1. Visit to Sri Nootreteeswarar temple at Chinna Kavanam
Location:
Chinnakavanam is located to the east of Ponneri touching the Ponneri town en route Pulicat. When you take the Kolkatta highways, you will come across the Karanodai bridge and immediately after, the Tollgate. Go beyond that in the same direction till Thachur Cross road and turn right (east) towards Ponneri. After crossing the Ponneri town continue towards Pulicat and you will encounter the Rail under-bridge first and then a road bridge over the Brahma Aranya river. Immediately after the bridge the Chinna Kavanam village starts.
Distance details:
Padi junction (Chennai) to Thachur Cross road in Kolkatta Highways – 21 kms
Thachur Cross road to Ponneri – 9 kms
Ponneri to Chinnakavanam – 3 kms
Highlights:
- Several thousand years old temple
- The 108 sand Shiva lingams created by Sage Agasthiar got merged into a Swayambu Ankola Ganapathy
- The seeds of a 2500 years old Eranzhil tree are getting attracted to the tree itself.
- This is the birth place of Ramalinga Adigalar’s mother
The Temple:
The temple is in a calm corner of a busy village with the Gurukkal’s house just next to the temple. As we enter the temple, we can see a big 2500 years old Eranzhil tree (called Ankola in Sanskrit). The tree has a special significance that its seeds are getting attracted to the tree itself like a magnet. When the fruits of the tree fall on the round, after the fruit essence is eaten by ants and other insects, the seeds get attached to the main tree itself during lightning and thunder. What is more surprising is the fact that the seeds get attached even to the cement platform base of the tree. What a nature’s wonder! This signifies that the final destination of the human beings is the lotus feet of the lord. The season for the fruits/seeds is during the tamil month Chithirai and Vaikasi but you can see the seeds sticking to the tree and the base of the platform during any time. It seems the seeds also have the medicinal power for leprosy.
This ankola tree has been referred in the Sivaananda-lahari and following is the translation of the explanation by the Kanchi Mahaperiyavar, Sri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvathi Swami:
Ankolam nija-beeja santatir
Ayaskaantopalm soochikaa
(Sivaananda-lahari, 61)
“Just as: the seed of azhinjil (or ankola) tree merges with the parent tree; the iron needle is attracted towards the magnet; the creeper grows around the tree; and the river merges with the ocean: Bhakti is the constant immersion of the mind in the thoughts of the lotus feet of Pasupathi (or Siva).
It is stated that there is a tree called Eru Azhinjil. Its fruit ripens, falls on the ground and breaks open. Then the seeds from the fruit, attracted as it were by a sort of force of gravity, move and attach themselves to the parent tree. Thereafter it is said that these seeds form part of the latter and disappear from sight. We, who have become separated from Bhagwan (God) should similarly gravitate towards Him; and ultimately become one with Him.”
Legend:
The place was called Chathurvethapuram and the main deity is called Chathurvedeeswarar with Goddess Sivagami Ammai. On his way to Kasi, Agasthiar came here to worship Chathurvedeeswarar when he got the divine message that worshipping a Shivalingam under the Eranzhil tree here for 108 days will be equivalent to going to Kasi. So he created a lingam everyday with the sand of the nearby Brahma Aranya river and worshipped them for 108 days. But on the final day, all the 108 lingams merged themselves into a single Vinayahar for the simple reason that he did not start the worship with a Vinayahar on day one. Then Lord Shiva gave dharshan to Agasthiar in the form of Vinayahar.
The 108 lingams which got merged into a Vinayahar is present under the Ankola tree as a Swayambu (sand) Vinayahar in the name Ankola Ganapathy. In spite of many thousands years and in spite of sitting under the tree without any roof, the sand made Vinayahar is still sitting pretty and looking great.
Since all his 108 lingams got merged into a Vinayahar, Agasthiar then installed another lingam called Nootretteswarar which is considered equivalent to the original 108 lingams. The Goddess for this lingam is Ashtothravalli. So in the sanctum sanctorum we can see both Nootreteswarar and Chathurvedeeswarar in the form of lingams in separate shrines. Also, there are two Nandhis for two lingams.
There are other shrines for Subramanyar with his consorts, Kala Bairavar and Sun God.
King Nandhi Varman renovated the temple in a grand scale. In 2003, the SPIC company led the renovation work and conducted the Kumbabhisheham.
This is the birth place of Ramalinga Adigalar’s mother and Adigalar lived here between 1824 and 1826. The house of Ramalinga Adigalar’s mother is still being maintained by his followers.
Worship benefits:
- The Ankola Ganapathy grants the wishes for his devotees. After the wish is fulfilled, it is a custom here to offer Vadai malai to Him. Normally Vadai malai will be offered only to Anjaneyar and possibly this is the only place where Vadai malai is being offered to Vinayahar.
- People, who want to get married, worship the Goddess on a full moon day with a rose garland for continuous 3 full moon days to get their wishes sanctioned.
Contact:
H.Ganesh Gurukkal,
24a, Sivan koil st.,
Chinna Kavanam,
Ponneri.
PIN: 601204
Ph: 27973061 / 9843708593
Note: Look at the amazing commonality of the two – 108 lingams getting merged into a Vinayagar and the seeds of the Ankola tree getting attached to the parent tree – in combination with the Kanchi Maha Periyavar’s explanation that “We, who have become separated from Bhagwan should gravitate towards Him; and ultimately become one with Him”. Isn’t that delivers some secret? Isn’t His deliberation that He wants to keep this temple very little known?
2. Visit to Sri Muthu Kumara Swamy Temple at Perumpedu
Location:
From Ponneri while going to Chinnakavanam (Pulicat), immediately after crossing the river bridge, you have to take a right to Perumpedu (if you go straight you will enter Chinna kavanam village). For the most part till Perumpedu, the road goes along the bank of the river Brahma Arani.
The Temple:
The temple is in a village surrounded by ponds and greenery and is one of the three popular Murugan temples in this region. The other two being Siruvarpuri and Andarkuppam. The Gurukkal lives next to the temple. The temple atmosphere is beautiful with a mammoth tree inside and vast empty space in the outer praharam. It’s a simple temple with shrines only for Lord Murugan with his consorts and Shiva and his consort but looks very beautiful. There is small Navagraha shrine also.
Around 30 years back, the idols of Lord Subramaniyar with his consorts were found by the villagers during ploughing within the current temple complex (and the place has been earmarked now). Later the current temple has been built. The Subramanyar and his consorts Valli and Deivanai are about 6.5 feet tall. Lord Shiva and his consort are having a separate shrine next to the Subramanyar shrine.
Nice work and yeoman service Mr. Raju.
Dear Sri Raju,
Thanks for your article containing all information with beautiful pictures and nice description.It shows the maturity of thought as well as your dedication in our ancient culture,heritage,men and matters and the works of Adi Sankarar.I have seen your articles on other spiritual topics which are very interesting and informative. May your service of this kind (which is praiseworthy) may continue for long with the grace of Sri Kanchi Maha Periva.I am doubly glad to note that your partner Smt. Shanthi Raju is a pillar of support in all your endeavours which is again a grace of God !—Radhakrishnan.V
Nice to see this page with lot of information and photos. We heard from a person, that for family unity or for that matter for any re-union in relationship, its better to visit this temple. After going through the article, where seeds get attracted towards the parent tree, our relation also will get jelled. Especially, my wife and mother-in-law are not together due to latter’s ill health and wanted to stay away as she feels she would be a burden to us. So we planned to visit this temple, to solve this.
Dear Mr. Raju.
I visited this temple this Saturday ( 01/21/2012 ). I met the priest Mr.Ganesh Gurukkal. This temple has to be restored back to its glory.
An amazing place and thank you very much for your service.
I would like to ask you, if I can use the photos in this website to help this temple in anyway.
This temple is an old temple with lot of power remaining to be explored. This has to be revived and the popularity restored back. I might sent the photographs and the details on this website to my friends and try to do my part.
Thanks again for this valuable service.
Venu.
Dear Mr.Raju,
Truly useful information. Thank you very much for your service.
thank u for ur full information ramesh mysore
Thanx for blog n pix. Immensely informative. It is said that with little help of ANKOLA seeds u can see ur past life also. Anybody interested?
How? Pls elaborate!!!
very very informative.
Thanks a lot for making it public.
with bet wishes
Hello Sir,
It is more interesting to read, thankyou for spending time and putting your effort to share the details to us.
mr. raju i am blessed as i had the chance of visiting all the temples that i saw on your website. great people always try means and ways of giving benefit to the society atlarge indeed what a great service l.i only wish more and more people see this & know the greatness of our culture. may such persons like you increase. thank you
The information and the nice photographs you have provided are exciting. I realize it will be difficult for any one to cover all the temples and get proper information also.
You have provided us he twin advantage. Blessed are those who furnish the information and equally blessed are those who have an opportunity to read these articles. God who made time and distance major impediments has made it easy for cross over by all through internet.
Once again thanks for the valuable information. Response from good souls is encouraging and their supplementary contribution is amazing.
Carry on Raju.
i must really thank for your good vision and the interest taken to visit our temple because i am staying near to this temple and i feel good tohear thank you
i really admire your taking pains to let the others know about such temples(who do not know )
incidentally i came across a friend of mines request to let him know about chenna kesava perumal temple situated in a village of Cuddapah dist, which will solve the problem of” janma sabalyam”
any idea about this temple and how to reach there
Dear Mr.Praburam,
Thanks fa lot or your comment and you have very correctly said that. I find everything interesting in my temple visits – devotionally satisfying, nice environments, travel, sculptures, finding new places and routes etc., – have become a passion now. On top of this, my purpose of showing up the unpopular temples is being served as well. It is good that many people enjoy that now.
Regards,
Raju
Excellent sir
Your drive in finding the sacred place may be a joy or passion for you.But what I find good about this is, the people are getting a connection to this temple through you,from whatever distance they are.Keep up the good work sir.
prabhuram
From: gemini@eth.net (Iyer123@yahoogroups.com)
Dear Sri Raju,
Tku for your info. The Ezhinjal { correct name in Tamil } tree is also found in some more temples in Tamil Nadu, Ezhuchur near Padappai and the Nrusimhar temple in Singaperumal Koil between Tambaram and Chingleput. Just sharing the info with you all. best wishes, Gemini Ramamurthy
By Raju: I have found it in Chettipunyam Hayagreevar temple also but it is a very young plant. The board there also does not say anything about the significance of the tree.
From: ovs@vsnl.com (Iyer123@yahoogroups.com)
Dear Sir,
I am delighted to see your mail. I have been wanting to se this tree. This tree is also mentioned in Srimad Ramayana and is to be found in Chitrahuta but then how does one identify it among the so many trees mentioned!
Please let me know the exact location and how does one go there and what is the distance involved.
Good wishes,
YS
OVS
Dear Mr.Raju,
You are doing an yeomen service to Hindu relegious community. I think Hinduism is surviving onslaughts from various evil forces within & outside only becoz of selfless service offered by people like you.
Thanks a lot, SENTHIL
nice to see the excellant photos
Best wishes for your excellant work.
zambia raaja.
nice to c such religious photos…
raring to visit… thanx buddy…
have a great day
Namaste Raju,
May the Benign Lord and his Consort bless you thousand folds for this blog. Although my service provider has blocked the pictures, to be able to read about the temples itself is a blessing for me.
Best wishes & prayers for you to continue the Good Work
Respected Sir,
Divine piece of valuable information. Keep up the good work.
Thanks a million.
Jayashree Ramakrishnan.
Respected Sir,
just a couple of days back, i heard about this tree for the first time in lalitha sahasranama bhashyam, and was surprised to know about it- I thank amma for giving me the oppurtunity to have a darshan of it through your site.
Thanks a lot
sairam,
vani
namste vaniji,
When time permits please write about the bhasyam you heard of Lalitha Sahasaranaman of this tree .
http://www.avgsatsang.org/hhstvs.html
H.H Pujya Swamiji’s sihsya also mentions this in the discourse of
Shivananda Lahari.
2010/May/01
exellant raju sir. u r doing an extraordinary service to divine community..iam vey thankful to you..
Hi Sathya,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, you are correct. I should have taken another snap in close-up. But you can see a good closeup with the following – click on the photo, it will take you to flickr, click the original size icon on top of the photo and zoom it. I tried it and I got a fairly good closeup.
Thanks,
Raju
Your blog is awesome! I have heard Periyaval’s explanation of this verse 61 from Sivaanda Lahiri. Now, I am blessed to see the Ankolam tree and the punya sthalam though I am 12000 miles away. Thanks for your great service.
In this verse 61, Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada has explained how Bhakti (devotion) should be by citing five examples. The complete text of this reads as follows:
अन्कोलम् निजबीजसन्ततिरयस्कान्तोपलम् सूचिका
साध्वि नैजविभुम् लता क्षितिरुहम् सिन्धु: सरिद्वल्लभम्
प्राप्नोतीह यथा तथा पशुपते: पादारविन्दद्वयम्
चेतोवृत्तिरुपेत्य तिष्ठति सदा सा भक्तिरित्युच्यते ॥ ६१ ॥
Ankolam nijabIjasantatirayaskAntopalam sUchikA
sAdhvi naijavibhum latA kShitiruham sindhu: saridvallabham
prApnotIha yathA tathA paSupate: pAdAravindadvayam
cetovRuttirupetya tiShThati sadA saa bhaktirityuchyate || 61 ||
Like the real seed progeny reaches for the mother ankola tree,
Like the iron needle reaches for the load stone.
Like the chaste woman reaches for her lord,
Like the tender creeper reaches for near by trees,
Like the river reaches for the sea,
If the spirit of the mind,
Reaches for the lotus feet of Pasupathi,
And stays there always,
Then that state is called devotion.
would have been some more clearer, if you would have taken the vinayagar, a bit closer. The face is not clear as expected. Just a kind reminder i.e., a closer focus when comes to such rare monuments will be more comfortable for the readers.
excellent sir very useful infos and great directions to visit the temple
Awesome information. It’s really a worthy updation, actually. JGD.
Raju
Thank you for the Ankola tree reference. Best Wishes
Really a great work. These temples are not being brought to light by everybody. This is a great work by Mr. Raju. Pl continue and give us the details of all the puradana and valuable temples. When I visit Chennai, let me make it a point to visit this temple atleast once in my life time. Thank you
Raaghavan
Thank you very much Dr.Sundaram for giving such a valuable information.
Regards,
Raju
Congratulations once again for your blog. Immensely enjoyed. Thanks. I wish more and more Indians take up these kind of activities. India has infinite history.
pranams how interesting to see the temples through yr site. can anybody tell me what mantra should a person chant to live the life nearby temples becoz the place where i am living has no temples. i was residing near marundeswarar tempe for more than 25 yrs and would visit lord shiva almost daily but staying abroad i miss my lord shiva ofcourse settledown with our only son is due to the blessings of lord shiva namaskarams lakshmi.
I am glad you brought up this fact about this unique tree -Azhinjil- along with Kanchi Achrya’s reference.
This temple has another background.
When Sage Agastiyar emptied the Oceans to enable the destruction of Vriththirasura, 840 Mil jeevarasis of the seas got destroyed and this gave severe stomach ache to Agastiyar. He approached Lord Muruga at Tiruttani who asked him to build 108 siva temples and worship to get vimochanam from this. For any temple one needs thirtham.He had only kamandalam and darba grass with him. He threw the Darba(Kusam) and immediately a river was born-which is the present Kusasthalai river. He built 108 siva temples on the shores of this river and all these Sivas were called Sivanandeswara, and goddess Anandavalli.
These temples are found at Siruvapuri also. Thirukkallil is one of these.(Swami Sivanadeswarar-Anandavalli) The 108 th temple is said to be this Chinnakkavanam and hence the Lord is known as Noortiyetteeswarar and Ambal Ashtotravalli.
The legend goes further that after this pooja he prayed Lord Siva and he asked him to come to Thiruvanmiyur where He is present as Marundeeswarar. He asked the Sage to establish 108 Lingas again in this temple -which you can find in the inner prakaram north side and then only Lord Siva as Marundeeswarar cured Agastiya.
In fact I had taken up a Poject to locate all these 108 temples on the river Kusastalai in whatever form they are now in. Due to my health I could not poroceed after the prelimnary stage as this needed travel in these villages and search for them.Most of the Agstiyar pratishta Lingams are having rectangular/square avudai unlike normal ones round.
Sage Agastiyar is really a Water Sage. He was responsible for the rivers-Kaveri, Kusastalai Tambirabarni and probably all southern rivers.
This could form subject for another interesting project.
Hi new,
This blog has already ‘Temples around Chennai’ page. Today I have posted the ‘Temples within Chennai’ page also. There is a book reference at the end of the page. I also see Vikatan publication has released a new book ‘Chennai koyilhal’ by Swaminathan.
hi, Is there any booklet or a grouped information about historical or important temples within or nearby chennai?
Thanks for your time, effort & patient to narrate the details to all of us. Keep up the good work.
Regards
Guru
Congratulations. I wish such blogs would come up for all cities. We are curently working on coordination of hindu temples in malaysia,indonesia and combodia southeast asian countries. Indonesia has many beautiful temples and we are creating a forum to visit Bali temples and Indian temples. We appeal to people to join us to protect our culture beyond India
It is very nice to know that you are blessed with opportunities to see around our old temples.