Navagraha Temples of Chennai (Thondai Mandalam)

The city of Chennai is not exactly known for its ancient temples, except perhaps for Kapaleeshwarar, Parthasarathy and probably Marundheeshwarar. However, if we can stretch the city limits on its Western side, one finds quite a lot of temples built by the Pallava and even Choza Kings. 

You would even be surprised to know that a cluster of these ancient temples, are called the Thondai Mandala Navagraha Kovilgall. In other words, these are temples quite similar to the famous Navagraha Temples that one finds in the Kumbakonam-Mayiladuthurai belt. 

All these 9 temples around Chennai are pretty much found on the western outskirts. There are quite a few sites that give you details about these temples, their history, pictures, timings when they are open etc. When I tried to plan a visit to these temples, I was unable to find all details in a single site. Some sites did give a standard map, that one just CANNOT make sense of. It has distance between each temple in Kms, but leaves out some positional context. Only after I visited each of these temples over many weekends, I realised that I could have very well covered all of them in a single day. 

So the attempt here is to enlighten interested souls about: 

1. The presence of Navagraha Temples around Chennai
2. A Google map that highlights where each temple is located
3. The salient features of each temple
4. Small tips that one needs to be aware of while visiting these temples
5. The post is more from a tourist perspective than a bhakt or history enthusiast perspective

What I also found during my visits is that Google maps gives you excellent directions to these temples. Just search for it using both the temple name and the location. For example, to find out the route to the Budhan temple in Kovur, you can type “Sundareshwarar Temple Kovur”.  You may find one or two suggestions from Google, but with the map reference that I have given here, you can easily find out which one you have to visit. And it will be a lot more helpful if there is a map reader travelling along with the driver. This may help you avoid certain smaller lanes or even if you miss taking the correct path from the main road, the map reader can help you get back on track. 

So at a high level, these are the temples that constitute the Navagraha Temples around Chennai: 

Graham	Location	Temple name
Suryan	Kolapakkam	Agastheeshwarar
Chandran	Somangalam	Somanadheeswarar
Angaragan	Poonamallee	Vaitheeswaran
Budhan	Kovur	Sundareshwarar or Thirumeyneeshwarar
Guru	Porur	Ramanadheeshwarar
Shukran	Mangadu	Velleeshwarar
Sani	Pozhichalur	Agastheeshwarar
Rahu	Kundrathur	Nageshwarar
Kethu	Gerugambakkam	Neelakandeshwarar

Before I get into the details of individual temples, let me again reiterate that this post would give an account of the temples from the perspective of how to reach the place, what facilities are available, what interesting points can be noted etc. This should help the typical family travellers who have young kids or senior citizens to plan better. 

One common point with all these temples is that these are on the outskirts, which means that you wont find any fancy restaurants or even a decent looking “hotel”. So, it would make a lot of sense to take some refreshments on hand. 

Without much further ado, let us begin the pilgrimage tour! 

1. Suryan - Kolapakkam

Agastheeswarar + Anandavalli

Overall Size: Medium

Main Prakaaram: Small; cramped

Amman Sannidhi: Adjoining the Garba Graham of Shivan along a common wall. 

Goshala: No

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: Yes

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: Yes

Cleanliness: Above average

Access: Last 200 metres in narrow village road. 

Facilities: Good parking facility. Flower vendors available. 

Feature: The inner Prakaaram is completely walled along one side from the Garba Graham.  So pradakshinam of just Shivan is not possible. You have to do it in the outer Prakaaram. Small pond is present outside the temple, on the Eastern side. 

2. Chandran - Somangalam

Somanadheeswarar + Kamakshi

Overall Size: Medium

Main Prakaaram: Small; cramped

Amman Sannidhi: Separate 

Goshala: No

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: Yes

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: Yes

Cleanliness: Above average

Access: Last 300 metres in very narrow road if approached purely by Google map. Small deviation can be taken before that stretch, but have a good map reader for that. 

Facilities: Absolutely none. Parking space not sufficient for cars. No flower vendor also. 

Feature: The inner Prakaaram with Shivan is strikingly similar to what is seen in Kolapakkam, with the Garba graham continuing as a wall along one side. The key difference however, is the separate Sannidhi for Kamakshi Amman outside this Prakaaram. Small pond is present  on the Northern side, adjacent to the temple, visible from within the temple. 

3. Angaragan - Poonamallee

Vaitheeswaran + Thaiyal Nayagi

Overall Size: Medium

Main Prakaaram: Decent sized

Amman Sannidhi: Separate, but within main Prakaaram.

Goshala: Yes

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: Yes, but is placed like a dwara palakar for Shivan. 

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: No. Deity placed in a corner. 

Cleanliness: Above average

Access: Can easily be missed from Poonamallee High Road. Keep checking Google closely. The entry to the road from PH Road is quite narrow and congested.  

Facilities: Decent parking, though not worth the charge. Lot of flower vendors. 

Feature: You can do separate pradhakshinams for Shivan, Amman, Vinayagar and Murugan. Small pond is present outside the temple on the Eastern side. We can do the salt and pepper pariharam like in the main Vaitheeswaran temple. Navagraha Sannidhi is placed within the main Prakaaram. 

4. Budhan - Kovur

Sundareshwarar + Soudhambigai 

(Alias: Thirumeyneeshwarar + Thiruvudai Naayagi)

Overall Size: Medium

Main Prakaaram: Decent sized

Amman Sannidhi: Separate, but within main Prakaaram. 

Goshala: No

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: No. Contained within Shivan.

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: No. Deity placed in a corner. 

Cleanliness: Good

Access: Quite decent sized roads leading to the temple from main road.  

Facilities: Excellent parking. Few flower vendors. 

Feature: Easily the best in terms of carvings. Sheer number of carvings of deities and puranas along the wall, in the pillars, under the raja gopuram are stunning. So are the features. Murugan with Valli and Deivanai sannadhi is quite small and you will be mesmerised by the 5 foot tall vigrahams that are almost at a touching distance. The collection of utsava moorthis is also quite large. You will realise that the entrance to this temple has been featured in many movies. 

5. Guru - Porur

Ramanatheeswarar + Sivakamasundari

Overall Size: Small

Main Prakaaram: Quite an open one, like what we can see in a lot of modern temples. 

Amman Sannidhi: Separate 

Goshala: No

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: No. Contained within Shivan.

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: Yes 

Cleanliness: Good

Access: Once you get off the main road, the cramped streets begin. The final stretch leading to the temple is extremely narrow and can be easily missed. Big cars or SUVs wouldn't be able to reach the lane where the main entrance lies. 

Facilities: No dedicated parking for cars. Many flower vendors. 

Feature: The main Shivalingam is around 6 feet tall and it is quite a captivating sight. The navagraha Prakaaram is very unique because, they are all presented with their consorts. Not seen in (m)any temple(s). This is also the only Shivan temple that offers Chadari and Theertham like Vaishnava temples. 

6. Sukkiran - Mangadu

Velleeswarar + Kamakshi (different temple)

Overall Size: Small

Main Prakaaram: Medium

Amman Sannidhi: Not present. Mangadu Kamakshi Amman nearby is the equivalent . 

Goshala: No

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: No. Contained within Shivan.

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: Yes 

Cleanliness: Good

Access: Very near Mangadu Kamakshi Amman temple. 

Facilities: No dedicated parking for cars. You can park at Kamakshi temple and walk for 5-10 mins. Or park mid-way between both temples. Many flower vendors. 

Feature: Inner Prakaaram reminds one of the Suryan and Chandran temples (one side fully walled). However, you can get quite close to the main lingam and see its granite like texture. There is no separate Amman Sannidhi and you have to visit the Kamakshi Amman temple if need be. Between the dhwaja sthambam and the Prakaaram, you can see a small set of feet carved on the ground, which is deemed as Kamakshi Amman taking darshan of Shivan from that spot. 

7. Sani - Pozhichalur

Agastheeswarar + Anandavalli

Overall Size: Medium

Main Prakaaram: Medium

Amman Sannidhi: Separate, but within main Prakaaram.

Goshala: Yes

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: Yes.

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: Practically a separate temple.

Cleanliness: BAD. 

Access: Along the Chennai Airport runway! This is on the Pammal side and accessibility is good as long as there isn't too much traffic. 

Facilities: Good car and bike parking option. Many flower vendors. 

Feature: Dogs. This being a major Bhairavar sthalam, one can observe many dogs roaming around the temple. Some are present even inside the Prakaaram. I even saw one sleeping behind the Chandikeshwarar. There is too much of dog excrement around the temple, so pradhakshinam and namaskaram has to be done with utmost caution. Other than that, it is a pretty nice temple with a stand-alone Anjaneyar Sannidhi too. 

8. Rahu - Kundrathur

Nageshwarar + Kamakshi

Overall Size: Medium

Main Prakaaram: Medium

Amman Sannidhi: Separate, but within main Prakaaram.

Goshala: No

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: Yes.

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: Yes.

Cleanliness: Good

Access: Well connected from main road. 

Facilities: Good car and bike parking option. Many flower vendors. 

Feature: There’s a very beautiful Vinayagar vigraham in the Prakaaram that basically defines  “mischievous look”. The Navagraha Sannidhi is a closed structure like Garba Graham, but people can step in and do pradhikshinam. 

9. Kethu - Gerugambakkam

Neelakandeshwarar + Aadhi Kamakshi

Overall Size: Small

Main Prakaaram: Small

Amman Sannidhi: Separate, but within main Prakaaram.

Goshala: No

Separate Sannidhi for pariharam: No.

Separate Bhairavar Sannidhi: Yes.

Cleanliness: Average

Access: Last 200+ meters is along a single car lane. Cycle cant come in opposite direction. As bad if not worse, as the approach road/lane to the Porur Ramanadheeshwarar temple. 

Facilities: Parking option not really available near temple. 1-2 flower vendors only. 

Feature: This is an easily "missable" temple and doesn't have the popularity that others seem to command. The Amman here is very beautiful. Its a compact little temple but needs some attention in the accessibility portion.

My suggestion would be to not try and squeeze out a visit in a single day, unless you are hard-pressed for time. There are many other old temples in this region that you can visit, like the famous Mangadu Kamakshi Amman temple. So the best choice would be to spread the visit over 2 days and try to fit in additional temples. 

For the very adventurous types, you can check out the MTC bus services. All these places are well served by MTC, though their frequency would ensure that you take 4 or 5 separate days to cover all 9 temples. 

Before I conclude, let me reiterate once again that travellers can avoid big cars and vans and limit themselves to small or medium cars. Please take refreshments along with you and don't expect to find good eating spots near the Temples. I visited the temples in the Thai and Maasi months and that too in the mornings. The alangaarams for Amman were quite outstanding in all of these temples. 

Have a good trip.

Dressing up in the restroom

This rant is flowing out from pent up thoughts of many years, probably decades. The irksome act that has triggered this post is what the ubiquitous young Chennai male does in front of the mirror in a restroom.

When a desi “doood” enters the restroom, please bear in mind that the primary purpose is dressing up and the secondary is putting the flush tank to use. He stands in front of the mirror to take in his awesomeness and then stands there for more. Next, he gets on to washing his face, an act which requires about 2 litres of water being splashed on to the face, with some 1 litre flowing from the tap to the drain.

After water has been passed on from the inlet pipes to his face, the drain, the mirror and anything in a 1 foot radius, he slowly rises up to check if his awesomeness is still intact. He then resumes the act of taking in the awesomeness that was not washed away and with a generous pull-out of paper towels, he wipes his face and hands clean. After disposing the used towels, it is back to taking in some more of the awesomeness.

The “doood” then pulls out a small comb or some such contraption that has been procured primarily for its small size that can fit into the back pocket of a trouser. He now proceeds to comb his hair, repeating the sweep many times over. The hand that doesn’t have the comb goes around patting the combed hair just to quell any rebellion the strands may have planned. For added effect, there is a liberal movement of the neck for about 180 degrees, to ensure that not a single strand has moved away from its prescribed position.

Now comes a small variant in the action, caused by the presence or absence of facial hair in some “dooods”. The ones without any facial hair move on to the action in the next paragraph, whereas the ones, who don’t, move to the next sentence. The comb apparatus is now used to brush the moustache and beard if applicable, again with a lot of focus on aligning the strands to the prescribed position.

Finally, the said comb is then tucked back into the rear pocket with or without a wash, based on the time available on hand. Then it is again back to taking in the awesomeness. You see, I am fine with all this grooming because the probability of hairstyle to change in an hour or so is quite minimal, unless one is in the path of a major gust of wind, the probability of which is even lower, especially in Chennai. What I simply cannot understand is the next stage of the dressing up activity.

This next and in most cases final stage, involves the tucking in of the shirt inside the trousers. Sometimes it is also a T-shirt, but I digress. The fashion rules of Chennai somehow mandates that one should tuck in the shirt such that some portion of the tuck, spills over to the belt. Maybe it is a rule created to cover up the grossly worn out belt or the fact that the belt is so big that it wraps to near your rear.

The “dooods” spend a good part of the next 4 minutes to pummel the shirt inside the trouser, brush it to ensure that it sticks to the position over the belt, adjust the trousers by jiggling them a little, once again brushing the shirt, then jiggle some more….you get the drift. There is of course a liberal turning of one’s body to the maximum extent possible, so that one can see how the shirt is tucked in at the sides and part of the rear.

You wonder why I don’t understand the need to spend so much time in tucking in the shirt? Simple. The minute you take 5-6 steps, there is a clear movement of your clothes and all the tucking in will slowly ease itself out of the contrived placements. Also, invariably, the “doood” is going to sit on a chair either at his work-desk or in the cafeteria. In any case, physics and biology clearly dictate that the shirt will move, thereby negating all the time spent in correcting it in the restroom. So why do people still do it? Is it because they want even a casual onlooker to ignore the fact that the ubiquitous young Chennai male is wearing a striped t-shirt, tucked into a dark terry-cotton trouser with a white sneaker to complete the ensemble? 

Smog in Chennai on 13th Jan 2010

Pictures taken at the Kathipara Grade Separator and sections of GST near the airport.

While this doesn't look too bad on camera, the impact was much more when seen live! But in any case, it was not as bad as in 2008.

Pearl Anniversary of Fort Knox at Besant Nagar, Chennai

30 years and one week ago to this date (March 8th to be precise), my parents (and their slightly grown bundle of joy) (that was me in case you didn't catch the meaning) formally shifted to this house in Besant Nagar, where we have been living ever since. The house and the neighborhood have undergone dramatic changes since that time.

I was rummaging through some old pictures, but couldn't find anything that actually captured the house in its early stages. There were few pictures of me, when I was probably 5 years old, standing with a cricket bat in my hand. That place has over the years become the place where my Maruti 800 is parked. In fact, in that old picture, one can even see that on the eastern side of our home, there was no house built and it was just a vacant plot.

There were also few colour pictures - taken with the first camera that was given to me in 1987, the Agfa Snapper 35 - of my terrace and the sunshade in the front of my house. That sunshade area is of course now the most attractive portion of my house - the balcony / veranda / sit out (or upparigai as a neighbor referred to it).

So to celebrate that great day, my parents and I went to Mathura for lunch. Since it was their house built out of their hard-earned money, I let them treat me on the occasion! :)

And in case you are still wondering why I call my house Fort Knox, you can have a quick look at the last portion of this post.

Hoardings are hoarding the conversation

While many a word has been published about it in newsprint, while many a forum has trash talked it in the Internet, while many a 'kuttai suvar' has witnessed animated discussions over the issue, I don't think the last has been discussed about the removal of advertisement hoardings in Chennai.

The popular opinion amongst the citizens of this city has been one of relief; relief that the hoardings have been removed and the "beauty of the city" has been restored!

You see, it is this precise point that I object to. I am actually happy that hoardings are gone, but mainly from the perspective that the whole things was illegal. I only wanted some regulation in the whole setup.

But the patrons of the city actually think that this city has miraculously started looking beautiful once these hoardings were removed! Believe you me, the hoardings ensured that you didn't have to see much of the garbage on the road. It ensured that shrubs that had grown out of control were hidden from our sight. You didn't have to see the poorly maintained, moss coated, stained and broken outer walls of many of the old buildings in the city.

Of course, the hoardings distracted you from the dirty reality by presenting images of people/vehicles etc. With the continuous improvement in technology, these images have started to look closer to life and are also filled with vivid colors. Digressing as usual, I still remember from my school days, a hoarding on Adyar bridge that featured an ad for the Liril soap. Those days, there used to be painters painting the whole thing on the hoarding. For this aforementioned ad which featured the then Liril girl in their "traditional" bikini, the painter who had drawn her image was basically too carried away from the image he was looking at and the end result on the hoarding was quite interesting!

Anyways, coming back to present times, I somehow miss the hoardings. There should be at least a few, but these have to be well regulated. On a side note, my parents are also not happy with the removal of the hoardings. Some of the comments they made after going around the city last evening:
"The landscape looks barren"
"I miss the images"
"The light on the roads has reduced"
"I am seeing too many dirty buildings"
"The city now looks like the forehead of the erstwhile mottai paati types"

Smog in Chennai - annual Bhogi impact

Pictures say it all. The location is GST and near the runway of Chennai Airport.

Onset of summer - indirect reasoning

Thanks to my extraordinary skills of observation and deduction, I have now reasoned that summer has started setting in Chennai.

I even ignored the fact that I have started sweating a lot. Threw away the fact that I've started feeling the need to drink water a little more. I totally avoided considering the fact that I am having ice-cream daily for the past 2 weeks.

But, last week, while travelling by my company bus in the morning, I noticed a few girls wrapping their respective dhupattas over their respective heads. That got me thinking. Why would girls in this day and age want to cover their heads? These were all not North Indians and even if so, they were surely not in a temple (even if you stretch your imagination of 'work is worship', this bus is not a temple).

So why? Then I realised that they were protecting their hair. From what you may ask? The answer is the air outside. Air that is so polluted and dusty. This would affect the hair's health.

But then its air outside the bus. Why should those inside be worried about it? That's what I thought. Then I let the matter inside my cranium do its job and reasoned that probably the outside air was somehow entering the bus in great volume and this must be why the girls were afraid of damage to hair.

But how will the outside air enter the bus with so much volume? Simple answer. The windows were open. A-haa! Open window in a fast moving vehicle, like our office bus, is potentially prone to let large quantity of outside air into the vehicle.

But wouldn't the windows have been open always? You have a pertinent question. But, since there was winter (sic) in Chennai from Dec to Feb, the windows were usually closed.

But if the windows are open now, it can only mean that people have started realising that Chennai is not that cold now. Since we don't use an A/C bus, naturally some of the occupants want to have open windows. Which then means that dirty air comes into the bus. Which implies damage to air and so the girls cover their heads.

All in all, this only means that summer is here.

Chennai water

You know what? This Chennai water is not going well with me.
Considering that I am from the Thaamirabarani belt, its difficult to imagine how Chennai citizens are able to put up with this liquid that they have to call water.
:-D

Random Jotting # 007

I did an "auto select" on the FM radio last evening and it gave me 9 preset stations.
So excluding the 2 AIR FM channels, there are 7 private operators in the fray in Chennai!!
Hope we soon get a dedicated FM channel for hip-hop... :-D

Alpa vasool in auto

After the fantastic treatment at the reception (read previous post), I stepped out of the Hotel to return home and shortly was brought down to Chennai earth at a rapid speed.

Courtesy - auto drivers.

There were 3-4 fellows standing near the gate. The conversation between self and one of them went like:
"enga saar ponum?"
"besant nagar"
"polaam saar", accompanied by a movement that suggests that he is heading towards his vehicle, but in reality he has not budged even an inch in space.
"evlo"
"polaam saar, vaanga"
"evlonga"
"besant nagar-la endha edam saar"
"maharaja store theriyuma?"
"theriyum saar"
"adhukku pakathla"
"maharaja store-na, bus stand thaandi varumay, adhaanay saar?"
"amaam. evlo?"
"kudunga saar. oru 120".

thats when a whole of thud sounds were heard inside me. me falling back to Chennai earth!

think of this. i came to the reception at that same place only 15-20 minutes back. I'd given 80 bucks to that fellow then. And suddenly, its become 120 bucks to go back to the same place?

I presented this case to the coterie and heard a cacophony of "varaadhu saar" "10 mani aavapodhu saar" "angaendhu galliya varanunga" "70-80 rooba petrol-kay povum, idhula naanga approm ennatha pozhappa pannardhu" "idhellam paakadheenga".

I simply started moving out. And the conversation continued with the typical "evlo tharuveengo?" and "100 rubees polaam saar".

I didnt look back and continued walking. In the meantime I touched base with Superthumby and like the true gentleman that he is, he offered to drop me home if I come there.

So I flagged down another auto on the way and asked him the rate to Luz. After another round of bargaining exorbitant prices, we settled at 70 bucks to Luz.

After a couple of minutes, the dude switched on the FM radio in his vehicle. The way he bent down to reach the controls which were below his seat - that's a whole different story in itself. Net-net, I suddenly heard some Ilayaraja melody blast out behind my head. I turned back in disbelief and found two giant speakers in the parcel tray!

The driver continued his driving and also fiddling the audio system to locate his fav radio station. On normal days, I ask these fellows to turn off the radio. But today, the alpam in me surfaced out and told me to make him continue with the radio. At least, for the money I was paying, I get to listen to some music.

Thankfully, the station he finally stopped at, played the Remo song from Anniyan and so in a way, a got some alpa vasool in the auto ride.

Graffiti in Chennai

Saw this on the onyx kuppai thotti at the end of my street. Also saw a few more like these in the neighborhood. Probably the MS13 gang is marking its presence here.