Thiruvalluvar temple in Mylapore Chennai

Close to the Mundakanni amman koil we came to this temple .Though it was originally a siva temple it was rebuilt by the Govt and it is said that Thiruvalluvar was born in mylapore near the illupai tree inside the temple and a board is placed in the temple testifying it..

It is a simple, two-roomed shrine enclosed by an open-pillared portico.  There is a main shrine for tiruvalluvar and to his left is a shrine for Vasuki

To the left are what were probably the original shrines for Shiva (Ekambareswarar) and his consort (Kamakshi). The temple has several sub-shrines, most of them in small niches in the wall. To the rear, near a neem tree surrounded by naga statues, was a shrine for Amman. All these suggest that the temple was originally a village temple that slowly gained prominence as a Shiva temple and then became the shrine for Thiruval­luvar.

Except for the stone idols, there are no traces of the structure of the original temple after the renovation by the Government. The processional deity of Ekambareswarar is stored in a temple vault and the ones of Thiruvalluvar and Vasuki are clearly a century or two old.

In his book called Thirumayilayin Thirukoilgal, published in 1989, Dr. S. Rajendran believes that the temple was built in the early part of the 16th Century. This is not evident, as the temple was extensively renovated in the early 1970s and most of the stone structures were replaced by concrete

Shri Dharaneeshwarar Kamakshi Temple at Thandalam

Thandalam is the quaint village where the young boy Sankaranarayanan who has now become Shri Sankara Vijayendra saraswathy the 70 th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakshi peetam grew up initially . The  elementary school where he studied remembers him with pride and gratitude as seen by the painting on the wall. The painting is on the wall of the   classroom  where he used to study( again very authentic source)
Thandalam is also a lush green village which has the Dharanishwarar koil
The temple is nestled in acres of lush  fertile land and is a very peaceful place to visit
view from the main gate : a walk down leads to the main temple



The main sannidhi houses a huge Shivalingam  “Shri Dharanishwarar”. There  is a separate Sanctum for  Goddess Kamakshi just outside the main sanctum . The goddess is in the standing form .This sculpture resembles the goddess sculpture at Suruttapali and it is thought that the same shilpi sculpted both in Krishnadevaraya’s time.
After pradakshinam we come occross a stand alone Bhairavar
At the place where Bhairavar stands when it was dug up a lot of sculptures including navagrahas were found. They are being readied for consecration. A couple of Shiva's can be seen kept in the background from the retrieved vigrahas


Just near the gate is an enclosed navagraha sannidhi. The whole place was so peaceful that i could not bear to go to my next destination “Suruttapalli” But the trip beckons!