CHENNAI: Magaral (Thirumagaral), near Kanchipuram, on the north bank of River Cheyyar, is home to a Siva temple where the Lingam is worshipped as Magaraleeshwarar and also as Agastishwarar. This temple is one of the Padal Petra Sthalams eulogised by the Nayanmars (sixty-three important devotees of God Siva), since Thiruganasambandar came here in the 7th century A.D. and praised the deity.
It is the seventh of the Padal Petra Sthalams in the Tondaimangalam region (which roughly corresponds to the northern part of Tamil Nadu). According to a traditional story, Siva appeared as a golden monitor lizard (udumbu in Tamil) here and therefore this deity is called Udumbeshwarar. The name Magaraleeshwarar is because ‘makara’ in Samskrit is a creature associated with water and here somehow refers to the monitor lizard. Incidentally, there is a sculpture of a monitor lizard on the gopuram of this temple. Inscriptions mention the name of the deity as Thiru Agasthyesvaram Udaiyar. Tradition has it that Indra made God Subramanya sit on his elephant Airavata at this place after the latter’s marriage with Deivayanai.
This east-facing temple has a stately five-tier gopuram, opening into a wide outer enclosure (prakaram), to the left of which is the temple tank called Agni Tirtham. Further inside is the maha-madapam with pillars belonging to the Chola era. Straight ahead is the principal sanctum enshrining Magaraleeshwarar, which is a Swayambhu (self-manifested) small and conical Linga, with a large Linga Pitam (Avudaiyar). This Siva Linga is said to resemble the tail of the udumbu.
Worshipping this deity is believed to be a sure cure for many diseases, especially those which are bone related. A pair of huge stone dvarapalakas (door-guardians) flank the entrance to the main sanctum. To the left of the maha-mandapam is the sanctum for Goddess Parvati revered as Tribhuvana Nayaki. The inner prakaram around the main sanctum has a shine for Subramanya, a row of the sixty-three Nayanmars in stone, Navagrahas, Bhairava and the Nataraja mandapa. The principal shrine (vimanam), of later Chola vintage, is apsidal in shape (gajaprishta in Samskrit), which means that it looks like the back of an elephant. Beautiful sculptures in stone and stucco are seen on this vimanam.
Numerous inscriptions, mostly etched on the outer walls of the gajaprishta vimanam, belong to the times of kings like Kulottunga Chola II, Rajaraja Chola II, Rajaraja Chola III; Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I; Vijayanagara rulers, Kumara Kampana and Devaraya I, and the Telugu Choda chieftain Vijaya Gandagopala. An interesting epigraph of Kulottunga Chola II (1133-1150 A.D.) states that this king listened to Devaram verses in his palace at a place named Perumpattrapuliyur and donated two villages to the Magaral temple. A stone record of Rajaraja Chola II (1146-1172 A.D.) mentions atonement by a number of people for having caused the death of a person in an irrigation dispute.