A Quick Whirlwind trip to Kanchipuram for a overnight stay and Temple visit on 20th and 21st of May 2024

This time it was only me and my mother, to visit temples in Kanchipuram and our plan was to pick my daughter the next day from her hostel on the way back to Bangalore.

On my onward journey I had plans to visit some temples before checking in to the hotel in Kanchipuram.

Being born and brough up in Chennai and with close proximity to Kanchipuram, it was ironic that in more than 4 decades I never had any opportunity to visit Kanchipuram temples which has significant heritage  and popularity. Even though we had travelled innumerable times by car between Bangalore and Chennai, time had not been  ripe to visit these temples until this day. It is a guilty feeling that I had taken a COONS AGE to see these temples, but it is better late than never.

We started early at 5.11 AM from Bangalore with heavy rain forecast for the next few days. highway traffic was relatively less, I could reach Sai Sangeeth our first pit stop for breakfast in Vaniyamabadi by 7 am a distance of 150 Kms covered in less than 2 hours.  After a 30 minutes break, our first destination was Ratnagiri temple after Vellore. It is a temple for Lord Muruga/Karthikeya, which is quiet visible from the national highway . Many times me and my wife used to say that we should visit this temple but never found the time.

Since it was a Monday , the temple was absolutely empty with few devotees. We had a good darshan at the temple. The car parking entrance fee was 30rs and it was a small hillock where cars are allowed till the entrance of the temple. On auspicious days/festival days cars are not allowed to go till the top.

Our next temple was to visit a village called Thiruparkadal,  which is 30 kms from Ratnagiri and at  4 kms from Kaveripakkam. You have to take a right turn at Kaveripakkam . It was little tedious to find since there was a bridge construction happening and you have to enquire before taking the right turn.

Once you enter the village, within a km you have to take a right turn to see some of the oldest temples.  the first one to see on the right hand side was the Shiva temple by name Karupureeshwarar and goddess is Abithagujalambal . It is also the vaippu sthalam as mentioned in one of the hymns of Devaram by Thirunavukkarasar.  It is a Chola period temple, some say it belongs to Parantaka chola of the 10th Century which proves that the temple is 1000 year old.

The shiva temple would be on your right when you go towards the Venkateshwara perumal temple. there are lot of lungi making units around the shiva temple, you can hear the sound of thari(the weaving machines) all around the temple. There were more than 10 such units.I never bothered to enquire about the lungis since I never wear/wore one.

The second stop was at the Prasanna venkateshwara perumal temple which is 300 meters away from the Shiva temple This is once again a place of history and values. People say that Vishnu is on top of shiva linga so it is called as Shiva vishnu temple as well. The priest or purohit house is across the temple, so if you find the sannidhi locked you can enquire and seek his intervention for the darshan.

Adjacent to prasanna venkateshwara temple, there is a Ranganathar temple The moolavar Ranganatha perumal statue is made of Athi maram(tree) like the athi varathar hence no abhishekam is done to the moolavar. This has a significant history of how Rangathar helped Brahma to shed his ego. You can google to read more about this temple.  Goddess is called a Ranganayaki.

All the three temples at Thiruparkadal are must to be seen in order to feel the divinity and seek the divine blessings of  Shiva and Vishnu.

When we finished all the darshan, the time was 10 AM, so we decided to complete Varadaraja perumal temple and Kamakshi temple before 1 PM and then we had plans to check in to our hotel.

We headed to Kanchipuram, i.e. Varadaraja perumal temple which is approx 35kms from Thiruparkadal and takes 35 to 40 minutes to reach. We parked in a near by parking who charged us 50 rs for parking. We had a good darshan at Varadaraja perumal temple. It was crowded even though it was a Monday. Please do google to find more details about varadaraja perumal temple.

Our final visit for the first half of the day was Kamakshi amman temple before 1 pm . We got to know that between 12 and 12.30 pm it would be closed for abhishekam . We found that people were not allowed since it was about to be closed. After some 5 minutes of debate with the security all the waiting devotees were left in. We completed the darshan of Kamakshi amman by 1 PM. Me and my mother had a quick lunch and checked in to our hotel Sriram Residency.

About the hotel - I booked this hotel, Sriram Residency through Agoda  based on google reviews and close proximity to other temples and places in Kanchipuram. Our hotel room was a twin bedded AC room which was very neat and clean. Room had a electric heater along with two complimentary mineral water bottles along with coffee/Tea refreshments. It  was a very comfortable room for two people and worth the money. I got a good deal by booking through Agoda than directly booking through the hotel. The hotel doesn't have a restaurant , but they have a tie up with a very good veg restaurant by name Nitya Amritam. When you book don't book with breakfast, it would work out cheaper if you can take 5 minutes to walk to Nitya Amritam. I believe this is a chain of hotel which has its branches in Chennai and other places. The Food taste and quantity was overwhelming and worth the try. Even on weekdays it gets crowded and we ended up eating all the time at this restaurant. For the dental kit at the hotel you have to explicitly ask the hotel reception otherwise they don't make it available in your room by default.

We took few hours of rest and planned our evening temple visits. We came out of the hotel and found a auto guy and asked him to take us to a congregation of temples that are near by and must to be seen. He demanded for a 800 Rs auto fare  but we bargained for 650 rs., indeed a very nice guy except his auto was in a pathetic state. Like Kumbakonam , Kanchipuram is also a temple city/town so all the temples were within a radius of 5 kms. It was drizzling continuously though was not a heavy rain.

It was a somavara(Sanskrit word for Monday) pradosham day, more a  coincidence which we didn't realize when we had planned for this trip. Our first temple for the evening was Ekambareshwarar temple dedicated to lord shiva and the biggest of all the temples in Kanchipuram. There were construction/preparation happening for the kumbhaabhishekam that is planned sometime soon . We had a great darshan and saw the pradosha pooja. It was very crowded and we took almost 45 minutes to complete the visit.

Our second temple for the evening was  Ulagalandha perumal temple, which is small but one of the 108 divya desam temples. This temple has been called out in nalayira divya prabhandham as well. This is a 1200 year old temple which was in existence even before the first chola emperor. It was being renovated so the moolavar sannadhi was closed but urchavar can be seen.

Our third temple was Kailasanathar temple,  built by the Pallavas like Mahabalipuram and this temple is 1600 years old. Taken and maintained by Archeological department. It has a huge shivalingam to my surprise . Pradosha pooja was being performed. We had a quick darshan and left for our next temple.

Our fourth temple for the evening was Kumara kottam,  it was a temple for lord muruga/karthikeya. We were at 6 PM inside the temple and witnessed the aarati pooja , which was a divine blessing

Our fifth temple was Sonna Vannam seitha perumal temple or thiruvekka temple. It is one of divya desam temple(51st divya desam). Here the lord is in sleeping position and goddess is Komalaivalli thayar.

Our sixth temple  was Ashtaabuja Perumal temple. Perumal here is called as Adhikesava Perumal (Nindra Thirukkolam - Standing posture) also known as Gajendravaradhan, Chakrathaarar and Goddess Alarmelmangai Thayar (Padmasani).

Our Seventh temple was Pandava Thootha Perumal temple which is a huge sitting posture perumal. It is one of the 108 divya desam. One of the oldest temples and was built by pallavas. This temple has  significance to Mahabharata and is associated to Pandavas, hence its name.

Our 8th temple of the evening was Chithra gupthan temple next to the restaurant Nitya Amritham. this is a small modern day temple in the heart of the city.

Our final destination for the evening was Kanchi mutt. We spent almost 40 minutes sitting and meditating whereas periyava was doing chandramoulesshwarar pooja. We saw the recently done kumbhaabhishekam of a sannadhi inside the mutt.The mutt is a divine place of serenity, tranquility with vedic hymns by devotees and veda patashala students in the background. On our way out we saw swami purappadu of the perumal temple opposite to the mutt.

We retired to our room after an hectic and long day of temple visits, hope the rays and the positive energy of those divine places provides the necessary blessing to think and do good deeds in this birth.

Next day, i.e our second day in Kanchipuram

Our plan was to visit  Dhamal a village where maha periyava used to visit and perform pooja. This Dhamal village is 14kms from kanchipuram towards Bangalore on the highway. We were asked to visit the house of an elderly person by name Gowri Ammal.  You ask any tom dick and harry in that village they will guide you to Gowri Ammals house. It is a divine place,  since Periyava used to visit the house many times and had done many poojas in that house. Gowri ammal is a 95 year old lady who is a staunch devotee of Maha periyava. We got the blessings of Gowri ammal who looks and acts as young as a 30 year old person. She never sends anyone without eating food and we were forced to drink coffee or milk by the villagers who takes care of this elderly person. We spoke to Gowri ammal and  got her blessings. We were also shown the vastharam/cloth used by periyava which is kept in the pooja room of the house. Gowri ammal has booked an auto to take her to mutt that day and she travels by a known auto at the age of 95 years. She is doing lot of spiritual and charity activities and is planning to convert her house in Dhamal as a Veda patashala instead of selling it to some unknown person for a sum.

We then proceeded to the Damodara swami temple(Perumal temple) and the Varaheeshwara temple(Shiva temple) in Dhamal. Varaheeshwara temple is associated with varaha avataram. 

We concluded our Kanchipuram visit after a second visit to Kanchi mutt and then departed to Vellore and then to Bangalore

To sum it up , I never had any plans to see so many temple in and around kanchipuram considering my first visit to all of the above temples. My short trip was a testimony to the adage that "Man proposes but God disposes".  Even though it was  a hectic two day trip the satisfaction you get seeing all those places is inexplicable and stresses the fact that God exist and has many forms. 

I could not take any photos to publish here in this blog. Google search can provide you the photos of all the above temples.