| When I visited the 700 years old temple of Lord | | | | is a small shrine for Ananda Vinayaka before you |
| Mallikeswarar Temple located in Chennai, South India, I | | | | enter the main shrine. Lord Shiva in the form of Linga |
| was wondering why this temple is being ignored by the | | | | called as Mallikeswarar is the main deity of this temple. |
| public and remains unknown to most of the people | | | | The beautiful idol of the main goddess of the temple |
| even in Chennai city. The temple tower is very | | | | Maragadambal is located in a separate shrine next to |
| artisticand beautiful and the temple complex is big and | | | | the shrine of Lord Mallikeswarar. One can find the idols |
| attractive. | | | | of Lord Ganesha and Murugan in front of the entrance |
| Mallikeswarar Temple is located at the Lingi Chetty | | | | of the goddess shrine. Amazing and only in India. |
| Street of George Town area. The temple is hardly 3 | | | | Around the main shrines, there is a small corridor |
| kms from the Chennai Central Railway Station. You | | | | (prakara) which houses the idols of various gods and |
| can reach this temple either by auto rickshaw or cycle | | | | goddesses such as Vinayak, Lingam, Dakshinamurthy |
| rickshaw. Or else, you may have to come on your | | | | (a form of Shiva), Vishnu, Brahma, Durga, and, |
| own vehicle. The bus stand and the local railway | | | | Chandikeswarar. There are also small shrines of |
| station are 1 km away from this temple. | | | | Viswanathar with Vishalaxi, Mahadeva, another |
| Mallikeswarar Temple is believed to be 700 years old, | | | | Mahadeva, Shanmuga, Shanmuga in Utsav form, |
| although no further details of the temple history is | | | | Kailasanathar, Adhipuriswarar, Saraswathi, Nalwar (4 |
| found. The temple was once completely buried under | | | | main nayanmars), and Natraj along with Sivakami. |
| the ground and the top most portion of the temple just | | | | There are also idols of Lakshmi and Vishnu, Ganapathi, |
| showed up during a digging. On further digging, the | | | | Murugan, various nagas (snakes), and 63 nayanmars. |
| complete temple was discovered. When the temple | | | | Opposite to Mallikeswarar shrine, you can find small |
| was uncovered, fresh jasmine flowers were found on | | | | idols of Surya (Sun), Chandra (moon), Sani, and |
| the main deity (Lord Shiva in Linga form) of this temple. | | | | Bhairav. There is a big corridor (prakara) surrounding |
| Hence, the deity is called as Mallikeswarar (the word | | | | the entire temple, where you can find the shrines of |
| “Malli” means jasmine in Tamil language, the | | | | Ananda Vinayaka, Bala Vinayaka, and Bala Muruga. |
| language spoken in Chennai). | | | | There is a shrine for Navagraha (9 planets) and the |
| Once you enter into the complex, you can find a | | | | highlight is that all the planets are found along with their |
| mandap (a covered hall) with pillars full of small | | | | respective vahanas (vehicles), which is a rare sight. |
| sculptures/images. Following the mandap, the | | | | When you find time in vacation, please go and visit this |
| Rajagopuram (the temple tower) which is artistically | | | | ancient beautiful temple. It makes sense to support the |
| beautiful is located. After that, you can find a big tank | | | | existing temples rather than coming up with new |
| along with a shrine for Lord Ganesha. Unfortunately, | | | | temples. |
| there is no water in the temple tank nowadays. There | | | | |