Sculptures of Shiva and vishnu adorn the chariot
Minjur, a village fairly close to Chennai has two old temples. One is for Varadaraja Perumal (Vishnu) and the other is for Ekamranatha (Shiva). The famous temples for both Varadaraja Perumal and Ekamranatha are located in the famous temple-town of Kanchipuram and for this reason Minjur is called Vada (north) Kanchi, as it is located north of Kanchipuram.The Ekamranatha temple faces east and has a five-tier gopuram of modern times at the entrance. Passing by the flag-post (dvajastambham) and the Nandi mandapam, devotees reach the main mandapam leading to the principal sanctum which enshrines the Lingam worshipped as Ekamranatha.
The niches (devakoshta) on the outer walls of the main shrine contain the images of Ganesha in a dancing pose, Dakshinamurti, Lingodhbhava, Brahma and Durga. To the left of the central shrine is enshrined Goddess Parvati, known here as Kamakshi Amman, facing South. The maha-mandapam, which has been completely modernised, with the exception of the granite pillars, is a common entrance for both the Shiva and Parvati shrines. In the circimambulatory passage (prakaram) are the sanctums for Kasi Vishwanatha, Ganesha and Muruga with consorts Valli and Devayanai.
Both the Vishnu and Shiva temples are located close to each other and between the two are stationed the temple chariots (ther in Tamil) which are unique as they have sculptures of various incarnations and manifestations of both these deities and are used in the festivals (Brahmotsavam) of both these temples every year. This is a rare phenomenon as generally each temple has an exclusive chariot which bear sculptures of various forms of the particular deity to whom the temple is dedicated.
All the festivals which are celebrated in the Ekamranatha temple in Kanchipuram are held in this temple of the same name in Minjur. The Brahmotsavam is for ten days in the Tamil month of Panguni (mid-March to mid-April). The other important celebrations are Shivarathri and the Thiruvadirai (Arudra) festival in Margazhi (mid-December to mid-January).