The visit to this Sri Kachaleeswarar
Temple, on Armenian Street in George Town, Chennai was a part of the “Shiva and Amman Temples Visit”,
in Park Town and George Town areas, on 22nd March 2015. Many Shiva and Amman temples are spread in
these areas. Some of the temples are 500 years old and have a long history. Thanks
to the donors, who donated the land, properties, and money for constructing these
temples and ensuring continuous poojas.
Moolavar : Sri
Kachaleeswarar
Consort : Sri
Sundarambal / Sri Azhagambigai.
Some of the salient features of this
temple are...
The temple is facing east with a
mandapam in front. There is no Rajagopuram. The temple is a little lower than the
ground level. The sanctum sanctorum consists of a sanctum, an antarala, an ardha
mandapam, and a maha mandapam. Moolavar is very small with Nagabaranam. Sadashivamurthy
is on the back side wall of the Moolavar. In koshtam Ganapathy, Dakshinamurthy,
Lingothbavar, Brahma, and Durgai.
Panchamukha Ganapati with Siddhi and
Budhi on the left and Sri Valli Devasena Shanmugar on the right at the entrance
to the sanctum.
In the inner Praharam Navagrahas,
Nalvar, Somaskandar, Ganapathy, Sri Valli Devasena Shanmugar, Urchavar,
Durgambika, Palliyarai, Chandikeswarar, 63var are in "U" form with passage,
Vishnu, Dattatreya, Sabha mandapam, Gajalakshmi, Saraswati, Chandran, Kala Bairavar
( on the right entrance to Ambal Sannadhi ). Shiva’s various forms of photos
are hung around Praharam.
In the outer Praharam Dwajasthambam,
blipedam, Rishabam, Sri Kannimoola Ganapathi, Sri Valli Devasena Subramaniar (
Valli and Devasena are in a separate sannidhi on the left and right of
Sri Subramaniar. - With elephant Vahanam), Kosalai, Adi Sankarar, Sri
Munthikeswarar, Sri Anjaneyar, Ayyappan in a separate mandapam, Sri
Kachaleeswarar stucco image is on the right side entrance wall from
outer to inner praharam.
Ambal is in a separate sannidhi in standing
posture facing south with Abhaya and varada hasta.
ARCHITECTURE
The temple consists of sanctum
sanctorum, antarala, ardha mandapam and maha mandapam. The sanctum sanctorum is
on a pada bandha adhistanam. A 3 tier stucco dravida vimana is on the sanctum
sanctorum.
In Navagrahas, Suryan is with his
consorts Usha and Pratyusha. On the ceiling basreliefs of 27 nakshatras, 12
Rasis, Ashtadikpalakas, 60 years, and 4 yugas.
HISTORY AND INSCRIPTIONS
The temple
was constructed by Thalavai Chetty in the year 1725 CE. An article on the original
History of Sri Kachaleeswarar temple was Published in Hindu by Mr V Sriram and is
given below with the link
THE HINDU, FRIDAY
REVIEW » HISTORY
& CULTURE https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/chen-columns/the-origins-of-a-temple/article3621524.ece
July 10, 2012, Updated: June 25,
2016, 01:07 IST, and
the blog of Sriram is reproduced as given below…….
The temple forms a square, on three
sides of which is the Agraharam, marking the residential area.
Kalavai Chetty, commemorated in a
Chintadripet street and referred to in records as Calloway Chetty, is first
mentioned in 1691 when he was declared
insolvent and sentenced to prison by the Mayor’s Court. Governor Elihu Yale,
commemorated in Yale University thought differently after Chetty’s relatives
met him and a surety of 1,000 pagodas (the currency used then) had exchanged
hands.
He demanded the immediate release of
the “eminent Merchant of the Hon’ble Company”. It was perhaps the first
instance in Madras of political interference in the execution of justice.
By 1708, Chetty was clearly
prosperous enough to rent the villages of Tondiarpet, Purasawalkam, and Egmore
from the East India Company at 1,750 pagodas per annum. Within a few months,
Governor Pitt, of whom Chetty was clearly a favorite, encouraged him to take on
the villages of Tiruvottiyur, Nungambakkam, Vyasarpadi, Kattupakkam and
Sattangadu, which he did at a rent of 1,200 pagodas per year.
Kalavai Chetty formed a joint stock
company, a private limited in today’s parlance, through which he and other
investing merchants supplied cloth to the East India Company. Apart from
Kalavai, the shareholders were Sunkurama, Balu, and Kalathi Chetties, all
commemorated with street names in north Chennai. But Kalavai Chetty’s
continuing involvement in caste riots ensured his dismissal from this venture
in 1717 CE. He was soon back in favor, this time on payment of 40,000 pagodas
as a surety.
His various dealings prevented him
from regularly visiting the Kachabeswarar shrine in Kanchipuram to which he was
greatly attached. He decided to build a temple for the deity in Madras itself.
His garden on Armenian Street was made over for the purpose and on it came up
the temple in the year 1725 CE, then referred to as the Kachali Pagoda and now
known as the Kachaleeswarar Temple. Like the shrine in Kanchi, the Shiva Linga here
is mounted on a turtle depicting Mahavishnu. The goddess here is Saundarambika,
just as in the Kanchi temple. The temple today has several sub-shrines,
including some hideous recent structures that ought to have never been erected.
Among the more aesthetic ones is a
sanctum for Ayyappa. This has an interesting story behind it. In 1952, when the
temple at Sabarimala was damaged by fire, a new idol was made and taken in
procession to various parts of the country. When it came to Madras, it was
housed at the Kachaleeswarar Temple. When the idol was taken back to Sabarimala,
a portrait of the deity took its place and was worshiped. In the 1980's, this
portrait was replaced by an image.
The temple forms a square, on three
sides of which is the Kachaleeswarar Agraharam, marking the traditional
residential area. Was this endowed by Kalavai Chetty? To the rear of the shrine
is a large tank. And fronting the temple is Kachali Pagoda Lane, a throwback to
the old name. In the 18th century, this was the principal
dancing-girl quarter of Madras. It has no vestige of that colorful past
now.
Maha Kumbhabhishekam was conducted on 8th July 1962. Additional thirupani was started on 20th February 1984, and completed after 5 years. Maha Kumbhabhishekam was conducted on 9th July 1989.
LEGENDS
As per the inscription available in the Temple, a Dubash Thalavai Chetty working with the British East India Company, used to go to Kanchipuram and worship Kachabeswarar every day. One day due to a natural disaster, he couldn't return to Chennai. Shri Shiva completed his jobs on behalf of Thalavai Chetty. Shiva, made all the people know about Thalavai's devotion, by appearing as Thalavai Chetty at Chennai. He constructed this temple in 1725 CE. The first Maha Kumbhabhishekam was conducted in 1728.
Devotees pray to Shri Shiva and Ambal
for child boon, to remove obstacles in marriage, to get rid of Naga dosha,
poisonous insects dosha, to increase the
relationship and bonding between husband and wife, etc,. It is believed that the life span can be extended after doing Sashtiapthapoorthi at this temple.
POOJAS
AND CELEBRATIONS
Apart from regular poojas, special
poojas are conducted on Pournami, Amavasya days, Pradosham, Maha Shivaratri,
Panguni Uthiram, etc,.
TEMPLE TIMINGS
The temple
will be kept open between 06.30 hrs to 11.30 hrs and 16.30 hrs to 21.00 hrs.
CONTACT DETAILS
The landline telephone number +9144
2522 7177 may be contacted for further details.
HOW TO REACH
The temple is at No. 77, Armenian
Street, Mannadi, George Town a part of Chennai.
The temple is about 650 meters from
Mannady Metro and 2.4 KM from Chennai Central Station.
Nearest Railway station is Mannady
Metro.
LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE: CLICK HERE
--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---
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