Dandeeswarar Temple, Velachery – The Temple
The Temple has three entrances in the east, north and west directions. Although the sanctum is facing the east direction, the north facing tower with five tiers is the main entrance. The other two towers are not that attractive. All the towers are plain without any stucco idols. Shrines of Kalai Sandhi Vinayaka and Subramanya can be found at the north gate. Nandi Mandapam, flag staff and bali peetha are found in this area facing towards the sanctum. Nandhi appears in a polite form with his head bowing.
Presiding Deity is called as Dandeeswarar. Lord is moderately sized Shiva Linga housed in east facing sanctum. It is said that the rays of the Sun would fall on the Lingam on the exact date of Tamil New Year and this is not happening now as High rises have been built around the Temple. There is a Nandi found facing towards sanctum in the Maha Mandapam. The Chola period Dwarapalas at the entrance of the Ardha Mandapam are notable.
The entrance of Ardha Mandapam also has the idols of Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya with his consorts Valli and Devasena on either side. The Koshta Idols are beautiful Chola sculptures. Ganesha, Yoga Dhakshinamoorthi in unique posture and there is Nandhi on his peeta, Lingodhbava, Brahma and Durga are found as the niche icons. Lingodhbava has deer in his right arm and Mazhu in his left arm, which is not usual. Chandikeswara is also a beautiful Chola period sculpture.
At the entrance of the super structure where the sanctum and the shrine of Karunambikai are located, there is another pair of Ganesha and Subramanya. In the Goshtam wall of Sanctum is Mother Durga and in the prakara are Mother Lakshmi and Mother Saraswathi. The devotee can have the darshan of three Mothers from the same place.
Mother is called as Karunambikai. She is housed in separate south facing shrine located in Maha Mandapam. She is found in the standing posture. She has four arms. The entrance of her shrine has a relief image of Ganesha. It is also noteworthy that the Sri Chakra installed by eminent Vedic Scholar Sri Appiah Dikshitar is in the Shrine of Mother Karunambikai.
Generally, Lord Veerabhadra appears in temples in a standing posture with a Danda. With all Lord Shiva attributes, Lord Veerabhadra is in a sitting posture with his right leg folded and holding Rudraksha mala instead of a Danda and a Mazhu. Nandhi is on a peeta. Lord Veerabhadra is present along with the Kannikas as their guardian deity.
Special Abishekam and Aaradhanas are performed on Poornima (full moon) day. As he is Guardian Deity of women, they pray to him for relief from the crime faced by them in society from various quarters. They offer milk abishekam with betel leaves garlands. They worship Chamundi as Chelliamman. Saptha Kannika shrine is called Chelliamman Sannidhi.
The east facing shrines of Ganesha and Subramanya which are usually found in the back side of prakara of the ancient South Indian Shiva temples are not found here. Instead, the shrines of Somaskanda (Utsava Idol), Chandrasekhara and Uma (Utsava Idols), Saraswathi and Lakshmi are located.
There are also shrines for Utsava Idols of Lord Subramanya and his consorts Valli & Devasena, Chandikeswara and Gnana Sambandhar are found in the south facing shrines. A big and attractive Nataraja and Sivakami and another small idol of Nataraja are found in a separate shrine. The old icon of Bhairava, the Chola period sculpture of Sambu Surya and the idol of Vishnu in the place of Chandra are also located in this prakara.
The idols of 63 Nayanmars, Nalvar, Sekkizhar, Ganesh, Veerabhadra and Saneeswara are found in the outer prakara. This prakara is a very recent addition. There are also shrines for Vishwanathar & Vishalakshi with small icons of Ganesha and Skanda at the entrance, Vaidheeswara Linga along with Nandi, Big Chokkanatha Linga, Meenakshi along with Nandi, Navagraha, Veda Vinayaka with a front side mandapam in the outer prakaram.
Lord Vinayaka in the prakara is praised as Veda Vinayaka as he is holding the Vedas in his hands. The temple tank, called as Yama Theertham, is located outside the temple complex. Theertham is on the main road, west side of the temple with grill/ fence work on all the four sides. Sthala Vriksham is Vilwa Tree.
There are a lot of stone inscriptions which provide valuable information about the temple. Many kings belonging to the Chola and Pallava dynasties have donated lands to the temple. A devotee hailing from Arcot built the shrine for Ganesha inside the temple. He has also made provisions for the daily pooja. Another devotee made arrangements for lighting the lamp in the sanctum sanctorum of the deities.
