Nandrudayan temple Nara mukha Ganapathy , Ganapathy with a Human face!!

This is a unique temple that has a sannidhi with Vinayaka having a Human face.The temple has been spoken of by Kanchi Mahaperiyava for its Nara mukha Ganapathy ( Human faced Ganapathy).It is a very old temple which was originally part of the Rockfort temple complex. It is now undergoing renovation . It is not known to many people locally too!.

How to Reach:

The local population do not seem to know the temple. Ask for Murugan theatre one of the oldest movie theatres in Trichy. The temple is about half a furlong further down on the same side as the theatre. It is almost dwarfed by the surrounding structures and you can easily miss it.

The locked door leads to a small chamber which is actually the back side of the main sannidhi. There is an Anjaneyar installed here facing the road. When you go around and reach the other side of the room you can see a majestic five foot Ganapathy with the usual elephant head . this is the Moolavar. There is a nandi unusually in front of the Ganesha. Maybe a case of the son borrowing Dad’s vehicle !!!

To the right of the main Sannidhi is a small room with a huge 3-4feet tall roly poly god with a human face the Nara mukha Ganapathy!

(Pic courtesy from a whatsapp post )

Inside are also statues of Adi shankara, Sadashiva Brahmendra and three Nayanmars which are usually found when these people have visited and stayed in these temples!!

The friendly flower seller in front of the temple volunteered to open the temple for me as the priest was not there that day. She bade me to wait , crossed the road and got the keys to this lovely temple so that I do not miss this lovely temple.

The main entrance to the temple is on the side away from the road and is now being renovated.

Mutharasanallur Rathna Girishwarar Temple near Trichy

This is the first temple from Trichy towards kulithalai.The temple was built by the local chieftain Mutharasan.It is being looked after by a young dedicated priest who went to Mauritius and came back to serve this lord as he found this more fulfilling.

How to reach:

Itis on the 7 km from Trichy. The Railway station is well seen and take the road before the station across the level crossing.Follow the winding road  on the right when you will cross a bridge and see a new apartment block on the right.Ask for the agraharam and High school.The temple is situated to the left of the apartment block

Legends of the temple:

An elderly chieftain Mutharasan was habituated in visiting the three shiva temples in Kulithalai area. He would see the  kadambhaVaneshwarar in the morning, Rathnagiriswarar in the Iyer malai in the after noon and  Engoinathar in Musiri area in the evening.De to advancing years and also the Cauvery being in floods he prayed to God and had the divine vision of all three temples in his own place. He built his temple with Rathna girishwarar as the main deity with the other two lords having separate temples in side. Hence visiting here ensures the punyam of visiting all the three temples.

As you enter you first see the main temple of  Shri Rathnagiriswarar with Aralakesari amman on the right.

The Shiva lingam is housed in the biggest of the three shrines.It is  resplendent due to the efforts of the priest who had just finished applying Oil to the Stone idols (thaila kaapu) The Outer praharam has Dakshinamurthy in a sheltered enclosure

Behind you can see the sannidhi of Ganapathy on the left and the Sivan sannithi of Thiru Engoinathar and Aralakesari amman on the right

There is also a sannidhi for Murugan on the Northwestern side. The sthala vruksham is the Vanni tree

The South western side has the sannidhis of Shri Kadamba vaneswarar and Bala Kujalambikai

There is a small enclosure for Bhairavar,Sivasubramanian and Sanishwarar

For details;

Contact the energetic and sincere priest Shri.Shivakumar Cell +919843424289.

I was impressed by his devotion and his conviction that made him return from Mauritius in today's times away from plush job to do daily worship at this temple.

Lesser Known and rare temples in and around Tiruchirapalli

During the Vaikunta ekadasi earlier this week I found myself exploring some of the little known temples  in around trichy. I finally managed to visit these temples :

1) Temples inside trichy 

In Woriyur

• Panchavarneshwarar temple
• Nachiar koil

East Boulevard road

• Boolokanatha swamy temple
• Nandrudayan temple  (a very rare temple where Vinayaka is seen in human form)

2)Towards Kulithalai

• Mutharasannallur Sri Rathnagirishwarar temple
• Pazhur Vishwanathar Visalakshi Navagraha temple
• AllurPanchanadhishwarar temple
• Jeeyapuram Chandrashekarendra Swami temple
• Thirupparaithurai PanchaThaarukavaneshwarar temple

The above  temples are all situated in the stretch about 15kms from Trichy on the  southern banks of the cauvery .amidst lush greenery and are very small and peaceful.Since they are all small and not well visited the priests can not keep them open as usual as most of them take care of many temples in the area . I had to make 2 trips to see the above. The Marghazhi month meant the pujas started early and the temples remained closed earlier. I could not get proper information about the timings..A safe bet would be to visit around 4 PM when they will be open for the evening pooja.

Thiruvooraga Perumal Koil Kunrathur

Kunrathur is a southern Suburb of Chennai between Poonamallee, Porur and Mangadu.It is famous for its

murugan temple  See link below

(http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2011/04/kunrathur-temples.html)

The Nagaimugai amman Kandaeshwarar Temple

http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2011/04/nagai-mugai-ambal-sametha.html

The Thirunageshwaram temple Rahu Sthalam built by Sekkhizar

http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2011/04/naageshwarar-temple-kunrathur.html

The Perumal temple is situated at the foot of the hillock of Murugan temple and the Shiva temple

How to reach:

Kunrathur can be easily reached from Porur .Just follow the extension of Arcot road you will reach the town in 4 kms or you can also reach it from Mangadu/poonamallee or also from Sripermbudur . Kunrathur can be reached from Thiruneermalai from GST road side and from Sriperumbudur on the Kodambakkam Sriperumbudur highway.

Legend of the temple:

The temple was built by the  King Kulathunga Chola about 1000 years ago as a thanks giving in gratitude for having been relieved of a spell cast on him. He prayed to Kanchi Thiruvooraga Perumal at Kanchipuram who appeared in his dream and directed him to build the temple in Kunrathur facing west and the Lord was to be in the standing posture like in Tirupathi.

As you enter you can see the Dwajastambam and the main praharam

There are variety of carvings on the gate posts depicting the dasavathara  but the entire structure inside has been rebuilt from scratch

The main sannidhi has a tall Maha Vishnu with four Arms as in Tirumala with Sridevi and Bhudevi on his chest. The Vigraham is 7 feet tall and is on a Lotus pedestal. He is showing abhayahastha with his right hand and has the Conch and Chakra in his other two hands.The left lower hand is on his waist.

For a detailed pic see Shantiraju’s excellent blog and pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rajushanthi/6108530403/in/photostream/

The Lord is facing the west.

To the left of the lord’s sannidhi is the small sannidhi of Thiruvirundhavalli Thayar, facing east.

There is a small sannidhi for Thumbikai alwar here (Ganapathy) in the thayar sannidhi

this is a picture from Dinamalar.com

The Northern side has a spacious mandapam with sannidhis for Andal, Seetha sametha Rama and Anjaneya has a separate sannidhi

Rama and Lakshmana have the Bows in their left hands and the Arrows in their right hands.

In front of this sannidhi  is Hanuman Sannidhi posture seen below

The rajagopuram from inside

Navagraha temples around Chennai Porur Kunrathur - a Quick reference

 

The Navagraha temples are all situated close to Porur Kunrathur road. It is possible to cover them all in half  a day. The temples open by 7 AM and close by 12 noon . Evening  they are open between 4 to 7 PM. It would be best to start with the  Mangadu Sivan koil first  finish the Poonamallee Vaidyswaran koil and then proceed to Ramanatheshwara koil and then proceed  in two ways.Either you can complete Kovoor, Kunrathur Somamangalam in one direction and return back to Kovoor then proceed to Gerugambakkam , kolapakkam and Pozhichallur or go vice versa from kovoor to Gerugambaakkam etc and return to kovvor to proceed to kunrathur and somamangalam. The road between Gerugambakkam and Pozhichallur will test your spine as it crossed the Adayar river causeway . Similarly the road to Somamangalam from Kunrathur skirts the Chembarambakkam tank Parrallel to the Bangalore highway and in rainy season will be inundated and slushy.

Happy Temple hopping!

 

Guru Jupiter Ramanadheshwara temple Wireless road Porur Guru sthalam Ramanadheshwarar

Sukran Venus Mangadu Velleshwarar koil Sri velleswarar Sukran

Chandran Moon Somamangalam Somanatheshwara koil Sri Chandran sthalam

Shani Saturn Pozhichallur Agastheeswarar koil Shanishwarar

Suryan Sun Kolapakkam Agastheeswarar koil Suryanar

Kethu Gerugambakkam Neelakanteshwarar Koil Ketu sthalam

Budhan Mercury Kovoor Thirumaeneeswarar koil Budhan sthalam

Rahu Kundrathur Thiru Naageshwarar koil Rahu sthalam/2011/04/naageshwarar-temple-kunrathur.html

Sevvai Mars Vaidheeswaran koil Poonamallee http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2010/07/vaidhyeeswaran-temple-in-poonamalle.html

A few handy tips from wikipedia about the Navagrahas

Character	Guru (Jupiter)	Shukra (Venus)	Shani (Saturn)	Rahu (north node)	Ketu (south node)
Consort	Tara	Sukirthi & Urjaswathi	Neeladevi	Simhi	Chitralekha
Color	Gold	White/Yellow	Black/Blue	Smoky	Smoky
Gender Associated	Male	Female	Neutral	Female	Neutral
Element	Ether	Water	Air	Air	Earth
God	Indra	Indrani	Brahma	Nirriti	Ganesha
Pratyadi Devataa	Brahma	Indra	Yama	Durga	Chitragupta
Metal	Gold	Silver	Iron	Lead	Mercury
Gemstone	Yellow Sapphire	Diamond	Blue Sapphire	Hessonite	Cat's Eye
Body Part	Brain	Semen	Muscles	-	-
Taste	Sweet	Sour	Astringent	-	-
Food	Chickpea	kidney beans	Sesame	Urad (bean)	Horse gram
Season	Winter	Spring	All Seasons	-	-
Direction	North East	South East	West	South West	-
Day	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	-	-

Character	Surya (sun)	Chandra (Moon)	Mangala (Mars)	Budha (Mercury)
Consort	Suvarna & Chaaya	Rohini	Shaktidevi	Ila
Color	Copper	White	Red	Green
Gender Associated	Male	Male	Male	Neutral
Element	Fire	Water	Fire	Earth
God	Agni	Varuna	Subramanya	Vishnu
Pratyadi Devataa	Rudra	Gowri	Murugan	Vishnu
Metal	Copper	Silver	Brass	Zinc
Gemstone	Ruby	Pearl/Moonstone	Red Coral	Emerald
Body Part	Bone	Blood	Marrow	Skin
Taste	Pungent	Salt	Acid	Mixed
Food	Wheat	Rice	Pigeon pea	Mung bean
Season	Summer	Winter	Summer	Autumn
Direction	East	North West	South	North
Day	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday

Kanchi mutt periyavaal adhishtanams blogs

Given below are the links to the blog pages of the various known adhishtanams of the periyavaals of the Shri Kanchi Kamakoti peetam, Click on the link to visit the blogs concerned.

Acharya	Related blog page link
2 3 68 69	https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2018/05/adhishtanams-in-kanchi-mutt.html https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2018/04/adhishtanam-of-shrijayendra-saraswathi.html
11 13 16 37 46 54	https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2014/06/adhishtanam-of-12-th-kanchi-acharya-sri.html https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2016/08/sri-meenakshi-sundareshwarar-koil.html https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2012/05/pandrethan-shiva-temple-srinagar-j-k.html https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2013/09/sri-bhuvarahaswamy-temple-srimushnam.html https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2014/04/sri-sundareshwarar-sabhai-tiruvannamalai.html https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2012/10/sri-nallinaikeshwarar-temple-ezhichur.html
55, 61	https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2010/06/adhishtanams-in-thiruvotriyur-chennai.html
57 ,  59	https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2017/03/adhishtanams-of-kanchi-seers-sri.html https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2010/06/thiruvenkadu-and-govindapuram.html
58	https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2010/06/vizhupuram-and-vadavambalam.html
60  62,63,64	https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2011/12/adhishtanams-of-kanchi-seers-keezhambi.html https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-kanchi-mutt-kumbakonam.html
65	https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2010/06/adhishtanam-at-elayathangudi.html
66,67	https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2010/06/adhishtanams-at-kalavai.html

Sri Nallinaikeshwarar temple Ezhichur- Adhishtanam of Shri Vyasachala Mahadevendra saraswathi the 54th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti peetam

I had read a lot about this temple being 1200 years old and being rebuilt after 1948. The kumbabishekam was performed in June 2012 . This is in addition the jeeva samadhi adhishtanam of Shri Sri Vyasachala Mahadevendra Saraswati the 54 th  Pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti peetam.
(Pic taken from the official website of the kamakoti peetam)
Today we went visiting this temple which was very peaceful and easily accessible from Chennai. It is about 55 kms from Chennai near oragadam.
How to reach:
Ezhichur is close to oragadam near Sriperumbudur.
1) from Chennai proceed on GST road after Perungalathur take the first  over bridge  turn right towards Wallajahbad.This is a six lane highway that goes all the way to Oragadam. Near the Renault factory over bridge you will see the road from Sriperumbudur joining. Proceed straight and then in about half a KM  take the  first small road to the left to Ezhichur . This can easily be missed. There is a provision store and bus stop on the main road. If you cross this the next building is the Maha meru peetam. So make sure you do not miss this peetam. On the left road proceed for about 2 kms and you will see a left turning cement paved road which leads you to the Temple.
2) On the Chennai Bangalore highway ,In Sriperumbudur  Just after The Rajiv Gandhi memorial there is a road to left 6 lane which leads to Oragadam. This will meet the oragadam KOOT road turn right here and take the first left to Ezhichur

Legends and History of the temple:
The temple has been in existence since a very long time. It was initially built by The Cholas and later when the Vijayanagara kings were in power the temple Ezhichur and Vennagaram were presented to Shri Vyasachala Mahadevendra saraswathy the 54 th pontiff of the Kanchi kamakoti mutt. This has been found recorded on stone edicts which were unearthed during renovation and also in the copper plates in possession of the Kanchi Mutt and also verified recently by the ASI.
The temple tank is called Surya Pushkarani and was built  by Lord Surya when he came to worship shiva here
The Temple also houses the Adhishtanam of Sri Vyasachala Mahadevendra Saraswati the 54 th  Pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti peetam.
The hereditary trustee Mr..Ramamurthy said there were almost 31 samadhis in the Temple premises which are still to be unearthed properly.
For more details visit http://www.dharsanam.com/2008/03/ezhuchur-sri-nallinakkeeswarar.html.
As you enter the compound there is a vinayaka temple on the right  called Vazhithunai vinayakar
In front of this shrine is the unique Rajo guna Nandhi

The uniqueness of the Nandhi is that he has blunt horns ,sharp ears and is supposed to be in Yogic meditation. He is chanting the Om namashivaya and Listening to Gayathri manthra here. The Idol is beautifully carved with shawl,Bells around the neck, Rudraksha mala and the Nose rope  with the tongue licking the right Nostril. You can see the right back hoof and the tail curled from beneath the Nandi on to the left side . So three hoofs are seen .
( picture from http://www.dharsanam.com/2008/03/ezhuchur-sri-nallinakkeeswarar.html)
The main sanctorum houses a huge Shiva lingam with a massive avudiar . The lingam is about 5 feet . The Hall also houses sannidhis for Murugan and Deivambikai ambal . Murugan faces north and Ambal faces south seen on the right below.
There are many sthala vrukshas here. The main are the Azhinjal tree or the angora tree see my blog for further details (http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2012/05/sri-nooreteashwarar-koil-chinnakavanam.html)


The Palmyra tree and the Arasa maram  which is usually the seat for Dakshinamurthy


This palm tree behind the adhishtanam of shri Vyasachala mahadevendra saraswathy shows a palm  tree which will not grow taller than the temple  as seen in the last 3 generations as per Shri.Ramamurthy trustee.
There is a Vilva tree also behind.
The Sides of the garba gruha have the usual Narthana ganapathy and Dakshinamurthy, Mahavishnu and Brahma and Durga as the Koshta vigrahas.
The South east corner has a Vinayaka temple
and between this and the main temple is
the adhishtanam where in there is  Chandramouleeshwara
There is also a separate sannidhi for Vallalar seen on the southern side


It is a very peaceful temple with lots of antiquity. For details contact
Shri Ramamurthy Hereditary trustee Cell No:+919442555187
for more details and for supporting the temple and activities please visit the official  site of the temple here
http://www.srinallinekeswarartrust.com/

From the Kanchi calender 2018

54. Sri Vyasachala Mahadevendra Saraswati
1498 - 1507 A.D.
आचाय - 54 - ासाचलमहादेवेः
काीकामेराया ··· िसिम ् ॥ १०७ ॥
अयमनवर ··· साचलम ् ॥
Born as the son of Kāmeśvara and Kamalāmbā
of Kāñci, the one named Kupanna who having
received the initiation and preceptor-ship with the
name Mahādeva, conducted the lectures on Bhāṣya
ably for twenty-one times in nine years rejoicingly,
attained siddhi on the pratipad of black fortnight in
the month of Āṣāḍha of the year Akṣaya.
As he stayed ever in the Vyāsācala, he is known as
Vyāsācala and the author of Vyāsācaliya and other
works. He attained siddhi in Vyāsācala.