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South India Temples

South India Temples

Basavavagudi Nandi Temple
Basavangudi, Bangalore, Karnataka

Nandikeswara is Lord Siva's carrier vehicle - vhahana & also the head of the Siva Ganas. There is an idol of Nandi Deva in every Sivan temple just opposite the main murti, facing the Lord. It is believed that Nandi Deva will dutifully carry our wishes to the Lord & hence special prayers & naivediyam is offered to him as a part of the daily rituals.

There is a temple exclusively for Nandi Deva at Basavanagudi, Bangalore. (Basava - Nandi in Kannadam). The Nandi idol is huge, measuring about 15ft in height & 20 feet in length.

This temple is said to have been constructed about 500 years ago. A bull was roaming in this region (a few villages then) 500 years ago. The chief crop harvested in the region was ground nuts. The villagers found that every full moon day their crop of ground nuts vanished mysteriously. Yhey decided to stay on watch & on a full moon day they witnessed a huge bull golden in colour, eyes shining bright like jewels consume their crop. But after this incident the bull no longer visited their farm. Instead, they found a huge idol of a bull appear suddenly on the hill, which was growing at a steady pace. They had to hit a nail in the form of a soolam (trident) to stop its growth.


Kapaleeshwarar Koil - Shiva Temple
Chennai, Tamil Nadu

The Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, Chennai is a very ancient temple. The original temple was submerged under the sea & the current temple structure was a later construction. The Moolavar is Kapaleeswarar & Amman is Karpagambal. There are separate sannadhis for several deities such as Vinayagar, Annamalaiyar, Murugar, Saneeswara. There are several other deities such as Durgai, Dakshinamurthy, Chandikeswarar located within the main Sannadhis of Kapaleeswarar & Karpagambal. The temple tank lies opposite the tower.

Karpagambal is said to have worshipped the Lord in the form of a peacock (Mayil in Tamil) & hence the area came to be called Mylapore.

Thirugnanasambandar, is said to have brought back to life the maiden Poompavai, daughter of Sivanesa Chettiar ( a Siva devotee) who was desirous of marrrying him, at Mylapore. The saint poet Tiruvalluvar lived here. The bronze idols of the 63 Nayanmars, the saints who were devotees of Lord Siva are placed in the Kapaleeswarar Sannadhi. Every year the Arupathumoovar festival is conducted & the 63 nayanmars are taken in procession.