Sundareswarar Temple, Kovur – The Temple
The
temple is facing south with a beautiful 7-tiered Rajagopuram. The entire
Sannadhi street itself is so beautiful with shady trees and ancient houses. This
temple is one among the Navagraha temples of Chennai (or Thondai Mandalam) for
Budhan (Mercury). The Rajagopuram has the idols of Ganesha and Murugan at the
entrance. Presiding Deity is called as Sundareswarar / Thirumeneeswarar.
Lord Sundareswarar faces east and is a fairly large
lingam. Dwarapalas and small idols of Naga Skanda are found at the entrance of
the main shrine. The Vimana is Gaja Prashta style vimana. In this temple
the lord does not adorn the Nagabaranam as in other Shiva temples he is
instead adorned with a mandapam as he is also Lakshmi swaroopan and also
Budhan. Here Lakshmi pooja is done for the main Shivalingam and there is
no separate Budhan sannidhi.
Ganesha, Dakshina Murti, Lingodhbava, Brahma and Durga
are found as the niche idols. Chandikeswara is found in his usual location. The
flag staff, bali peetha and Nandi are found facing towards the main
shrine. It is said that, by worshipping Sri Sundareswarar, one will be
cured of many ailments. Mother is called as Soundharaambigai / Thiruvudai
Naayagi. The Goddess is found
in a separate south facing shrine.
Lord
Sundareswarar and Goddess Soundharaambigai are said to be so beautiful here and
hence they are called so. The wall of Amman shrine has Indrani, Maheswari, Maha
Lakshmi, Brahmi and Durga as the niche images. Chandikeswari is found instead
of Chandikeswarar. This is one of the three major Kamakshi sannidhis
around Mangadu (here she is Shanta Swaroopi, Tapas Kamakshi in at Mangadu and
Adi Kamakshi at Gerugambakkam, the Ketu Kshetram.
Both Presiding
Deity and Mother have their sanctums within the same super structure. There is
a separate shrine for Karunakara Perumal who is found along with his two
consorts. There is another shrine where the Utsava idols of Sekkizhar and
Thogai Adiyars are located. Shrines of Ganesha, Surya, Sekkizhar, Naalvar,
63 Nayanmars, Kali, Bhairava and Veerabhadrar can be found in the inner
prakaram of the Temple.
Shrines
of Valli Devasena Samedha Subramanyar, Ganesha, Saneeswarar and Navagrahams can
be found in the outer prakaram of the Temple. The other shrines that are found
in the temple include Netra Vinayaka, Somaskanda, Sukravara Amman,
Subramanya-Valli-Devasena, Utsava idols of Murugan with two consorts, Nataraja-Shivakami,
Utsava idols of 63 Nayanmars, Muthumari and Ponni Amman. There is a separate
shrine where the beautiful Utsava idols such as Ganesha, Chandrasekhar and
others are located.
Another
rarity of this temple is the Sthala Viruksham called Maha Vilvam tree. The Maha
Vilvam of this temple is a very rare one that each stalk of Maha Vilvam has 27
leaves to it. This Maha Vilvam also has many medicinal properties in it. The
Theertham for this temple is called Siva Gangai Theertham. This temple also has
a beautiful chariot which requires renovation.
The Rajagopuram
is also unique as it contains the figures of Thyagaraja being carried on a
palanquin and on the right side you can see Rama and Lakshmana at the end
of the retinue and on the left we can see the closed door of Tirumala temple.
The muscular figure of Walajapet Venkataramana Bhagavatar is easily
identifiable. The upper storeys of the gopuram depict several incidents from Thyagaraja
life such as his tutelage under Sonti Venkataramanayya, his darshan of Narada
and his visit to Tirupati. In the last-named sequence, the sculptor has
depicted the doors of the Tirupati temple being closed, whereas legend has it
that it was the screen (Thirai) that was drawn preventing Thyagaraja from
having darshan.
