The large and beautiful Sanjeevi Rayar temple dedicated to Hanuman is located in a small village called Ayyangar Kulam, close to Kancheepuram. It is said that when Hanuman was flying to Lanka with the Sanjeevi hill to revive Lakshmana during the battle between Rama and Ravana, a piece of this hill fell here. This temple was constructed by a great scholar named Kotikanyadanam Lakshmikumara Tatacharya, also known as Ettur Lakshmikumara Tatacharya.
He was the royal preceptor of the Vijayanagara emperor Venkata Raya (1586-1614 AD), who had his capital at Chandragiri in Andhra Pradesh. Upon returning from a pilgrimage, robbers tried to attack Tatacharya at this place. Being a great devotee of Hanuman, this scholar instantly composed a poem of twenty verses in chaste Sanskrit praising this deity. The bandits immediately ran away and Tatacharya decided to build a temple dedicated to Anjaneya at that very spot. This Sanskrit poem, called Hanumad Vimshati, has been inscribed in the Grantha script inside this temple.
The main sanctum of this Vijayanagara style temple enshrines a six-foot-tall image of Hanuman as a devotee, with his hands in supplication (anjali hasta). The huge temple tank called Tatasamudram, in honour of Kotikanyadanam Lakshmikumara Tatacharya, enclosed by a high bund called Valkottai, deserves special mention.
The Ayyangar Kulam Nadavavi utsavam is a unique festival celebrated on the full-moon day in the month of Chithirai (Chitra-Pournami) when Varadaraja P e r u m a l o f Kancheepuram visits the Nadavavi well situated close to the Sanjeevi Rayar temple. The Nadavavi is a beautiful structure with a granite entrance gateway and steps leading to an underground mandapa. On most days of the year, this mandapa is filled with water, but preceding the festival, the water is pumped out and devotees carry Varadaraja Perumal inside the cool precincts of the mandapa in the hot month of Chithirai and worship is offered.
