CHENNAI : The Kachalishwarar temple, dedicated to Siva, located in George Town, has a modern concrete mandapam at the entrance with a small sanctum enshrining a stucco image of Ravana lifting Mount Kailash. To the left, in this mandapa, is a sanctum for Ayyappa (Sastha). Straight ahead is the Kachalishwarar shrine, facing east and adjacent to it is the small sanctum for Goddess Parvati, worshipped as Soundarambika (Azhagambikai in Tamil), facing south.
On the ceiling of the mandapa in front of the sanctum of this Goddess is a carving of the Ashtadikpalakas or the guardians of the eight directions. Flanking the main entrance to the principal sanctum are the images of Ganesha and Subramanya. This Ganesha, one of the thirty-two different forms of this deity, is rather rare as the image has five faces, multiple arms holding various weapons, and seated on a lion.
Known as Heramba Ganapati, this form of Ganesha is generally seen carved on the pillars of temples and also as stucco sculptures on top of gopurams such as the east gopuram of the Kapalishwara temple in Mylapore. In the Kachalishwarar temple, Ganapati is seen flanked by consorts Siddhi and Buddhi. The devakoshtas or the niches around the main sanctum have the images of Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Lingodhbhavamurti, Brahma and Durga.
There is a separate sanctum for the sixty-three Nayanmars (important Saivite saints) and another separate one for the Nalvar, meaning ‘four’ namely the great Siva devotees Appar, Thirugnanasambandar, Sundaramurti and Manikkavachakar, of whom the first three are Nayanmars.
In addition to this, images of Kacchiyappa Sivacharya (who wrote the well-known work in Tamil called Kanda Puranam), Nilakanta Sivacharya and Polla Pillaiyar are here. There are separate sanctums for Nataraja and Sarasvati, while the inner walls of this temple have modern paintings of the different forms of Siva, including some which are not commonly known such as Jvarahareshwara.