Aadhipureeswarar Temple Chintadripet, Chennai

AADHIPUREESWARAR TEMPLE

Chintadripet, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

God

The main deity is Lord Aadhipureeswarar, who is an incarnation of Lord Shiva. The deity is in the from of Swayambu Lingam and faces East direction.

Interesting Facts

Shiva is available in this temple in three main forms - formless, physical form, and in an indescribable form.
Lord Vishnu is believed to have gone hysterical and missed the dance at Tiruvarur then Lord Thyagaraja asked him to go to Thiruvottriyur where he said he promised to perform the same dance.
The temple is also associated with the Thyagaraja cult of Saivism.

Best Season To Visit

The best season to visit the temple is Winter season. The best months to visit are September to February.

Weather

Highest - April to June (42 °C during day and 30°C during night)Average - May (33.7 °C during the day and 28 °C during night)Lowest - October to February (26 °C during day and 21 °C during night)Monsoon season - June to September

Dress Code

For men the dress code is Shirt & Trouser, Dhoti or Pyjamas with upper cloth.
For women the preferred dress code is saree or half-saree with blouse or chudidhar with pyjama and upper cloth.
Shorts, mini-skirts, middies, sleeveless tops, low-waist jeans and short-length T-shirts are not allowed.

Do's & Dont's

Do bathe and wear clean clothes before you enter the temple.
Do respect ancient customs and co-piligrims while at temple.

Smoking and drinking is prohibited in this temple.
Chewing betel leaves, tobacco, gutka and spitting inside temple is strictly prohibited.

transport connections

Name	Distance	Contact Number
Pallikaranai Bus Stand	750 M	18004194287
Chennai Egmore Railway Station	21.1 KM	044-28194579
Chennai International Airport	14.3 KM	044-22560551

Railway Station Name	Distance	Contact Number
Chennai Egmore Railway Station	21.1 KM	044-28194579

Airport Name	Distance	Contact Number
Chennai International Airport	14.3 KM	044-22560551

Architecture

This Shiva stala was the first temple ever on the face of the earth and was called Aadhipuri (the primordial town). In the same vein, the moolavar here is called Aadhipureeswarar. The temple faces in East direction and constructed in South Indian temple style of Architecture. There are three Dwajastambams, one each before the shrine of Aadhipureeswarar, Vadivudai Amman and Vattapparai Amman. The sanctum is semicircular in shape. Temple consists of a Gajabrushta Vimana. The inscription dating 954 C.E., the fifth year of the Chola king Gandaraditya indicates 90 sheep for burning lamps and ilavilaku, a lamp made in Sri Lanka. The inscriptions dating from 1046 C.E. reveal that 64 bronze Nayanmar statues were installed in the temple. A 13th-century inscription indicates the practise of animal sacrifice to the goddess, which continued along with offering intoxicating drink till the early 2000s. The sanctums share a common closed Mandapam with several identical stone pillars of circular cross section.

Religious Significance

Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the three primary gods of Hinduism, the other two being Vishnu and Shiva. He created the Gods and demons - both these groups fight against each other. While the demons, called Asuras use muscle power, the Gods called devas use the power of Veda, the sacred texts. Once, two demons, Madhu and Kaithaba tricked the gods to steal the Veda, chopped it to pieces and hid it in the bottom of the sea. Vishnu fought the demons, but could not defeat them. He prayed to Shiva and Parvathi and with the accomplishment, he was able to defeat the demons. He took the form of Matsya, a fish to search the Veda. The recovered Veda from the bottom of the sea was brought to the deity at this temple, who reunited and purified it. Shakthi, Shiva’s consort heard about the eminence of this town from Shiva and worshipped his manifest form in this temple.

Thiruvottiyuran Adimai was an ardent Devotee of Sri Thyagarajaswami and Vadivudai Amman. He undertook the restoration of the temple and organized the kuta Muzhukku of the temple in 1936. For 12 years, he visited the temple from his home in Choolaimedu without fail (even on the day of his son’s demise). Such was his devotion. He worked fervently and diligently for 14 years and completed the restoration work of the temple. The temple is revered by the Thevaram hymns of Saiva Nayanmars, the 7th century Tamil saint poets and classified as Paadal Petra Sthalam. This is the 20th Thevaram Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams in Thondai Nadu region praised in Thevaram hymns. The temple is closely associated with the saint poet Sundarar and Pattinathar.

History

This temple was built in 7th Century by Pallavas and Rajendra Chola I. The great Saint Vallalar has sung about this God. Adi Shankara is said to have installed a chakra to calm down the Devi and to make her Sowmya roopi (Calm and resplendent). The Tamil celebrity poet Kambar chose Thiruvottriyur to study the Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit and to write his version of Kamba Ramayana here. Nandideva worshipped Shiva and had a vision of his cosmic dance. Topeswamigal and Ramalinga Swamigal lived in this town and prayed Thyagaraja in this temple.

During 1786 to 1831 C.E., there were frequent clashes between the right-hand castes comprising handicraft people and poor and the left-hand castes comprising wealthy and parsimonious merchants. It was the practice of British administrators to bestow the office of chief administrator of the temple to rich merchants. Following the custom, Lingi Chetti headed from 1754 C.E., and after his death, his family inherited the post. The right-hand caste people were highly irritated that the post was inherited by the left-hand caste. In August 1786, the left-hand caste submitted a petition to the Governor and the council of Fort St. George claiming the right-hand caste had no right over the administration of the temple and were indulged in attack of one of the left-hand person.

The English sidestepped by ruling that both had liberty to perform their ceremonies according to the respective customs. It was also announced that the heads of each would be responsible for offenders. While the left-hand caste abided by the order, the right-hand caste stopped their practices. There were intermittent clashes initiated by both the parties and once resulted in attacking the sepoys involved in protection. The dissension cropped once more during 1828 when the officiating priest complained about the chief administrator.

In 1831, there were renewed complaints against the chief administrator over the authority of dancing girls and his right in administering the temple stating financial irregularity. The dancing girls were immediately removed from the temple. The collector upheld the action against the dancing girls and ruled that Arunachala Chetti of the left-hand would be the rightful administrator of the temple. It also suggested to the right-hand caste that no complaints would be entertained unless specific instances were shown where the right-hand moved away from customs.

Temple Timings

Day	Timings
All Days	06:00 AM - 12:00 PM	04:00 PM - 08:30 PM

Tours

Airports

Airport Name	Distance
Shamshabad	40 KM
Lorem Ipsum	12 KM

Railway Stations

Railway Station Name	Distance
Secunderabad	10 KM
Nampally	12 KM
Begumpet	6 KM
Lingampally	20 KM

Bus Stations

Bus Station Name	Distance
MGBS	35 KM
CBS	28 KM
kukatpally	20 KM
Lingampally	30 KM
Uppal	35 KM

Private Transports

Transport Name	Distance	Contact Number
Private Transport	8 KM	9546858757
Private Transport1	8 KM	9546858757
Private Transport1	8 KM	9546858757
Private Transport1	8 KM	9546858757
Private Transport1	8 KM	9546858757