Four temples and varied history of Mylapore

Most of our knowledge about temples in Mylapore is limited to Kapaleeshwarar temple and its tank.
Chithra Madhavan with participants at the Veerabhadra temple
Chithra Madhavan with participants at the Veerabhadra temple

CHENNAI: Most of our knowledge about temples in Mylapore is limited to Kapaleeshwarar temple and its tank. But there is much more to the culturally rich area, claims eminent temple historian Chithra Madhavan, who conducted a walk as part of the Mylapore festival. She took us to four temples, which were built perhaps during the times of the Vijayanagara Empire and Chola reign.

At the Madhava Perumal temple, she spoke briefly about the history about Mylapore. The first mention is found in a work by Ptolemy and then by Azhwars and Nayanmars. “The word ‘Madhava’ means protector of Lakshmi. It is one among the 12 important names of Vishnu,” she said.

The place where the temple stands now was a hermitage of Brighu rishi as mentioned in Mayurapuri Mahtmyam. “The saint had a daughter named Amritavalli, who was married to Vishnu here. Hence the deity is also called Kalyana Madhava and the goddess is Amritavalli thayar.”

There are seven famous Shiva temples in Mylapore — Kapaleeswarar, Vellishwarar, Karneeshwarar, Virupakshishwarar, Valishwarar, Malleeshwarar and Theerthapaleeswarar. The Veerabhadraswamy temple is often missed by people because it does not have a big gopuram. “There are no inscriptions or literary evidence at all in the temple,” said Chithra. The idol of Shiva and goddess Abhayambal wield bow, arrow, knife and sword, which is unique for the goddess.

“You pray to Virabhadra by offering him a betel leaf garland. It is said that Virabhadra form of Shiva became famous because of the Vijayanagara rulers.”

We then walked towards Karneeshwarar temple and Virupakshishwarar temple. “Shiva has a lot of epithets and Virupakshishwarar — one with differently formed eye — is one of them,” she said. “What’s unusual here is that Parvathi, whose mount is a lion, has a nandi in front of the idol.” The temple also has two dvajasthambas — one each for Virupakshishwarar and Subramania respectively. Nobody knows why.
Karaneeswarar temple a few metres away is attributed to the Chola king Vikrama Chola. The goddess there is Porkodi Amman.

“Many temples of Mylapore had inscriptions which are now missing because they have been plastered on or are repainted. The vestiges of antiquities need to be preserved. If there are plans of restoration, these inscriptions must be replaced elsewhere,” she averred.

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