Cheyyar and its suburbs have many ancient and historically important temples. One among these is the Patcheeshwarar (Siva) temple which is situated in the heart of this town, near River Cheyyar. According to the ancient traditional story or sthala puranam of this temple, Garuda, the vahana of Vishnu, consecrated and worshipped the Siva Lingam here. Since the word for ‘bird’ in Sanskrit is ‘pakshi’, and ‘ishwara’ is god Siva, this deity is worshipped as Paksheeshwarar, locally called Patcheeshwarar. It is said that Thirugnanasambandar, the famous 7th century Nayanar (one among the 63 Nayanmars or important devotees of Siva), mentioned this temple when he sang about Siva in another temple and hence the Patcheeshwarar temple is a vaipu sthalam (not one among the padal petra sthalams or Siva temples directly praised by the Nayanmars). However, these Tamil verses of Thirugnanasambandar have not been identified till now. It is known that this Nayanar visited the nearby Vedapurishwarar temple in Cheyyar and sang in praise of god Siva there.
A tall gopuram, studded with sculptures, is on the east. Entering this, devotees reach the large outer prakaram (enclosure) which has the bali-pitham, dvajastambham, and Nandi mandapam. Enshrined in the outer prakaram are Gajalakshmi, Shanmukha with consorts Valli and Devasena, Nataraja and Sivakami, Nalvar (the important devotees of Siva namely Appar, Thirugnanasambandar, Sundaramurti Nayanar and Manikkavachakar), Bhairava, Surya, Chandra, Navagraha, Sanishwara and Anjaneya. The sthala vriksham (sacred tree) of this temple is the Vanni Maram, which is near the Gajalaskhmi sanctum.
The main east-facing sanctum, which is straight ahead, enshrines a small Siva Lingam (Patcheeshwarar), with a Rudraksha canopy atop it. An inner prakaram around the principal sanctum, has a row of stone images of the 63 Nayanmars and also a shrine for Subramanya with consorts Valli and Devasena. The devakoshtas (niches on the outer walls of this sanctum) enshrine Ganesa, Dakshinamurti, Maha Vishnu, Brahma, and Durga. The sanctum for goddess Parvati Amman, consort of god Patsheeshwarar, faces south. The devakoshtas of this shrine have images of Maheshwari, Varahi, Vaishnavi, Brahmi, and Sarasvati. Next to the Ambal sanctum is a small shrine for Chandikeshwari.
The annual festival or Brahmotsavam is celebrated for ten days in the Tamil month of Vaikasi (mid-May to mid-June) concluding on the day of Visaka Nakshatram (asterism). The celebrations for Parvati Ambal in the month of Aadi (mid-July to mid-August) are very important.
Know your city
Cheyyar is about 30 km from Kanchipuram. The Patcheeshwarar temple is in the heart of Cheyyar and is a landmark in this town.