CHENNAI: Thenneri, a small village, situated near Walajabad, is home to a temple for Vishnu worshipped as Srinivasa Perumal. Though this temple does not have inscriptions, the Ishvara temple nearby has some Chola epigraphs, some datable to as early as the 10th century AD, which reveal that this was a thriving village known as Uttama-Chola Chaturvedimangalam.
Nearby is a huge lake which is called Thenneri. The Srinivasa Perumal temple is in Thennari Agaram, a part of Thenneri village, while there is another tiny temple for Kalyana Varadaraja Perumal in Thenneri proper. The temple has a modern gopuram on entering which is the sannidhi for Varadaraja Perumal to the right. This deity is seen in a standing posture holding the sankha and chakra in the upper hands, with the lower right hand in abhaya hasta (blessing worshippers) and lower left hand in gada hasta (placed on top of the mace).
The processional image (utsava- murti) Anjaneya with the right hand in abhaya hasta and an upraised gada in the left hand. standing posture holding the and Chakra the lower right hand in left hand in uru hasta two madapalli (sacred kitchen). Thenneri Theppa Utsavam (connected with the Thenneri lake nearby), is conducted in Masi (February- March). Varadaraja Perumal from Kanchipuram comes to the Srinivasa Perumal temple in Thenneri Agaram where food cooked in the madapalli on the north-east side of the temple is offered to this deity. Incidentally, this madapalli is opened only once a year for this special occasion.