If religious history is your interest then visit
the Kandaswamy temple in Chennai. Visiting the Kandaswamy temple
will not only give you a clear picture of the ancient religious history
but also it will give some details on the political scenario of the
ancient times.
The Kandaswamy temple is situated in Cheyyur, and the nearby town to
Cheyyur is Madurantakam. Cheyyur is 29 kms away from Madurantakam.
Reaching from Chennai previously called, as Madras to Cheyyur is quite
interesting for travel-lovers. You can reach Kandaswamy temple in
Cheyyur from Chennai either by bus, rail or road. The nearest railway
station to Cheyyur is the Chenglepattu. And from there you can take
either taxis or any other luxurious vehicle to Cheyyur. Also from
Madurantakam, the nearby town towards Cheyyur you will get private cabs
and frequent buses.
The origin of the village of Cheyyur where Kandaswamy temple is
situated has an ancestral story. The village was built during the reign
of Veera Rajendra Chola and Kulothungan-III. With the settlement of the
village Cheyyur they built three temples among which the kandaswamy
temple is the one. The other two temples are dedicated to Vanmikhanathar
i.e. Lord Siva, and the other one to Perumal or (Kariya Manicka Perumal)
The Kandaswamy temple is in between the Shiva and Vishnu temples. Lord
Kandaswamy or Shiva is the principal shrine of this temple. There are
also the shrines of Lord Someswara, Goddess Meenakshi and
Muthukumaraswamy, which is also called as Samharamurthy. There are also
many other deities like the Vinayaka, Dakshinamurthy and Chandikeswara.
You can also see the deity of Murga who is the other son of Lord Shiva.
The Murga deity is been standing on five different positions. These five
postures are called by distinct names like - Nrutta Skandar (dancing
Muruga), Brahma Sastha (created from Brahma), Balaskandar (child
Shanmuga), Sivagurunathar (as teacher to Siva) and Pulinthar (vedan
hunter).
This Kandaswamy temple of Chennai is notable for the outsiders to visit
because of the different figures standing in distinct postures. This
temple has not only the depictions of deities, which is general feature
in the temples. You can get the image of Kazhukundran who had made an
artful creation of a temple car in 1521 A.D. It is used during the
Skanda Sashti festival.
