Tamilnadu Tourism: Devi Karumari Amman Temple, Nanganallur, Chennai

Devi Karumari Amman Temple, Nanganallur, Chennai

Devi Karumari Amman Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Goddess Sakthi located at Nanganallur, a well-known locality in Chennai City in Tamil Nadu. The Temple faces the new highway laid recently for connecting Velachery with the GST road at the Thillai Ganga Nagar Point. This Temple is located adjacent to Lakshmi Narasimha Temple.

Legends

The founder of the temple, C J Vijaykumar, an ardent devotee of the goddess narrated an interesting episode about the genesis of the temple. Vijaykumar is a leading realtor here. In order to build apartments, he bought the land where the temple now exists. He used to frequently visit Tiruverkadu Karumariamman temple to seek her blessings. After purchasing the vacant land, he fixed an auspicious day for registration. The day before the registration, while walking on the street, he heard a ‘voice’ behind him. But he was unable to spot anyone. As he continued walking, he heard the voice of goddess Karumariamman ordering him to build a temple in that place. Bewildered and shocked beyond words, he at once obeyed the divine decree.

History

The Temple belongs to 20^th Century, under the control of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhar Temple. The Kumbhabhishekam was performed on September 4, 1987.

The Temple

The temple is facing east with a 4 tier Rajagopuram. Trishul, Balipeedam and Simha Vahana can be found immediately after the Rajagopuram. The sanctum sanctorum consists of a Sanctum and a Mukha Mandapam. The east facing sanctum enshrines Karu Mari Amman idol which has only the head of the Goddess. Behind this, there is another idol of Karu Mari Amman who is found with her complete body and is in the sitting posture.

Vinayagar, Thakshayini, Vaishnavi, Brahmi and Durga are the Koshta Idols located around the sanctum walls. A specially-designed glass case contains the idol of Karumariamman opposite the sanctum sanctorum of the goddess. The icon of the goddess worshipped earlier is inside the sanctum sanctorum of Durga. There is a separate shrine for the stucco image of Tirupati Balaji. Garuda is found facing towards Balaji.

The sub shrines of Vijaya Maha Ganapati, Lord Subramanya with his consorts Valli & Devasena, Hanuman and Navagraha in this temple. There are two stucco images of Mari Amman, one bigger and the other one smaller, located within the temple complex. The temple belongs to 20^th century, under the control of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhar Temple. Both these temples share the common shed erected on the 24^th street for functions & Utsavams.