Egmore Arthanareeswarar Temple Chennai

Address

Egmore Arthanareeswarar Temple Arthanareeswarar Temple Road, Egmore, Chennai – 600 084 Mobile: +91 97910 55080 / 99401 66691

Diety

Arthanareeswarar Amman: Tripurasundari

Introduction

Arthanareeswarar Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva located at Egmore, well-known locality of Chennai City in Tamil Nadu. Presiding Deity is called as Arthanareeswarar and Mother is called as Tripurasundari.This Temple is considered as 2nd Thevara Vaipu Sthalam of Chennai (the other one is Thiruvetteeswarar Temple at Triplicane). This temple is on the banks of River Koovam. The Koovam River runs as Uttaravahini (flows towards North direction).

Puranic Significance

As per the legend, Lord Shiva was worshiped by Saptha rishis- Bhrigu, Athri, Bharadwaj, Kashyapa, Viswamithra, Gautama and Vashista. Hence this place was called as Ezhur Ur and was referred by Appar as Ezhu Mur and later turned to Ezhumbur (Egmore – British Period). As worshipping this Shivalinga would amount to joint worshipping of Shiva and Shakti, the Lord of the temple is called Arthanareeswarar. The Lingam is said to be older than 7 th Century. The famous Saivite saint Thirunavukkarasar has sung about this temple, but this temple remains unknown to most of the people today. Thirunavukkarasar refers this place as ‘Ezhum Oor’ meaning ‘awakening’ which became Ezhumbur and Egmore in English. About two centuries back, an old man, Aravamudhu Naidu, of this place arranged cleaning of the tank in his land when it became dry. The Shiva lingam along with Ganesha, Lakshmi Narayana Perumal was unearthed by Aravamudhu Naidu. They were immediately cleaned and placed in a tent with a thatched roof.Worshipping began with lighting lamps. The temple was built later. As the deity was under water for a long period, He is also praised as Jalakandeswarar. It was told that this Lakshmi Narayana Perumal might be previously at LNP (Lakshmi Narayana Perumal) Street where Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple now exists. This is a small east facing temple without any Rajagopuram or entrance arch or even Dwajasthambam. The temple also has a spacious Maha Mandapam. Presiding Deity is called as Arthanareeswarar / Saptarishi Nathar / Jalakandeswarar and is facing east. Palipeedam and Nandhi can be found in front of the sanctum. Presiding Deity is housed in the sanctum in the form of Lingam. Idol of Arthanareeswarar can be found behind Shiva Lingam. Shiva lingam is little large by 3 feet high and 3.5 feet Avudayar. Dhakshinamoorthy, Vishnu and Siva Durgai are the Koshta Idols located around the sanctum walls. Maha Ganapathy can be found at the left side and Senthil Nathan can be found on the right side at the entrance of the sanctum. Mother is called as Tripurasundari and is facing south. Mother Tripura Sundari graces the devotees from a separate shrine left of the Lord facing south. The Navagraha shrine is nearby. Lakshmi Narayana Perumal Shrine is situated on the right side of Lord Shiva. Garuda can be found facing the Lakshmi Narayana Perumal Shrine. There is also a shrine for Anjaneya. There are also procession deities for all Gods in the temple. There are also shrines for Bairavar, Surya and Sukran in the temple premises. The temple had lot of properties and all were encroached and now stands squeezed between flats and residential buildings.

Beliefs

Devotees pray to Lord for unity in family, removal of problems in family, wedding, Child boon, health and all they wish in life. Devotees perform abisheks to Lord and Mother and offer vastras. Worshipping Lord Shiva here is believed to be worshipping him in many sacred shrines as this Shiva Linga is said have been brought from Mount Kailash. Worshipping Lord Arthanareeswara in his Linga form brings the devotee of worshipping Lord and Mother – Shiva – Shakti together