CHENNAI: One among the many small villages situated in the ancient Tondaimandalam region, the stronghold of the Pallava kings, comprising erstwhile North Arcot, South Arcot and Chengalpet districts is Ammaiappalannur. It is home to a temple for Vishnu worshipped here as Adikesava Perumal. Although this temple is old, it had been in a state of neglect for some time, and has now been renovated.
The principal deity in this east-facing temple is Adikesava Perumal with Goddesses Sridevi (Lakshmi) and Bhudevi (Goddess of the Earth) on either side. He holds the Sankha (conch called Panchajanya) and Chakra (discus called Sudarsana) in the upper left and right hands respectively, with the lower right hand in abhaya hasta (blessing devotees) and lower left hand in gada hasta (resting on the top of the mace called Kaumodaki).
The processional image (utsava-murti) of this temple is exactly like the main one. Navaneeta Krishna and Chakrattazhvar or Sudarsana, the personification of the discus of Vishnu are also in worship here. This temple does not have a separate sanctum for Goddess Lakshmi unlike most Vishnu temples in Tamil Nadu where the shrine for this goddess is located to the right of the main one for Vishnu.
In the prakaram (enclosure) is a small shrine for Chakrattazhvar with Yoga Narasimha at the rear and another one for Bhakta Hanuman. The modern mandapa in front of the main sanctum has images of Visvaksena (the commander of the army of Vishnu), Nammazhvar, Ramanujacharya (the famous Srivaishnava preceptor who lived in the Chola times) and Vedanta Desika (an illustrious Srivaishnava Acharya who was born in an area of Kanchipuram called Tupil).
A few festivals are celebrated in the Adikesava Perumal temple such as Sri Krishna Jayanti and Vaikasi Visakam. Many temples in and around Kanchipuram are closely associated with the Varadaraja Perumal temple which is located in Vishnu Kanchi (in Kanchipuram) and is the largest and best-known of all the Vishnu temples in this sacred and ancient town.
The utsava-murti of Varadaraja Perumal is taken in procession to many of the smaller Vishnu temples in the vicinity of Kanchipuram and some of these shrines celebrate festivals at the same time as that of the Varadaraja Perumal temple. In the Adikesava Perumal temple in Ammaiyappanallur too, the festival which is celebrated in the Visaka nakshatram (asterism) in the Tamil month of Vaikasi is done at the same time as the Varadaraja Perumal temple.