Visit to temples from Uthiramerur to Kanchi

I had the chance to visit various temples in Uthiramerur up to Kanchi . The distance of 35 kms houses many ancient temples with quaint legends ..

History of Uthiramerur

As per Legend Uthiramerur was the place where The Pandavas came for their agnathavasa ( Virata Parva of the Mahabharata) in the kingdom of Virata. The name Uthara is associated with both his children Uthraa who was taught dance by Brihannala  and married Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu as well as Uthara kumara the prince who was led into Battle by Charioteer Brihannala ( arjuna in disguise) The main Vishnu temple thus reflects this aspect with Vishnu forms worshipped individually by all the Pandavas.There are nine  perumal Sannidhis in the temple  here.
The earliest documented form of Democracy was practiced here as found on the temple inscriptions in the Kailasanathar temple which was renovated by the ASI recently.The formal Guidelines for Assembly Elections and a constitutional framework was laid out by Parantaka chola in the 10 century AD.the same are inscribed in the walls of this temple
Though inscriptions found here credit the temple to be built by Nandi Varma Pallava in the 8century AD, it is believed to have been started in 6 Century itself  .For more details visit this link from the Hindu
The list of temples on this route were
Sundara Varadar temple
Balasubramanya swamy temple
Kailasanathar temple all in Uthiramerur
Thirupulivanam Vyagrapureeswarar temple about 15kms away( There is aardhanari simha dakshinamurthy)
Kadambar Koil Kadambeshwarar koil another 5 kms away
within 5 kms on theother bank of the Cheyyar river
Thiru Maagaral  Maagaraleshwararkoil ( there is a rare ardhanari Bhairavar here)
Perumal koil Magaral
Poyyamozhi Vinayakar

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 !!