Marundeeswarar Temple

Marundeeswarar Temple (Tamil: மருந்தீஸ்வரர் ஆலயம்) is a legendary temple located in the breezy area of Thiruvanmiyur, Chennaiadjacent to the beach of Bay of Bengal. This is the biggest temple in Thiruvanmiyur. This is a magnificent temple built for Lord Shiva, in his incarnation of Lord Marundeeswarar. Lord Marundeeswarar is said to have the power to heal. This is one of the great Shiva Temples of Tamil Nadu.

Contents   [hide]  1 Mythology 2 The Temple History 3 The Temple 3.1 The Architecture 3.2 The Shrines 3.3 The Deities 4 External links

   

Mythology

Lord Marundeeswarar is known so because he taught sage Agastya about some magical medicine. Since then The Marundeeswarar temple has been a place of worship for people with diseases and various problems with their health. It is said that even The Sage Valmiki, who wrote The Ramayana, came here to The Marundeeswarar temple to worship The Lord. Sage Valmiki was said to be blessed here. After this incident, this place was to be known as Thiruvalmikiyur, after a long period of time, the name gradually changed to Thiruvanmiyur. There is a place present in Thiruvanmiyur called Valmiki Nagar in his honour. There is also a temple built for Sage Valmiki in the middle of the East Coast Road. The temple is built very close to the Marundeeswarar temple. It came as a surprise that the builders of the ECR (East Coast Road) had even considered demolition of the temple of Sage Valmiki in order to complete the project (of building the ECR). The high court of Tamil Nadu then directed that the temple be in its place and not to disturb it.

The lingam for which Lord Hanuman performed pooja, The lingam(meenakshisundareswarar) that cured the curse of Lord Indra, the Lingam for which Saint Bharadwaja performed pooja are present here. Markandeyar performed a penance and prayed to lord Shiva here, Lord Brahma is believed to have conducted a festival here for lord Shiva.

Even lot of people from far away places like Orissa frequently come to this place.

    

The Temple History

Marundeeswarar temple belongs to the Chola period and occupies an area of about 1-acre (4,000 m²). The temple is believed to be built somewhere in the 7th century A.D.Tirugnanasambandar and Tirunavukkarasar the Saint Saivite Poets have visited and sung the praises of this temple, testifying its existence during their lifetime - about a 1200 years ago. Arunagirinathar has visited this temple and has sung praises of Subramanya here. Stone inscriptions dating back to the 11th century AD are found in abundance in this temple. The origins and antiquity of this temple is corroborated by the inscriptions found in other temples in the city namely Kapaleeswarar Temple, Virupaksheeswarar Temple etc. which bear testimony to Tiruvanmiyur�s exalted existence aeons back. This temple held an exalted position for centuries and it gradually fell in repair. Temple renovations started from the beginning of the 20th century. A new life has been put into this ancient worshipping place, first in the year 1903 and then in 1970's.

  

The Temple

Located in the southern part of chennai city this famous temple is a Paadal Petra Sthalam with Thirugnanasambandhar and Thirunavukkarasar having delivered Paasurams here.

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[edit]The Architecture

The temple has two entrances, one from East Coast Road and the other from West Tank Street. The Entrance from the West Tank Street has got three gates whereas the entrance from the East Coast Road has only one gate.