The Guru

On the stretch of Chennai-Tiruvallur High Road, nearby Padi flyover, just opposite to the ‘Padavattamman Temple’, there was a narrow land which led us to the ‘Thiruvaleeswarar Temple’ on that sunny Sunday.   Within a few steps, we found a small piece of vacant land to our right side, in front of the temple. 

It is one of the Shiva Temples in India.  The temple though not so famous, has rich history and has been sung by famous Tamil Poet ‘Thirunana Sambanthar’.   The temple is believed to be about thousand years old one.  Before the entrance there were devotees all around the temple, wearing yellow colour dhotis.  Some of them were digging the land in front of the temple to prepare it for ‘Theemidhi Thiruvizha’ which is one of the famous functions, usually as a custom of dedication to the Hindu Gods.  This function is mostly famous in the southern part of India, especially in Tamilnadu.  The main concept of this function is that the devotees to walk on the fire and complete the ritual.  This literally means to control the mind and forget the pain.  The pain only for the body and mind which is not permanent and the soul is immortal.

There is a courtyard in front of the temple with corridor.  Once you pass the courtyard you can have dharsan of main shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva who is called ‘Thiruvaleeswarar’ here.  You can see the idols of ‘Suryan’, ‘Vinayagar’ and ‘Murugan’ on the corridor around the main shrine.

There is one separate shrine for ‘Guru’, one of the nine planets (Navakragam) which rules one’s life.  The planet ‘Guru’ is known as Jupiter in English is believed to have a greater impact in one’s life especially wealth according to the Indian Astrology.  The temple is visited by many people mainly because of ‘Guru’.  The temple is one of the ‘parigara isthalam’ where one can remove the bad things in their life caused by ‘Guru’.

Location: Padi, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India – About 12 kilometers from Chennai Central Railway Station

The God Doctor

The journey wasn’t expected to last such a long one.  On that murky Sunday, we decided to have darshan at Marundheeswarar Temple located at the East Coast of Bay of Bengal, Thiruvanmiyur.  We planned to start as early as possible to avoid traffic and more importantly I love to start early as it was so calm and cool with less traffic on the road and have chance to look around on the way.  

Even though the distance is more than 20 kilometers to the temple, we were diverted several times to end up to cover almost all the roads in the Chennai city.  The Metro Rail construction work was going on almost all over the city.  There wasn’t much traffic though we had a long journey.

At 10 o’clock we finally reached the famous Marundheeswarar Temple.  The temple is located just on beginning of the East Coast Road (ECR).  There were two entrances one just at the front of ECR and the other is at the back side where it is easier to park your vehicles.  There was big a Mandabam (hall) at the back entrance (West Tank Street) before you enter at the main shrine.  The temple is more than thousand years old, further expanded by Chola in their period.  The temple is spread over one acre.  It is dedicated to the Lord Shiva.  The temple is said to be visited and worshipped by the famous poet Valmiki who wrote the historical epic The Ramayana.  The name of the temple itself indicates that the temple is famous for curing diseases of people.  The history says that the Lord Marundheeswarar has taught Sage Agasthiyar the Medical Treatements who was one of the famous sage and who is said to teach many methods of medicine to treat various diseases.   He is also famous to have made ‘Naadi Jyothidam’.  The ‘Naadi Jyothidam’ is about the predictions of each and every human was born and to be born.  It contains all the details of previous birth, the past, the present and the future happenings in everyone’s life.  

Along with the main shrine of Lord Marudheeswarar, Goddess Parvathi, wife of Lord Shiva also can be seen in the temple.  There are 108 lingams and the dance form of Lord Shiva, Nataraj are also can be worshipped here.  It is one of the oldest temple and must visit once at least.

Temple Timings : Morning 6.00 am to 12.30 pm & Evening 4.00 pm to 8.30 pm daily

Buses: All the buses to Thiruvanmiyur and ECR

Image Courtesy: Owner of the Photo, Google Image Search Engine

Eight in One - The Ashtalakshmi Temple

In the confusion of choosing one among the three buses standing at the bus stand, I ended up sitting in one of them.  I was longing to visit Ashtalakshmi Temple for some time. The bus took me to places of the Chennai City that I had never visited.  There were right turns, left turns and some ‘U’ turns; Now I really don’t remember the ways I’d gone through those lanes.

I had to walk about a kilometer to reach the temple from the place the bus left me.  I couldn’t feel that I was walking just near to the beach.  There were buildings that hide the beach completely.  I couldn’t feel that I was heading to a hindu temple.  It was totally unusual.  I had to walk through a small lane after crossing a big Church.  It was Sunday and the church was crowded.   The surrounding of the temple asks for sorry.  The Besant Nagar beach attracts less people here.  Along with small houses there were some big apartments facing the sea.

The Ashtalkshmi Temple was recently built with modern bricks and cements.  It was situated at the shore of Bay of Begal.   There are eight idols of the Goddess Mahalakshmi, wife of Lord Krishna, located in two floors.  One has to pass the steps in the narrow lanes to visit each of the idols of the Goddess. The eight idols include Sri Aadhi Lakshmi for health, Sri Dhanya Lakshmi for food, Sri Dhairya Lakshmi for braveness,  Sri Gaja lakshmi for luck, Sri Santhana Lakshmi for Children, Sri Dhana Lakshmi for wealth, Sri Vijaya Lakshmi for victory and Sri Vidya Lakshmi for Education.  Apart from these, Sri Guruvayurappa and Sri Hanuman are the other main attractions here.  The temple was under maintenance at the time I visited.  There are separate entrants according to your purse’s weight.  You can worship the Goddess Lakshmi so close unlike other temples.  You feel so good with the breeze of the sea.

The temple is situated at Besant Nagar about two kilometers far from the Bus Stand.  The temple is open from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm and 4.00 pm to 8.30 pm. 

Courtesy: Owner of the photo.  If you don't want your photo published in this blog, please let me know.  I'll remove it. Thanks.

Fenced to Amuse

After discussing many plans regarding where to go for the holiday, I’m left with no plan to choose from except one to go on my own plan without any companion.  Even I have been in Chennai for years, I haven’t visited ‘Guindy Children’s Park’ once.  I’ve asked many people to accompany me but they refused saying that the place weren’t so exciting.  But I wanted to experience it at least once.  So, I decided to go alone.  I wanted to become a child once again.

When I entered the park, I was welcomed by a Dinosaur with a smiling face.  Don’t panic.  It didn’t make any move while I passed it by. The corridor got me to the entrance ticket counter.  I had to buy a ticket which meant for adult to enter into the Children’s Park! There were only a few people with their children wandering around the park.  The first animal I saw was Deer.  And the way got me to one by one, there are Foxes, Hyena, Peacocks in white also, different kinds of Deer, Parrots, Tortoises, Cranes, and other kind of birds which I don’t know the names.  Apart from a few species, all were seem to be so tired.  There were either sleeping or looking at us with a neglected look. 

 After watching all the species the way took me to the entrance again, to exit.  Then there was Snake Park just nearby.  Here, the ticket counter was crowded with lots of people especially school and college children.  Any way I tried my best to buy the ticket and entered. There were snakes in different kinds kept inside the glass-walled cabins.  Also the snakes were portrayed as sculpture which is traditional way of worshipping the snake god in Hinduism.  The most exciting thing which surprised me was Crocodiles.  They occupied the most of the park in the waterless artificial lakes!  They all seemed except one or two, to be so lazy, sleeping one on another. They were all fenced in and I felt so bad for them.  They were losing their identity and nature.  Are they Prisoners of Nature?!

Then, I went to nearby (just a walk away) ‘Rajaji Mandabam’, ‘Gandhi Mandabam’ and ‘Kamarajar Mandabam’. They could give only a desert look.  There were only a very few people sitting with their children.  They seemed to be taking rest in the shadow of the trees.  But this is place so quiet and you feel very peaceful.  Though the place has nothing more than what you can expect.  I returned to the bus stop to go my way home after enjoying the whole thing.

  

Travel Information

Guindy Children’s Park is situated in Guindy, Chennai.  There are many local buses which head towards this route. And the Snake Park is situated in the same compound.

Entrance fee: Children – Free, Adult – Rs. 5, Camera – Rs. 10