Sri Virudhagireeshwarar temple at Vriddhachalam

Some say this is the oldest temple in Tamilnadu. The lord of the temple is Pazhamainathar (Olden Lord) and Vriddhachalam means old hill, Though there is no hill around the temple the temple itself is considered the hill. To show that the temple is the hill the Vinayaka temple is built at about 18 feet lower.T he temple is very ancient with four Rajagopurams and Three main temples inside. There are 5 sannishis, five Kodimarams, five chariots all 5 in number!!
How to reach:
The temple is right next to the Railway station in Vriddhachalam. It is just after the road over bridge
 
The temple model shows the layout of the temple better
The Thazha pillayar koil is seen on the left Ambal sannidhi is seen on  the right near the back and the main Shivan sannidhi is seen in the middle.the Chola queen
The nandi mandabam in front of the main shrine was built by sembian ma devi
There are 5 praharams and the pillars and walls are adorned with exquisite carvings. The temple was initially built by
Legends:
This temple is considered to be older than Kasi itself and the lord is supposed to utter the panchakshara mantra to the departed here and take them to kailas.The Saivaite saints Appar, Sundarar and Gnanasambandar have sung poems on this lord. The ambal Vriddhambikai has a separate temple behind. To appease the saint Namachivayar she appeared as Balambikai and has a sannidhi in the main Shiva complex also .
  Main Shiva temple and nandi mantap seen from amman koil side
Thazha pillayar koil

The main builders of this temple


Main Shiva complex from Pillayar koil
 
The shivan koil is a huge temple by itself the entrance is seen above entrance is through the Gopuram. There is a huge shivalingam with usual Kosta devathas and Mahavishnu instead of Lingodhbhavar and a separate sannidhi for Balambikai inside. There is a Cute Vallabha ganapathy inside in the back.
 
The Vridhambikaisannidhi
 

The sthalavruksham  Vanni maram which is more than a 1000 years old

On 22/6/14 I happened to visit the temple armed with the info that the Adhishtanam of  the 11 th Kanchi acharya Sri Sri Sivananda Chidghanendra Saraswati  has recently been discovered here as per details in the Kanchi mutt calendar 2014. The Annamalaiyar lingam in the northwest corner next to the Kamakshi sannidhi is where this acharya attained Jeeva samadhi. (Below are details from the Kamakoti peetam website Kamakoti.org acharya parampara)

Sri Sivananda Chidghanendra Saraswati : He was a Karnataka Brahmin and the son of one Ujjvala Bhatta. His poorvasrama name was Iswara Vatu. His predilections were towards Sivaadvaita. He attained mukti at Vrjddhachala on Sukla Dasami in the month of Jyestha of the cyclic year Virodhikrit (172 AD).

The pic below is a carving from one of the pillars in the second praharam of the Shivan temple in front of the Nataraja which I believe depicts the acharya .

Manthurai Amravaneeshwarar near Lalgudi

On Tamil New years Day 14/4/ 2012 i visited a few temples near Lalgudi my village in trichy district.
The Manthurai temple is a very ancient temple .It is one of the Paadal petra sthalams The temple is praised in the Thevaram hymns of Tirugnanasambandar and in Tirupugazh hymns of Arunagirinathar.   This is the 58th Lord Shiva shrine on the northern bank of Cauvery praised in Thevaram hymns.
How to Reach:
On the Trichy Lalgudi road after crossing Valadi just before lalgudi about 14 kms from the toll gate look for the left turning to the temple it is about 500 metres away.


(ayyanar koil in front)
Legends of the temple:
it is an ancient parihara sthalam where Surya did tapas and redeemed himself of his curse and took back Samygna devi who could not bear his heat,( She was the daughter of Vishwakarma the architect)
Indra got salvation for his misbehavior with Ahalya,
This is one of the Pancha (five) Shiva Temples in lalgudi region.The others being Thirumangalam, Nagar,Anbil and Lalgudi
Mrikandu Munivar (father of Markandeya) as  a deer is  said to have worshipped Shiva under a mango tree here, and this legend is illustrated in stucco in the temple.
Once the rishi was cursed to be born as a deer in this forest. His parents(deers) were also cursed demons who were killed by Siva and Parvathy and given salvation. The Deer cub was also taken care of by parvathy and ultimately relieved of the curse here. ( Manthurai can mean forest of mango trees or area where Deer roam)
Brahma  is said to have brought the Gayatri Nadi at the completion of his worship here, and his act of having made the false claim of having seen the top of the column of fire in which Shiva had manifested himself, was absolved here.

As you enter the Main gopuram you see the main praharam which houses the sanctum of Sri Amravaneeshwarar  in front facing the east and ambal Valambika on the right facing North


The outer praharam has bhikshandar, Adishankarar, Narthana ganapathy,  Dakshinamurthy.

maha vishnu in the back
There are two  separate shrines for murugan
  In one the songs of arunagirinathar are sculpted

There is another Murugan shrine and one for gajalakshmi on the right
Durgai can be seen below
There is a seperate Suryan as well as a navagraha where in Suryan has his Samygna devi by his side . There is a bhairavar next to the suryan


The festivals celebrated in the temple.
Aipasi Annabishekam in October-November,
Tirukarthikai Deepan in November-December
Sri Adi Sankaracharya Jayanti in Vaikasi-May-June  Temple's Speciality:

Sun God worships Lord Shiva in the temple in Panguni month –March-April by spreading His rays on the Lord.
There is no Dwaja sthambam in this temple

Navagraha temples in chennai near Porur- Mangadu Velleshwarar koil- Sukran (Venus) sthalam

Today enroute to Kanchipuram I made a brief stop over  at Mangaadu and had a darshan of this very ancient temple.
How to Reach:
Enter Mangadu and take a turn towards the Kamakshi temple when you are directed to the parking lot proceed straight to the end of the road and take a right turn at the end.Follow this road for a furlong and you will land in front of the temple.This temple is behind the kamakshi temple

Legend associated with the temple:
Kamakshi was directed by shiva to be born on earth and to do penence to marry him as she had once playfully closed his eyes and caused total darkness to the whole universe.When she came here she  found Sukracharya the guru of the asuras already doing penence here for atoning his sin in preventing Bali chakravarthy from donating three feet of land to Maha vishnu in the Vamana avatara. Since shiva could not move from here he directed parvathy to wait for him in Kanchi where he marries her.Velli is another name for Sukra hence the name velleshwarar,
Vinayaka in this temple is called Mangani vinayaka ( mango shoot) as he has a mango in his right hand and  paddy in his left hand. (The name Mangadu means mango groove) This is the mango he won from narada the Gnanapazham(fruit of knowledge)
The temple:

As you enter from the east you see   nandi with a cage in front which encloses the paadam (feet) of Kamakshi who came here and left for her temple( you can see the cage on the right in the pic below)

Entrance to the temple is from the south .There are no dwara palakas .The sanctum has a huge Sivalinga mounted on a stage here Chatura peeta unlike the usual aavudiar .There is no seperate  sannidhi for parvathy here as Kamakshi temple is nearby..
Outside the main prahara you see shrines for Vinayaga, murugan, Kasi viswanathan , Visalakshi and Veerabhadrar .

Veerabhadra  was created from siva’s sweat in anger at Daksha’s yagna and Veerabhadra beheads Daksha. who is later fixed with  a sheeps head and you can see a sheep headed daksha kneeling before the Veerabhadrar (see below)

( veerabhadra sannidhi)

Murugan sannidhi

(lingothbavar with Brahma and Vishnu on either side )
Goddess Durga is also  installed with her discus near Lingodbhava. Durga with a Prayoga Chakra (discus) This is  the speciality in the temple.

Maangani vinayakar and guru

(The vimanam)
There  is also a sannidhi for Kala Samhara murthy and  balambigai near the durga and chandishwarar sannidhi

well maintained garden
A visit to the temple is said to propitiate Venus (shukran) and also help ameliorate eye conditions