CHENNAI: Mangadu, a suburb of Chennai, is located in Kancheepuram district, and home to several ancient temples dedicated to Shiva, Parvathi and Vishnu. As the name suggests, Mangadu was once a place full of mango trees (‘ma’ in Tamil means mango and ‘kadu’ means forest).
The name Azhagiya Chola Nallur is mentioned in the inscriptions. It was situated in the ancient territorial subdivision called Puliyur Kottam. According to the sthala puranam, Parvati came to earth due to a curse as She had playfully closed the eyes of Shiva which resulted in the entire world coming to a standstill. She came to Mangadu and stood on one leg in the fire, seeking the grace of Shiva to take her back. It was at the same time that Planet Shukra or Venus (called Velli in Tamil) too performed penance to Shiva at this place to get back his eye which he had lost for blocking the charity of King Mahabali.
When Shiva came to grace Parvati, he first blessed Shukra, the devotee and stayed in this place as Vellishwarar. A unique feature of the Vellishwarar temple is that it does not have a shrine for Parvati as the goddess is enshrined as Kamakshi in a separate temple nearby. Only the stone idols of the feet of Kamakshi are seen in front of the main sanctum.
The idol of Ganesha in the front mandapa is unique. Worshipped as ‘Nel Kadir’ Vinayaka, this idol holds paddy stalks in his upper left hand and a mango in the lower hand. Many Pallava and Chola inscriptions are found here. The earliest dated 863 AD belongs to Pallava ruler Nandivarman III.
Another epigraph is of the reign of Aparajitavarman Pallava. It records a gift of gold for a lamp and offerings to the god Thiruvellikizh-Mahadeva at Mangadu. There are two inscriptions of Rajaraja Chola III dated 1232 and 1239 AD recording a gifts of money for lamps.
(The writer is a historian who focuses on temple architecture)