Vengeeswarar Temple, Vadapalani – The Temple
The temple is facing east with a 7 tier Rajagopuram
and small gopuram on all the other three sides. This is an old Chola temple
with the elephant back (Gajabrushta) type of vimana but the Gopurams are Chola type.
A very tall flag staff, Bali Peetham and Nandi Mandapam are situated facing
towards the main shrine of Vengeeswarar. The entrance leads to a large
courtyard with the Sivan sannidhi in the back and Amman sannidhi in the
fore ground on the left. The entrance of Ardha Mandapam has an idol of Ganesha
and two mid-sized old Dwarapalas idols.
In the Maha mandapam, there are idols of two sages
namely Vyagrapada (the sage with the tiger's leg)
and Patanjali (the sage having the lower part as snake) facing towards
Shiva. It is believed that both these sages have worshiped Lord Shiva of this
temple. There are many temples across South India which were visited by these
two sages. The deity is also named as Vengeeswarar after the name of the sage
Vyagrapada. (The Tamil word Vengai and the Sanskrit word Vyakra mean tiger).
The main sannidhi is at least 3 feet deep compared to
the general floor and houses a magnificent big Siva Lingam. Presiding Deity is
called as Vengeeswarar. Moolavar sanctum is of Gajabrushta type. Moolavar is of
little big in size. The wall around the sanctum has the niche images of
Ganesha, Dakshina Murti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga. Chandikeswara is found in
his usual location. Mother is called as Shanthanayaki and she is in standing
Posture. She is found in a separate south facing big shrine located near the
flag staff. The idol of Bhuvaneswar is also found in her shrine.
Ambal is in a separate Sannadhi like a temple with
reliefs at the entrance. A Sudhai sirpam of Ambal on the east side wall of
inner mandapam. The inner walls have the idols of Appar, Sundarar,
Manickavasagar and Tirugnanasambandar probably documenting their visits to this
temple. Behind this sannidhi is a separate sannidhi for Bhairavar. Next to it
is the Naga Devathai Pradhishta under the Banyan tree. The Eastern side of the
complex has separate sannidhis for Saneeshwara (Standing). To the left of
Saneeswarar is Chandran and Muniswarar sannidhi.
On the other side of the Gopuram Dwara are sannidhis for
Suryan and another Veerabhadra with a separate enclosure for Navagrahas. Till
a few years ago here was a big temple pond on the South side outside the main
temple complex sadly this is no longer seen. There is a separate Vinayaka sannidhi with gopuram on
the north side and Murugan on the South side. There are separate sannidhis for
Kasi Vishwanathar and Visalakshi and a sannidhi for Gaja Lakshmi in the
north-West corner. The west also has a tall gopuram which is being constructed
new now. Madapalli, Urchavar Kalyana Mandapam, Urchavar mandapam and Yagasala
can be found in the outer prakaram.
