Mallikeswarar Temple, Mannady, George Town – The Temple

Mallikeswarar Temple, Mannady, George Town – The Temple

The temple is situated 6 feet below the road level. The Temple is having 7-tiered south facing Rajagopuram. The Rajagopuram was built by Mangadu Ellapa Chettiar in 1923. The temple gopuram is one of the biggest gopurams in north Chennai. The 16 pillared Mandapam outside the main entrance of the temple was built in the year 1897 as well as a 4 pillared Ganesh temple outside as per the inscription on one of the pillars by Manickam Chettiar.

The temple has a large outer Prakaram after the Rajagopuram and an inner Prakaram around the sanctum sanctorum. A large temple car is seen outside the temple. There is also a temple tank along with a shrine for Lord Ganesha immediately after the Rajagopuram. There is also a Goshala (cow shed) in this Outer Prakaram.

Presiding Deity is called as Mallikeswarar and is facing east. There is a small shrine for Ananda Vinayaka before you enter the main shrine. Idols of Surya, Chandra, Sani, and Bhairava can be found opposite to Mallikeswarar shrine. Mother is called as Maragadambal and is facing south. The beautiful idol of the main goddess of the temple Maragadambal is located in a separate shrine next to the shrine of Lord Mallikeswarar. One can find the idols of Lord Ganesha and Murugan in front of the entrance of the goddess shrine.

The Navagraha shrine of the temple is unique in the sense all the 9 Planets (Grahams) are in their Vahanams (Vehicles) with Surya sitting on a 7-horsed chariot. The Navagraha idols are large and Surya is seen in his chariot in the center. Aswatha and Neem Tree are grown together as a single tree.

There are shrines and Idols of Viswanathar with Vishalakshi, Lord Shanmuga with his consorts Valli & Deivanai, Shanmuga in Utsava form, Kailasanathar, Adhipuriswarar, Saraswathi, Nalwar, Lakshmi, Vishnu, Brahma, Dakshinamurthy, Ganapathi, Balamurugan, Naga Statues, Somaskandar, Chandrasekhar, Mahadevar, Chandikeswarar, Karaikal Ammaiyar, 63 Nayanmars and Nataraja along with Sivakami.