I went to this temple before Rama Navami to have a darshan of the Lord. The Google map shows the route from Vandalur Zoo a very famous landmark in Chennai. It is 4.7 km when we turn right near Tamil Nadu Police Academy in Unamancheri. If you take the grey route shown in the map it goes through the village. Take a right turn at the last right , you can see a small temple on the road.
Proceed further towards the right . You will reach the temple shown in the map after travelling through some narrow lanes in the village.
Old temples in Chennai | Historic temples in Chennai
The temple is very beautiful in a serene atmosphere. There is temple pond as is common in very old temples.
This is the side view of the temple. What we see in the front is Hanuman sannidhi. On the left is the main temple. The rare fact about this temple is that Sri Rama, Sita Devi, Lakshman, Bharat, Shatrughan idols are there in the temple.
In the temple I met the priest and requested him to give information on the temple.
He stated that the temple is more than 1000 years old. The year of construction was around 847 AD (!) . In such old temples only the sanctum sanctorum is there .. There is no door also for the garbagraham as it is also called. Maha mantapam , Ardha mantapam, maha dwaram and Garuda sanndhi were constructed later. So when lamps were lit in the temple it was visible to the entire village in those days.
It seems that a Vijayanagara king , Achutya Raya was born physically challenged. Lord Narayana
appeared in his dream and asked the king to come to Unamancheri. There the Lord gave the king Pattabhisheka darshan along with Sita, Lakshman, Bharat , Shatrughan and Hanuman. The Lord told the king to construct a pond and perform Pujas to Him. The king as instructed and slowly his physical defects started to disappear. He further expanded the temple into a bigger temple.
The original name it seems was Unam maikkum solai ( meaning garden that destroys physical defects ). The priest said that this is the name in British records also.
Inside the temple Sri Ranganatha ( kula deivam of Lord Rama according to the priest ) has been carved above the sanctum sanctorum instead Gaja Lakshmi we see usually in many temples.
Sculptures of Sri Devi, Bhoo Devi, Nila Devi, Bibi Nachiyar and Malayala Nachiuar are there he said. On the roof we can find carvings of Rahu, Ketu, fish , crane , lizards and flower.
The seal of the Vijayanagar Empire - boar, dagger, sun and moon are seen outside the temple
People with delayed marriage, progeny and with defects come to the temple and pray .
Outside the temple on a pillar is Kalinga Narthana Krishna , he showed us. People personally offer Puja to this sculpture for solving problems like delayed marriage and progeny
Please watch the video on YouTube . It is in Tamil with English subtitles.
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