Ilamaiyakkinar
Temple, Chidambaram – The Temple
This
is an old east facing temple with a 5 tier Rajagopuram with two prakarams. There
are shrines for Aaknya Ganapathy and Adhikara Nandi with his consort
Suyasaambikadevi at the entrance of Rajagopuram. Presiding Deity is called as Tiruppuleeswarar
/ Youvaneswarar / Ilamaiyakkinar. He is facing east. Lord is housed in the
sanctum in the form of Lingam.
Ganesha,
Dakshinamurthy, Lingothbhavar, Brahma and Durga are the Koshta Idols located
around the sanctum walls. Chandikeswarar can be found in his usual location. Sage
Vyagrapada in Anjali posture can be seen in the Arthamandapam in front of
sanctum facing the Lord. In addition, there is another shrine dedicated to him
in the prakaram. Utsava Idols and Nataraja can be found in the Maha Mandapam.
Mother
is called as Thirupurasundari / Balasundari / Youvanambal / Ilamai Nayagi. She
is housed in a separate south facing shrine. There are shrines for Suryan and Vyagrapada in
the north east corner of temple premises. Shrines of Kanampulla Nayanar and
Thiruneelakanda Nayanar with his consort Rathinasalai can be found in the
southern prakaram.
Shrines for Santhana
Kuravarkal (Meikandar, Arulnandisivam, Maraignanasambandar and Umapathisivam) can
be found in the temple premises. The presence of shrines of all Santhana
Kuravarkal in a single temple is a unique feature. Shrines for Naalvar,
Patanjali, Kannimoola Ganapathy, Mahaganapathy, Meenakshi Sundareswarar,
Murugan with his consorts Valli and Deivanai, Ekambareswarar, Annamalaiyar,
Moolanathar, Gajalakshmi, Navagraha, Bairavar, Chandra, Saraswathi and Brahma can
be found in the temple premises.
Sthala Vriksham is Thillai Tree.
Theertham associated with this Temple is Ilamai Theertham / Ilamai Nayanar
Theertham / Youvana Theertham / Vyagrapada Theertham. It is a large tank
situated opposite to the Temple. It is believed to the site of the test of
Thiruneelakanta Nayanar by Lord Shiva.
