Welcome
to South India and experience the untouched delightful South by invasions throughout
its history. South India and the Indian heritage is more intact here than in other
regions of the country. This is a land of temples, a land of the devoutees.
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.
