Sri Kanakapureeswarar Temple / ஸ்ரீ கனகபுரீஸ்வரர் கோயில், தொழுப்பேடு / Thozhupedu, Thiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu.

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

Moolavar  : Sri Kanakapureeswarar

Consort    : Sri Swarnambigai

Some of the salient features of this temple are….

This temple faces east on a small mountain. A Deepa Sthambam is in front of the temple. The temple is under reconstruction. Two Shiva Lingas one with square avudayar and the other without Avudayar ( the original one ), with respective Nandi and Amman are kept in a temporary shed. Ambal seems to be of The Chozha period and one Shiva Linga is of swayambhu without avudayar. 

A Vinayagar, a Murugan as Brahma Sastha, and a Chandikeswarar are kept outside the shed. The Chandikeswarar is in a unique posture. He is sitting in ardha padmasana, and some experts believe that this may be Lakulisar's image, but it is not so. According to the experts, the original temple with all these three images on a flat stone may belong to the 9th to 10th Century Pallava period.

Chandikeswarar in padmasana sitting posture

HOW TO REACH

The temple is 13 km from Cheyyar, 44 km from Kanchipuram, 72 km from Chengalpattu, 77 km from Arakkonam, 77 km from Thiruvannamalai ( District Headquarters), and 119 km from Chennai.

The nearest Railway station is Kanchipuram and Junction Arakkonam or Chengalpattu.

LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE: CLICK HERE

--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---