AM was  serene

The usual koshta vigrahas

The Ambal Palvali Nayaki has a seperate sannidhi facing South and is about 4feet tall. The sculptures in the ambal sannidhi are nice and thought provoking

Shri Dhenupureeswarar Temple –Madambakkam a Suburb of Chennai

 

Today morning after a visit to the tirusoolam temple I drove down further and visited this temple.The Temple is under control of the ASI and is in daily worship with Puja offered daily. It has many great carvings from the time of Sundara chola to Kulathungachola and lastly to the Hoysala period. The peaceful ambience was very refreshing

 

How to reach:

The temple can be reached either from Velacherry  or from Tambaram. It is adjacent to Selaiyur and Rajakilpakkam. I travelled down the GST road from Pallavaram and took the railway over bridge near Hindu mission hospital and turned left towards Velacherry. After proceeding for 4=5 kms I came to the signal at Selaiyur turning right towards Rajakilpaukkam. I proceeded on this road till I crossed a couple of schools the Sankara school and Kamakshi temple and Vedathri School and entered Madambkkam. The temple is very close to the main road on the right side. There is ample car parking beyond the temple near the temple pond.

The legend of the temple:

Saint Kapila committed a sin when he  unwittingly held the Shivalingam in his left hand during puja so he was guided by Shiva to worship him as a cow in the next Janma. When the rishi was reborn as a cow the cow used to bathe the shivalingam daily with all its milk . The cowherd followed it one day and started beating the cow on its udder when the cow trampled the tiny lingam in pain the stone started bleeding and the villagers realised that it was a divine stone and the king built a temple here, Sundara Chola remodeled this temple into a stone temple in 937 AD. For more details see the link of the Hindu below

Dhenupureeswarar temple

 

The  temple entrance has a pillared hall with excellent sculptures of both Shiva and Vishnu

 

. The famous of them are the veena Dakshinamurthy and the Sarabeshwara and 10 headed hanuman seen behind the pillar in the photo below

The main sanctum is entered via the hall above. There are excellent sculptures in each pillar and it is all well preserved.

The main sanctum has a small 6 inch Sivalingam sitting on the 2 inch avudiar. The Lord is adorned with a Nagabharanam. I received milk theertham after Abhishekam today

The Kosta Vigrahas are Narthana Ganapathy, Dakshinamurthy. Mahavishnu , Brahma and Durga.

The vimanam is the Gajaprushti type.

 

A panel with a Cow giving milk on the lingam

 

The pillar showing the Hoysala legend  a Soldier killing a lion with a dagger which is what Hakka and Bukka did when they started the Dynasty

 

There are separate shrines for Vinayaka, Varadaraja with Sridevi and Bhoodevi and  Murugan . Lord Murugan is prayed to here for  obstacles related  to  marriage  to be removed

The outer courtyard has the Sthala vruksham Vilvam,There is a Huge Nagalinga flower tree. The temples sells delicious puliyodarai and sakkarapongal which we enjoyed