Sri Manneeswarar Temple at Mannivakkam, Sri Dharmeswarar Temple, Manimangalam, Sri Lakshmi Kubera Temple, Rathnamangalam, Kanchipuram District and Chengalpattu District, , Tamil Nadu.

 07 April 2015

It was an early  Sunday morning. Birds started chirping after a night's sleep. Health-conscious ladies and gents started their early morning walk (Hoping to reduce their weight?) before the traffic started. College boys, three in one motorcycle (without even washing their faces) preparing for the Sunday cricket match in Chennai city’s non-constructed lands. A fat man with a bat on his back also crossed me.

The sun was slowly rising above the Velachery railway bridge partially hiding its face in the clouds. I could not see any birds in the Pallikaranai marshland. The traffic is yet to begin. Through Tambaram Bridge reached the Mannivakkam Shiva temple. Sivachariyar was preparing for the Pooja since the temple was closed the previous evening due to the Lunar eclipse. I went around the temple, noting the details.

 Moolavar Vimanam 

SRI MANNEESWARAR TEMPLE, MANNIVAKKAM

Moolavar    : Sri Manneeswarar
Consort      : Sri Maragathambigai

Some of the important features of this temple are...
The temple faces east with an entrance arch. Dwajasthambam, Balipeedam and Rishaba mandapam are in the outer praharam. Rishabam faces east like Shiva. The Sivachariyar understood that Nandhiamperuman participated in the war at the request of Kulothunga Chozha.

In the outer praharam, Vinayagar, Chandikeswarar, Navagrahas, and Bhairavar.

Ambal is in a separate sannidhi and is standing in a posture facing south. From the outer praharam to the sanctum mandapam entrance, Dwara Ganapathy is on the left, and Dwara Subramaniyar is on the right. The shrine has a sanctum and a mandapam. In mandapam, Ganapathy, and Sri Valli Devasena Subramaniar.

In koshtam Vinayagar, Dakshinamurthy, Vishnu, Brahma and Durgai. In the sanctum, Moolavar is a little tall, and Chandran and Suriyan are on the Kavasam.

As per Sivachariyar, the temple is more than 1200 years old. There are no old inscriptions available, but there are recent inscriptions belonging to the 18^th and 19^th centuries at the base of the sanctum.

TEMPLE TIMINGS :

The temple is kept open for darshan from 07.00 hrs to 10.30 hrs, and from 17.30 hrs to 19.00 hrs.

CONTACT DETAILS :

Sivachariyar's Phone number is 9710422954 or 9176184262.

HOW TO REACH :

A town bus is available from Tambaram and is 1 km from the main road.

The buses to Kanchipuram via Walajahbad and Padapai pass through Mannivakkam.

LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE:    CLICK HERE

 South side entrance with Ambal Sannidhi Vimanam and bell tower 

 Ambal sannadhi Vimanam 

 Dwajasthambam, Balipeedam and Rishabam in the mandapam 

  Rishabam is facing east, the same direction as Moolavar

Entrance arch 

 Recent years epigraph 

Dakshinamurthy 

SRI DHARMESWARAR TEMPLE, MANIMANGALAM

After darshan joined the traffic on the main road to Padappai, and after 2 km, took a diversion on  Tiruvallur Road to reach Manimangalam. Even though I had been to these two temples after a long gap, I am making this Tour. There is a lot of improvement in the temple. The temple was taken over by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). A permanent Meikavalar has been posted by ASI.  The fence has been erected with a gate and an ASI warning board. Kanchipuram area Sri Puttaparthi Sai Baba Devotees were doing Uzhavarapani when I visited this temple. A busload of Lady devotees also visited this temple.

Moolavar    : Sri Dharmeswara Swamy

Consort      : Sri Vedhambika Devi.

Some of the important features of this temple are ...

The temple faces east with sanctum and mandapam, and is constructed like a mada koil. At the entrance, Ganapathy and Subramaniyar are facing each other. There is no Rajagopuram, Dwajasthambam, Balipeedam, or Rishabam originally. The Rishabam and balipeedam are erected in the outer at a very late stage in front of the Ambal temple. In koshtam Vinayagar, Dakshinamurthy, Vishnu, Brahma and Durgai. Chandikeswarar looks cute with Jadamudi without Mazhu in hand, and his posture is a little different from other Chandikeswaras. Moolavar is a little tall.

Ambal is in a separate sannidhi without Gopuram. Looks with a childish face. It is believed that Ambal is very powerful.  As per Gurukkal, a girl has got her speech after worshipping Ambal of this temple.

In the outer praharam sannidhi or Vinayagar, Bhairavar and Saneeswarar. In the mandapam, Chandran, Suryan, Vinayagar, Sri Valli Devasena Subramaniar, and Navagrahas.  Some Hero stones were also installed inside the temple. A separate post was written on these Hero Stones.

HISTORY

Chozhas, Pandyas, and Vijayanagar contributed to the construction of this temple. The main shrine was constructed by Chozhas with Gajaprishta vimanam, and the front mandapam was built by Vijayanagaras, and the Ambal Sannidhi was built by Pandyas.

During the Chozha Period, this place was called ChaturVedi Mangalam, where the 4 Vedas were taught. 

CONTACT DETAILS :

The meikavalar of the ASI Dept, Mr S Swamiraj, may be contacted through his mobile at 9345960180. Archagar may be contacted on his mobile at +91 98400 24594 for further details.

HOW TO REACH :

Manimangalam is on the Thiruvallur to Padappai Road and 3 km from Tambaram to Kanchipuram via Padappai Road.

LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE:    CLICK HERE

Temple view with ASI caution board

An epigraph pillar standing near the gate (recent years)

Entrance to the temple on the east side with balipeedam and Rishabam 

Ambal Sannidhi with balipeedam and Rishabam 

Ambal temple - Pandya Period 

Mandapam - on the south entrance to the sanctum - Vijayanagara Period 

Gajabrushta Vimanam - Chozha Period 

 Moortis in the outer prakaram without pooja

 Recent years epigraph 

a beautiful Chandikeswarar

SRI LAKSHMI KUBERA TEMPLE, RATHINAMANGALAM

After darshan thought of visiting the Sri Lakshmi Kuberar temple on the Vandalur to Kelambakkam Road. The temple is in Rathinamangalam. There is no proper signboard from the Main road. After great difficulty found the road leading to Rathinamangalam after Kolapakkam and Tagore Engineering College.  The temple is about 2 km off the main road. The road is very, very bad. The Devotees were high-end in large numbers and came in big cars with Political color flags. Hope Kuberan is doing a favor to them only, which is why they are growing exponentially.

In Sanctum, Sri Mahalakshmi is in the first level, and Sri Kuberar & his consort Chitralekha are in the second level.

Some of the important features of this temple are...

The temple faces north since Kubera belongs to the north, one of the ‘ashta thikku balakar’. This is a recent period temple without a Rajagopuram.

In koshtam Brahma, Saraswati, Swarna Akarshana Bhairavar, Venkatachalapathy and Padmavathi Thayar.

In the praharam, Sri Bhaktha Anjaneya, Lakshmi Ganapathy, Iyappan, Sorna Gowri, Athirshta Devi, Selvamuthu Kumaraswamy (Arupadai Veedu Murtis), China Athirshta Kuberar, Navagrahas, 16 Ganapathi around the bore-well and Kubera Lingam.

On the opposite to sanctum in Mandapam (entrance top) wall, Ashta Lakshmi’s stucco images.

The history of Kuberar paintings was hung around the mandapam walls. Keeripillai (Mongoose) is on the Balipeedam. – The reason is not known to anybody.

The temple is being maintained by Sri Rajalakshmi Kubera Trust, a private body. The brief History of Kuberar is as follows. Kuberar is the son of Vichvaras Muni & Bharadvaja’s daughter Swadevi. His grandfather is Pulathiyar, and his great-great-grandfather is Brahma. His cousin brothers are Ravanan, Kumbakarnan, and Vibishnan (whose mother was a demon by the name Kaykasi).

He had done a severe penance with water and air for some years and with air for many years. Appreciating his penance, Brahma appeared and granted him as one of the Ashtadikpalakas (அஷ்ட திக்கு பாலகர்) for the north with wealth to distribute. His name then becomes Kuberar from Vaisra Varanan. He lent wealth to Lord Balaji and Padmavathi Thayar's marriage. It was said that Sri Balaji is paying only the interest to date and not the borrowed wealth.

Kuberar is an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and went to Kailash to get the blessings of Lord Shiva. There, he happened to see Parvati. Parvati got angry and cursed him to lose his eyes.  Kuberar appealed to Shiva and Parvati and told them that he had not seen Parvati with bad intentions. Parvati pardoned him and granted him to grow back his eyes, one would be smaller.

It was also learned that the temple has become very popular since Mahalakshmi and Kubera are installed on a jeeva Samadhi of a Siddhar. When I inquired there, it was not known to anybody.

CONTACT DETAILS :

The mobile numbers are 94443 76186 and 9444020084

Website: http://srilakshmikuberar.com/

HOW TO REACH :

The Place is called Rathna Mangalam

On Vandalur to Kelambakkam Road, after Tagore Engineering College, turn left. The temple is about 2 km from the main road.

LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE: CLICK HERE

Sri Lakshmi Kuberar Temple Rathnamangalam 

 Sanctum vimanam 

Sri Sridi Saibaba Temple 

Sri Chakra Kali Amman Temple 

After the darshan of Sri Lakshmi Kuberar, I had the darshan of Sri Shirdi Saibaba, Sri Chakra Kaliamman, and Sri Araikasu Amman Temples. In the Araikasu Amman Temple, I could see 108 Amman’s Mutis are installed. They are replicas of the Amman Murtis of famous temples in India and abroad.

It was later than my expected time for returning home, and my wife gave me a call for breakfast. Returned home around 11.30 hrs through Ponmar and Medavakkam. This Heritage visit was made through my Yamaha scooter, which gave me a pleasant ride with 80 Km per litre of petrol.

---OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---