Veera Mangala Anjaneya Temple, Nallathur – History
The
temple is said to have been first built by Vyasaraja in the 15th century.
The present structure was built by M. Chakravarti, Executive Director of Amaravathy
Group of Hotels, in the late 90s. Vyasaraja lived in the 15th century
in the Vijayanagara empire and was respected as a guru by the kings of the
empire. It seems he was afflicted by some strange disease. He prayed to Lord
Hanuman and said he will build as many temples of Hanuman as possible
throughout his life if he gets cured. He became healthy immediately and went on
to build 754 temples till he lived.
The Nallathur
temple is considered the most important one. Vyasaraja’s men were on their way
to Tirupati to build a temple and install the idol there when they had to stop
at Nallathur on their way, to take rest. They kept the idol down but couldn’t
lift it when they wanted to proceed to Tirupati. Lord Hanuman is then said to
have appeared in Vyasaraja’s dreams and expressed his willingness to have the
idol installed there after which a temple was built at that very place in Nallathur.
Over the
years, the temple went to ruins and the idol itself got buried underneath sand
and dust. It seems even the locals, over several generations, forgot the
existence of the temple there. Suddenly one-day Lord Hanuman is said to have
appeared in the dreams of both Chakravarti (who was an atheist till that point
in time and was in Delhi on a business trip) and his wife (who was in Chennai
then) asking them to renovate the temple. It was then that the idol was taken
out and the present form of the temple was built.