CHENNAI: Kovur, near Porur, is home to a Shiva temple which is also one of the Navagraha shrines near Chennai. This temple is for Budhan or Planet Mercury. The central sanctum is designed in the gajaprishta or apsidal shape, characteristic of the Chola period. There are two circumambulatory passages (prakaram) in this temple, with the outer one being vast and spacious, housing the sanctums of Ganesha and Subrahmanya.
The main deity faces east, while Parvati, worshipped as Soundarambikai Ambal, faces South. Both these shrines have a common mandapa. The images in the niches of the main gajaprishta sanctum are Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Lingodhbhava, Brahma and Durga, while the narrow prakaram around the main sanctum has the images of various deities, including the bronze ones (utsava-murti) of all the sixty-three Nayanmars (devotees of Shiva). There is one Nandi in the mandapa immediately in front of the main sanctum and another in the outer prakaram.
The niches around the Soundarambikai sanctum have the images of Goddesses Indirani, Maheshwari, Mahalakshmi, Brahmi and Durga. Incidentally, there is a shrine for the rarely-seen deity, Chandikeshwari near the Soundarambikai sanctum. Close by are Bhairava, Nataraja, Shivakami Amman and Saint
Manikkavachakar.
The famous Carnatic music composer, Thyagaraja (1767- 1847), visited this temple and composed five songs on Sundareshwarar which are popularly called Kovur Pancharatnam and sung by musicians even today. The entrance to the temple is through a seven-tier gopuram, which interestingly, has many stucco sculptures depicting incidents from Thyagaraja’s life and his visit to this temple. Only one Chola inscription, sadly damaged, is seen here which seems to record a donation of land for the daily worship of the deity at Kovur.