Mallikeswarar Temple, George Town – The Temple
The east facing temple has a
big front side mandapam. There are many shops, mostly flower vendors, are
located in this mandapam. It should be noted that this temple is located in
Flower Bazaar locality. There is no tower for this temple. Instead, a lintel
with many stucco images are found at the entrance. There is a passage in the
outer prakara that connects the temple with the adjacent Chenna Kesava Temple. The
temple tank is located between both the temples. Both the temples share the
temple tank as well as the car (Ratha).
Presiding
Deity is called as Mallikeswarar / Malleeswarar / Mallikarjunar.
Presiding
Deity is housed in the east facing sanctum in the form of big Shiva Linga. Two
Ganeshas called as Dwara Ganapathis are found at the entrance of the sanctum. Nandi
is found in the Maha Mandapam. Another Nandi idol is found along with the
flagstaff and bali peetha in the outer courtyard.
Ganesha, Dhakshinamoorthi,
Vishnu, Brahma and Durga are the niche idols located around the sanctum walls, Chandikeswara
is found in his usual location. The sanctum 2 tier vimana is of rectangular
shape with 3 kalasams on the top is unique. Mother is called Brahmarambika.
The Goddess is found in a separate
east facing shrine, located in the outer prakara. The vimana has few
interesting stucco images.
There are Shrines of Maha
Ganapati, Tatpurusha Linga, Agora Linga, Vamadeva Linga, Kasi Linga, Bala
Murugan, Nataraja with his consort Sivakami (Utsava), Bhikshatana (Utsava) and
Somaskanda (Utsava) in the inner prakara around the sanctum, Also, Bronze idols
of Nalvar, Two Ganeshas, 63 Nayanmars, Ishana Linga and Sekkizhar are also
located in this prakara. Navagraha is also found in the same prakara.
There are shrines of Siva
Surya, Prasanna Vinayaka, Lord Subramanya with his consorts Valli and Devasena
(Utsava), Bhairava, Adi Shankara and Ramalinga in the outer prakaram. There is
a small mandapam located in the north-east corner of the outer prakara. The
pillars in this mandapam are full of beautiful sculptures. Ganesha idol is
located within this mandapam.
