Tamilnadu Tourism: Lakshmi Narasimhar Temple, Maraimalai Nagar, Kanchipuram

Lakshmi Narasimhar Temple, Maraimalai Nagar, Kanchipuram

Lakshmi Narasimhar Temple is dedicated to Hindu God Vishnu located at Maraimalai Nagar in Kanchipuram District of Tamilnadu. The temple is situated off the NH – 45 opposite Ford Car Factory at Maraimalai Nagar is 50 km from Chennai. Though the temple was constructed in the 1990s, the deity enshrined here has an ancient history. The Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy Moolavar idol, which is the presiding deity of this temple, was excavated in the presence of the then District Collector of Chengalpet and the Archaeological authorities in 1990.

It is estimated to be about 1,300 years old probably of the Pallava era. Lord Narasimha is believed to have appeared in the dream of the temple priest Srinivasa Raghavan and his wife Choodamani Ammal and given directions to the place of his presence underground. According to them, the deity was worshipped by Vishwamitra before he turned a sage, when he was well-known as King Kausika, which dates back to Thretha Yuga. The temple, constructed by the priest and his wife, now stands on a four-ground plot at Vivekananda Nagar, Maraimalai Nagar.

Built with the help of their resources and contributions from a few devotees, the temple is in perfect accordance with the Agama Sastras as dictated by Brigu Muni, a sage of the Dwapara Yuga. The basement of the temple has 248 chakras on which the Moolasthanam of the Lord, Satyagnana Perumal and his Consort, Anandavalli Thayar, has been built, along with the Ardhamandapam, the one immediately around the Moolasthanam.