Kaaraneeswarar Temple, Mylapore – The Temple
The
temple is having a 5 tier Rajagopuram facing east and as per the tradition
followed in all old South Indian temples, this temple also has bali peetha,
flag staff and Nandi idol facing the main shrine. This temple dates back to the
12th Century and is an old Chola temple which still has faintly visible
inscriptions which talk about the Chola times. The entrance of the main shrine
has the idols of Ganesha and Dhandayuthapani (Subramanya).
Presiding Deity is called as Kaaraneeswarar. The Shivalingam here is in square shape as seen in only
Thirukkadaiyur and Kalahasthi. Since Shiva is the reason for everything, He is
called Karaneeswarar (Karanam in Tamil means reason). Narthana Vinayagar,
Dhakshinamoorthy, Mahavishnu, Brahma and Durgai are the Koshta idols located on
the sanctum walls. Mother is called as Porkodi Amman / Sorna
Lalithambigai.
Both the Kaaraneeswarar and Porkodi Amman are found in
two separate shrines. There are also shrines to Sarva Mangala
Vinayaka, Dhandapani, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. There is a Thirumurai
Mandapam in the outer prakaram of the Temple.
Shrines
of Nataraja with Sivakami, Hanuman, Bhairava, Arunachaleswarar in the form of
big Linga with Unnamulai, Subramanya-Valli-Devasena, Ganesha with his consorts
Siddhi and Buddhi, Saneeswarar and Navagraha can be found in the prakaram. Idols
of Ganesha, Nalvar – the four great devotees of Shiva, Sekkilar, Surya and 3–4
Shiv Lingas under the tree can be found in this temple. The temple is worth
visiting for its calm environment.
