Today I visited these temples and the nearby petrified trees forest between Pondy and Tindivanam.. It is a A padal petra sthalam sung about by Thirugnanasambandar and Sundarar. It is also a Shakthi peetam.. Adishankara has also visited the temple.. Arunagirinathar has sung about the murugan here. There are stone edicts from the time of Rajaraja Chola I up to 1430 AD in this temple lending the proof of antiquity.
How to reach:
The village of Thiruvakkarai is about 16 kms from NH 45 after Tindivanam towards Pondy and about 26 kms from Pondicherry towards Tindivanam. On the NH 45 cross Tindivanam and then take a left towards Mailam at Kooteripattu just opposite the road to Gingee. Proceed towards pondicherry and cross Mailam . After this in 6-7 kms you will reach Chendur . Take a right turn at the temple arch in Chendur and proceed for about 5 kms and you will reach Thiruvakkarai. There is a petrified tree forest maintained by the Geological survey of India here about a km the temple.
There is ample parking at the pond (and good clean toilets on both sides of the temple.) Seen below is the defunct temple pond .
The Temple has three main components with the most famous Vakrakali amman in the fore court, the Chandramoulishwara and Amritheshwari (also known as Vadivudai amman) in the middle and Varadaraja perumal in the back So all three major gods are here though Vakrakali is the most popular temple here.
Legends and Stories :
There was a Demon called Vakrasura who worshipped shiva keeping a Lingam in his throat. He got the boon that he will not be killed by shiva or his creation. He started torturing people of this area who prayed to shiva and since he was invincible due to the boon on request Varadaraja Perumal came here and vanquished him using the Sudarshana Chakra. Hence the perumal is seen here with the Chakra about to be released (Prayoga chakram). After the asura’s death his sister Dhunmukhi started torturing the people who prayed to the lord Shiva who deputed parvathy as Vakra kali to anhilliate the demoness. At that point the demoness was pregnant so in keeping with yudha dharma of not attacking a foetus the divine mother kali takes the foetus and puts it in her ear as an earring and kills the demoness.The ugra of the kali was subdued by Adishankara installing a Srichakram to the left of the Idol.
There are a lot of Vakrams( oddities) associated with this temple. The Shiva lingam worshipped by Vakrasura has the base turned the other way. Shani is seen with his mount the crow on his left side. In the Chandramouishwara temple the Nandi, Dwajasthambam and Shiva are all vakram not in alignment. The Nataraja in the Shivan sannidhi is vakram with his right leg lifted unlike in other temples..The Perumal’s chakram is in prayoga which is side on and not flat as usual (Vakram).
The temple is a parihara sthlam for vakra dosha of malefic positions of the planets.There is lot of crowd on tuesdays and during Rahukalam on Sundays.not to mention pournami days.
A Rs.10 special ticket cuts the waiting and gets you close to the Kali in the fore court. The kali is about 5 feet tall with 8 limbs with various weapons in each hand with her right leg raised on the demoness and left index finger pointing down .
Next to this shrine is the shrine of Vakreshwarar the lingam worshipped by Vakrasura the nandi for this shiva is half submerged in cement as seen below in the pic. The Shivalingam is made of a stone that stays cool in summer and has water droplets condensing on it in winter.
The next complex is the Chandramouleshwara temple
Just outside this temple is the big nandi
As you enter this temple we see the ambal Amruthambikai (@Vadivambikai, Vadivudaiamman) sannidhi on our right and the main shiva sannidhi in front. The Ambal Vadivudaiamman is seen standing about 5 feet tall and blessing devotees facing south.
The Shivalingam (Chandrashekara, Chandramouleshwara) is a rarity with three faces carved on it ( Mumurthy) There are Chaturmukha lingams in Nepal and this is the only three faced lingam. The three faces are Aghoram with fangs facing you, Vamana with the face on the left and the other one is the tatpurusha. Each kalam pooja is done to each face of the lingam including three abhishekams. Each face was shown for Chandran, Brahma and Indra after they prayed to Shiva here.
The inner shrine has the usual Koshta vigrahas Dakshinamurthy, vinayaka Arumugham,Brahma durga Chandikeshwarar. There is a rare Bhairavar and Kalabhairavar inside.
Next to the Shivan sannidhi is the samadhi of Kundalini rishi.
The outer courtyard leads to the third shrine behind that of the Varadaraja Perumal
The Perumal is 6 feet tall with the chakram in side on view (Prayoga chakram).There is no thayar sannidhi here.
Inside is a rare vigraham of Vishnu as Ram + Krishna with flute in right hand and a bow in the left hand This was the darshan he gave to Rukmini and Radha the Ramakrishna Rupam..
Further down you have a sannidhi for a kotilingam and a navagraha sannidhi with Shani having his mount the crow on the left (Vakram)
There is a 100 pillared Kalyana Gopuram in in between the Kali and Shivan temples
A very famous temple with heavy patronage.Kali is the presiding diety for Rahu and Ketu hence people with Shani rahu or ketu doshas thong this temple.Worshipping Kali is supposed to ward off enemies and spell success in business. Various yanthrams, ,Rakshai, threads and pooja empowered talisman coconut is sold in the sannidhis with instruction. They all sell very well.
One km away from the temple is the Petrified forest museum which the temple pujaris claim are the bones of Vakrasura.
How to reach:
The village of Thiruvakkarai is about 16 kms from NH 45 after Tindivanam towards Pondy and about 26 kms from Pondicherry towards Tindivanam. On the NH 45 cross Tindivanam and then take a left towards Mailam at Kooteripattu just opposite the road to Gingee. Proceed towards pondicherry and cross Mailam . After this in 6-7 kms you will reach Chendur . Take a right turn at the temple arch in Chendur and proceed for about 5 kms and you will reach Thiruvakkarai. There is a petrified tree forest maintained by the Geological survey of India here about a km the temple.
There is ample parking at the pond (and good clean toilets on both sides of the temple.) Seen below is the defunct temple pond .
The Temple has three main components with the most famous Vakrakali amman in the fore court, the Chandramoulishwara and Amritheshwari (also known as Vadivudai amman) in the middle and Varadaraja perumal in the back So all three major gods are here though Vakrakali is the most popular temple here.
Legends and Stories :
There was a Demon called Vakrasura who worshipped shiva keeping a Lingam in his throat. He got the boon that he will not be killed by shiva or his creation. He started torturing people of this area who prayed to shiva and since he was invincible due to the boon on request Varadaraja Perumal came here and vanquished him using the Sudarshana Chakra. Hence the perumal is seen here with the Chakra about to be released (Prayoga chakram). After the asura’s death his sister Dhunmukhi started torturing the people who prayed to the lord Shiva who deputed parvathy as Vakra kali to anhilliate the demoness. At that point the demoness was pregnant so in keeping with yudha dharma of not attacking a foetus the divine mother kali takes the foetus and puts it in her ear as an earring and kills the demoness.The ugra of the kali was subdued by Adishankara installing a Srichakram to the left of the Idol.
There are a lot of Vakrams( oddities) associated with this temple. The Shiva lingam worshipped by Vakrasura has the base turned the other way. Shani is seen with his mount the crow on his left side. In the Chandramouishwara temple the Nandi, Dwajasthambam and Shiva are all vakram not in alignment. The Nataraja in the Shivan sannidhi is vakram with his right leg lifted unlike in other temples..The Perumal’s chakram is in prayoga which is side on and not flat as usual (Vakram).
The temple is a parihara sthlam for vakra dosha of malefic positions of the planets.There is lot of crowd on tuesdays and during Rahukalam on Sundays.not to mention pournami days.
A Rs.10 special ticket cuts the waiting and gets you close to the Kali in the fore court. The kali is about 5 feet tall with 8 limbs with various weapons in each hand with her right leg raised on the demoness and left index finger pointing down .
Next to this shrine is the shrine of Vakreshwarar the lingam worshipped by Vakrasura the nandi for this shiva is half submerged in cement as seen below in the pic. The Shivalingam is made of a stone that stays cool in summer and has water droplets condensing on it in winter.
The next complex is the Chandramouleshwara temple
Just outside this temple is the big nandi
As you enter this temple we see the ambal Amruthambikai (@Vadivambikai, Vadivudaiamman) sannidhi on our right and the main shiva sannidhi in front. The Ambal Vadivudaiamman is seen standing about 5 feet tall and blessing devotees facing south.
The Shivalingam (Chandrashekara, Chandramouleshwara) is a rarity with three faces carved on it ( Mumurthy) There are Chaturmukha lingams in Nepal and this is the only three faced lingam. The three faces are Aghoram with fangs facing you, Vamana with the face on the left and the other one is the tatpurusha. Each kalam pooja is done to each face of the lingam including three abhishekams. Each face was shown for Chandran, Brahma and Indra after they prayed to Shiva here.
The inner shrine has the usual Koshta vigrahas Dakshinamurthy, vinayaka Arumugham,Brahma durga Chandikeshwarar. There is a rare Bhairavar and Kalabhairavar inside.
Next to the Shivan sannidhi is the samadhi of Kundalini rishi.
The outer courtyard leads to the third shrine behind that of the Varadaraja Perumal
The Perumal is 6 feet tall with the chakram in side on view (Prayoga chakram).There is no thayar sannidhi here.
Inside is a rare vigraham of Vishnu as Ram + Krishna with flute in right hand and a bow in the left hand This was the darshan he gave to Rukmini and Radha the Ramakrishna Rupam..
Further down you have a sannidhi for a kotilingam and a navagraha sannidhi with Shani having his mount the crow on the left (Vakram)
There is a 100 pillared Kalyana Gopuram in in between the Kali and Shivan temples
A very famous temple with heavy patronage.Kali is the presiding diety for Rahu and Ketu hence people with Shani rahu or ketu doshas thong this temple.Worshipping Kali is supposed to ward off enemies and spell success in business. Various yanthrams, ,Rakshai, threads and pooja empowered talisman coconut is sold in the sannidhis with instruction. They all sell very well.
One km away from the temple is the Petrified forest museum which the temple pujaris claim are the bones of Vakrasura.
