Hero Stone / Navakandam / Arikandam / Veerakallu / வீரகல், at Sri Kangiamman Temple, Thiruvothur, Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu.

The visit to these Hero Stones at Kangiamman Temple was a part of  a Heritage Visit to the Temples, Thavvai, Kotravai, Durgai, Hero Stone sculptures around Cheyyar in Tiruvannamalai District on 22^nd August 2021. Thanks to Logesh for his guidance, Babu Mano and Manoj.

NAVAKANDAM HERO STONE

There are two Navakanda statues installed on the back side of the Kangiamman Temple. One of the Navakanda statues is made out of Green stone. The hero stands straight and looks in front. The Hero is shown holding a sword in the right hand keeping it down. The left hand holds the sword and cuts his head. The hero wears ornaments in the ears and around the neck. A Kireedam is shown on the head and a big mustache is also shown on his face. A Kattar is shown on his hip.

Since this hero is with a Kireedam and made out of a special Greenstone, the hero must be a Chieftain or a leader of a Group. Please note that this temple is under the control of Mudaliars, The hero may belong to Kaikolar  Padai. This sculpture is very similar to 5 Hero stones found at Thirumalpur  ( They also hold the swords in their left hand  ) and are worshiped by the Mudaliar Community.

ARIKANDAM - HERO STONE

The Other Hero stone is an arikandam. The hero cuts off his head with a sword holding in both hands. A big mustache is shown on his face. The hero wears ornaments on his ears and over neck. He also wears a channaveera. The legs are shown in marching / walking position.

In the front mandapam, these two Hero stone paintings were drawn. In that the heroes are on both sides of a Shiva Linga and a Vinayagar sannidhi.  Since the original temple was dedicated to “kanakarai Selvi” a Kotravai, Heroes used  to sacrifice themselves in front of Kotravai to win any battle / War.  These Hero stones may also be connected to such wars. The Painting may also signify that self-sacrifice in the form of Navakandam was given at this temple.   

LOCATION       : CLICK HERE 

The Hero stones with Vinayaka and Lord Shiva Paintings on the Mukha Mandapam wall 

--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---

Arulmigu Kangiamman Thirukovil / அருள்மிகு காங்கியம்மன் திருக்கோவில், திருவோத்தூர் / Thiruvothur, Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu.

The visit to this Kangiamman Temple at Thiruvothur was a part of  Heritage Visit to the Temples, Thavvai, Kotravai, Durgai, Hero Stone sculpture’s around Cheyyar in Tiruvannamalai District on 22^nd August 2021. Thanks to Babu mano, Manoj and Logesh for his guidance.

Thiruvothur is a part of Cheyyar. This temple is on the end of the street opposite to Sri Vedapureeswarar Temple, one of the 276 Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalam and on the banks of river Cheyyar. Even-though this temple has more than 800 years history, this is a lesser known temple.

Main deity        : Sri Kangiamman

Some of the salient features of this temple are…

The temple is facing North with a Mukha mandapam and a 3 Tier Rajagopuram.  Vinayagar and Murugan are at the entrance of the ardha mandapam. Stucco images of Saptamatrikas, keeping Chamundi as main deity are at the top of the entrance. Dwarapalakas / Bhuta Ganas are at the entrance of the sanctum. Saptamatrikas are in the sanctum sanctorum. No images are in the koshtam. 

In praharam, Nava kanda / Arikanda Hero Stones (  will be covered in a separate post ), 4 out of saptamatrikas ( Samundi / Chamundi was made of green stone. Hope these Saptamatrikas group might have been replaced the existing new images ) and an Amman in standing posture with old Dwarapalaka and Dwarapalaki ( These Dwarapalaka and Dwarapalaki might have been replaced by the existing in the ardha mandapam ).

ARCHITECTURE

The temple consists of sanctum sanctorum, antarala and ardha mandapam and a mukha mandapam. There are two entrances to Ardha mandapam from east side and south side. The temple was reconstructed with Brick and cement mortar. The sanctum sanctorum is in rectangular shape to accommodate Saptamatrikas. The Gopura above the Sanctum sanctorum is of 3 tiers. Stucco images of Various incarnations of Ambal are on the Gopuram. The saptamatrikas are on a platform in the sanctum sanctorum along with Veerabhadra.

HISTORY AND INSCRIPTIONS

As per the inscriptions the original temple was constructed during Chozha King Vijayakanda Gopalan’s 27^th reign year ( 1284 CE ) period. From the inscriptions the original temple was dedicated to Kotravai as “Kanakarai Selvi ( Kanamar selvi  - கானமர் செல்வி )”. We do not know when the Kotravai was replaced by the saptamatrikas.  The old 4 out of ( 7 ) saptamatrikas are kept on the back side of the Temple and fate of the rest are not Known. The Chamundi was made of Green Stone. ( Similar stone was used in Konar Temple, near Thirumalpur ).

To support the assumption of Kotravai as main deity, the Pandya King Vira Pandya’s 27^th reign year ( may be –Vira Pandyan –I,  11^th to 12^th Century CE ), inscription records the gift of Land as Pidari Padam by a Devaradiyar  Unnamulai’s daughter Samba after establishing the “Kanakarai Selvi”, image. This inscription clearly indicates that, the image was established during Pandya Period and latter the temple may be constructed during the Chozha King Vijayakanda Gopalan’s period.

This temple is under the control of Senguntha Mudaliars trust. Ashta Bandhana Maha Kumbhabhishekam are  conducted on 12-12-1986, 19-07-2002 and on 08-02-2015. For 2015 Kumbhabhishekam, Rs 6.08 lakhs was donated by the Mudaliars Community.

LEGENDS

Ma Parvati as Dhatchayani, went to Yagna conducted by his father Daksha without the inviting Lord Shiva. When Dhatchayani was insulted and  Lord Shiva, as Veerabhadra  destroyed the Yagna and cursed the Devas for attending the yagna. To get rid of the sin caused due to the above, Ma Parvati came to this place on the banks of Cheyyar and did a penance on Lord Shiva, to pardon her.  The Saptamatrikas guarded her during the penance. Finally Lord Shiva satisfied with her penance, pardoned her and took her to Kailash. 

 

As per the Local legends, A marriage party was traveling through this place, with the married couple. Burglars snatched all their ornaments and started sharing between them. In the mean time the Marriage party prayed to Kangiamman, to help them. Kangiamman appeared before the burglars made them to blind and gave back the ornaments to the marriage party.

Kangiamman’s story is painted in the mukha mandapam walls.

Amman’s Prasad will be offered to the ladies, who are born at this place or got married to this place, after the 7 months pregnancy. Special poojas will be done at the temple for safe delivery. The Prasad is offered as madi picksha and the woman has to receive the same through her saree mundhanai / muntanai.  This function is called as Pachai Padaithal.

POOJAS AND CELEBRATIONS

Apart from regular poojas special poojas are conducted on Aadi month Fridays, Pournami ( Full moon days ) and Amavasya days ( No moon days ). The Amavasya Pooja will end around mid night.

TEMPLE TIMINGS

The temple will be kept opened between 07.00 hrs to 10.00 hrs and 17.00 hrs to 19.00 hrs.

HOW TO REACH

This temple is about 500 meter from Sri Vedapureeswarar Temple.

The temple is 2.4 KM from Cheyyar Bus Stand, 33 KM from Kanchipuram, 61 KM from Arakkonam, 63 KM from Chengalpattu, 81 KM from Thiruvannamalai and 111 KM from Chennai.

Nearest Railway station is Kanchipuram and Junction is Arakkonam.

LOCATION     : CLICK HERE

Sri Durgai Amman 

Old Dwarapalaka and Dwarapalaki

The original ( ... ?) Samundi / Chamundi  in Green stone 

Dwarapalakas

--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---

C.S.I. ANDERSON CHURCH, NSC BOSE ROAD, GEORGE TOWN, CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU.

Before attending a function at Rajah Annamalai Mandram, happened to visit this Church, on NSC Bose Road, George Town. Chennai. The “150 years”  sign board displayed outside the Church attracts me to peep into this Church.

Rev. John Anderson ( Who lived between 1805 and 1857 CE ), was a Scottish missionary  and strong believer in Education to the downtrodden street Children and who founded the mission ( 1837 – 1857 CE ) of the free church of England at Chennai, then Madras. It was believed that he established an Education institution in the name of “General Assembly  School” at Egmore in the year  1835 and shifted to Sailor’s House, George Town ( Black town ) area in 1838 and became the Free Church of Scotland’s central shrine in 1845. This Church / Chapel was called as College Chapel and later the Church was reconstructed.

 

The St Andrew’s School functioned at Randalls Road in Egmore, founded by Re. George James Laurie and Rev Mathew Bowie moved to this General Assembly School with its’ Head Master and 59 boys. It is believed that this school  was upgraded to a College and moved to Tambaram in 1937, as “The Madras Christian College”.  Under the leadership  of  Dr William Miller, the college was expanded with Hostels and academic buildings.

John Anderson and his wife Margaret Anderson ( who died in 1887 CE ) are  laid to rest in the Purasaiwakkam, Tana Street cemetery after their death.  Margaret Anderson used to say that her husband Anderson’s warm spirit lives on in the church that’s a haven of quiet for street Children, beggars, and weekday worshipers.

The present Church was built in the same place where College Chapel stood in 1859, 4 years after Rev. John Anderson’s death. The first convert Rev, P Rajagopal, has become the first minister of the Church. The altar is very simple with a wooden Cross. Jesus’s image in stained glass is on both sides of the altar. Stained glass with Colourful engraving of Jesus' story adorns the Windows /ventilators. In memory of those who dedicated their life to this Church inscribed on Plaques/ tablets, are fitted on the walls.

The Alter renovation work was carried out with the generous donation of Mr A Johnson & Family ( Son of D Arulanandam ) and was dedicated by Rev. D Richard Ambrose Jebakumar M.A., B.D on 5^th July 1998. This Church celebrated its 150^th anniversary in 2009. In commemoration of the Sesquicentennial Celebrations, the Church was renovated and re-dedicated by Ret. Rev. Dr. Prof Devasahayam ( Bishop in Madras ) on 24^th April 2011. The Church also celebrated its 157^th anniversary and a tablet was unveiled by Ret. Rev. Dr J. George Stephen on 15^th May 2016.

The Church conducts competitions for School and College students on Tamil literature in connection with Christianity through Christuva Ilakkiya Tamil Peravai – கிறித்தவ இலக்கியத் தமிழ்ப் பேரவை. The Church also encourages composing and singing of new songs on Christianity through Dalit and Adhivasikal Variyam – தலித் மற்றும் ஆதிவாசிகள் வாரியம்.

The Anderson Church is under the control of  CSI ( Church of South India), a Protestant sect of the Christian religion. This Church is listed as one of the Landmark Heritage buildings by the Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage ( INTACH ), Tamil Nadu Chapter.

HOW TO REACH:

This Church is on the NSC Bose Road and about 2 km from MGR Central Railway station.

Broadway Bus Terminus, High Court Bus Terminus, and High Court Metro Railway station are close to this Church.

LOCATION OF THE CHURCH: CLICK HERE

 PC : Website

 ---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---

Moorthy Vinayagar Temple in a 19th Century Mandapa, Vijayanagara Nayakas and Latter Period Mandapams at Palli ( பல்லி ) Near Kiliyathur, Vembakkam and Thiruvothur Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu.

The visit to this Vijayanagara Nayaks period Mandapams was a part of  Heritage Visit to the Temples, Thavvai, Kotravai, Durgai, Hero Stone sculpture’s around Cheyyar in Tiruvannamalai District on 22^nd August 2021. Since these Mandapams are constructed along the Trade routes of Thondai Nadu. This Mandapams are used by the traders, merchants and the travelers used to take rest, stay during Night, etc,. 

Vijayanagara Nayakas and Latter Period Mandapams at Palli ( பல்லி ) Near Kiliyathur

This mandapam is facing east with 3 Closed rooms, but housed nothing. The mukha mandapa was built in two levels and supports 12 Pillars. The pillars has the bas reliefs of Herds man, Vamana, the donor with his wife, Joker, Hanuman, Garuda, Krishna leela, Rishis, Ladies, etc,. There is no reliefs found on the ceiling.

A tank was also excavated for drinking water.  The tank excavated near this mandapam is being used to quench the thirst of this Village even after 300 to 400 years.

LOCATION     : CLICK HERE 

Donors

Mandapa tank with Alli flowers 

A Vijayanagara Nayaks Period Travelers resting mandapam, at Vembakkam.  

This Mandapam consists of a raised inner mandapam and a ground level Mukha mandapam, extended from the main mandapam. Extended portion is supported with 4 pillars. The pillars do not have much reliefs except Donors, etc,. The Mandapa Ceilings has the bas-reliefs of fish, snakes with Suriyan & Chandran represents Solar and Lunar Eclipse and mythological fishes. The top of the mandapam has the stucco images of simha / Nandi  on all the four corners and centre of the front face. These stucco images might have been done at a latter date.

LOCATION     : CLICK HERE

Donors

A 19^th Century Mandapam, in front of Sri Moorthy Vinayagar Temple,  Thiruvothur.

This mandapam was built for Vinayagar called as Moorthy Vinayagar Temple also locally called as Mottai Papathi Koil. The Mandapam walls and Pillars has the bas reliefs of religious Deities and Puranas Like Kala samhara Moorthy, Pichadanar, Cow/ Kamadhenu worshiping Lord Shiva, Pancha Mukha Vinayagar, Maha Vishnu as Ananda Sayana Murthy, Krishna leela, Garuda, mythological Animals, animals like elephant, Donkey, monkey, Tiger, Dog,  fishes, reptiles like lizards, snakes with Suriyan & Chandran,   and Donor with his family.  The mandapa was built abutting the existing Vinayagar Temple and vahana Moonjuru and balipeedam are in the mandapam.

The Mandapam ceiling has a lotus medallion at the centre and inscriptions in Tamil and Telugu are on both sides. It was told that the centre medallion is made of brass metal. The inscription records the construction of the front mandapam by Mannaru Chetti son of Tharuvi Chetti and he was the Son of   Venkatarama Chetti and he was the son of Athangki Murthy Chetti. A Tank, chatram, Nandavanam and a Sumaithangi was also Constructed by the same Donor. The Vinayagar was named after the Donor Mannaru Chetti’s great grand father Moorthy. The Tamil inscription reads as….

1. சுபமஸ்து அவிசதன்மஸ்(து) ஸ்ரீ ராமஜெய
2. ம். ஸ்வஸ்திஸ்ரீ விஜயாப்யுதய சாலிவாஹன வருஷம்
3. 1787 கலியப்த வருஷம் 4966 பிரபவாதி
4. வருஷம் ( 58 ) மேல்து சேதன சவருஷம் தை மாதம் 11 தெதி திங்க
5. ள் கிழமை சப்தம் ரேவதி நக்ஷத்திரம் இந்த சுய
6. தினத்தில் திருவத்தூர் பேட்டை பேரி சேடன
7. கோத்திரம் அத்தங்கி மூர்த்தி செட்டின
8. பத்தான் வேங்கிடறாம செட்டி பௌத்
9. திரன் தருவி செட்டி புத்திர மன்னாறு
10. செட்டி சுருதி புரிக்கி வடக்கு  பெரியோ
11. ர்கள் கட்டியிருக்கிற மூர்த்தி விக்னே
12. சுவரந் கோவிலுக்கு இப்பேர் முன் மண்ட
13. பம் ஆலயம் திருக்குளம் நந்தவனம் சத்திரம்
14. சொமதாங்கி சாலை இது கனதேவதைகளும் பி
15. ராமனாள் பசுக்களுக்குள்  ஜநங்களுக்கும் உப
16. யோகமாய் செய்தியதாம் ( அனு 584 )

Present Condition

The land gifted to this temple, Tank, nandavanam were encroached and the care takers are struggling to recover back. The Sumaithangi is also missing. 

LOCATION    : CLICK HERE

Pancha mukha Vinayagar

Donors

---OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---