Oragadam Sivan Temple

Oragadam is on the 7th Km on Chengalpattu Thirukkazhukundram Road. Chengalpattu is about 30km from Tambaram Chennai.

I visited this place in Sep 2008. I just got reminded of it when I visited Thirukkazhukundram and thought a post along with it would help anybody visiting Thirukkazhukundram to see if Oragadam can be combined with it too.

Many do not know that there are a couple of beautiful temples in this small Village. There is a Kothanda Ramar temple that I will write about in the next post. There is a Sivan Temple known as Vada Malleeswarar Temple and this post is about it.

This small Sivan temple is built on a small hillock and is located amidst beautiful setting- a huge Banyan tree at the base and a big tank opposite to this banyan tree adds to the serenity. No one could give the history of this temple excepting that this temple is of recent origin.. I guess the main deity should be of ancient origin..!

Thirukkazhukundram Hill temple is visible from the road at the entrance of this village..!

The village is picturesque and full of greenery..!

Don't miss the video 3 minute video at the end..!

This temple has Sivan-Vadamalleeswarar Sannidhi and Amrudhavalleeswari sannidhi adjacent to each other.

There is a huge Sivan Statue in sitting posture on a small rock seat and a small Sannidhi for Tamil poet saints Thirunavukkarasar,Sundarar,Thirugnana Sambandhar and Manicka vachakar next to it.

The priest visits this temple early in the morning and performs pooja and again visits it in the evening. It was well past his time when we visited the temple. We were all alone here and enjoyed the serenity and natural setting of this temple..!

Lord Siva-The annihilator

Vadamalleeswarar Sannidhi

Amrudhavalleeswari

There are small statues for other deities on the wall of the main Sannidhi..

Vinayaga-The Primal God

Dhakshinamurthy-The Lord of Knowledge

Maha Vishnu-The Sustainer

Brahma-The creator

The Gopuram of the Ramar Temple as seen from top of the Hill...!

On our return journey, we noticed a few children having fun at a huge well in midst of the paddy fields. We stopped by and walked straight towards the Well..! I clicked a few snaps...!

I asked these kids to jump in unison and was able to catch them before they parted their hold after a couple of trials..!

Don't miss further photos and a small video clip of the jumping into the well...!

Full Set of Photos-Click here

Video

 I just stopped at the entrance of the village and shot a short video of 360 degree view that is at the beginning of this clip.

Well Jumping

Thirukkazhukundram Part 2

This is a relatively large temple and an awesome one too..! is at the base of the Thirukkazhukundram Hill..!
This is also a temple for Lord Sivan called Bhakthavatsaleswarar..

The temple has towers on all the four sides and each one is equal to the other in size and workmanship.
One of these Goupurams (above - by itself it's an awesome sight isn't it.? ) provide an awesome backdrop to the temple tank. See below.

The Mandapam at the entrance provides a majestic ambiance to the open space in front of the temple.

This temple is built by Mahendra Varma Pallavan in 7th Century BC (610-630). Pallva architecture is evident from the workmanship,especially in the Mandapam below that is on left side of the Outer Praharam and has an elevated Peetam (dias kind of stuff..) at the centre. Marvellous sculptures every where mark this structure unique...! I clicked a number of Photos here as there was no body to disturb me, excepting for a couple of people who were sleeping in that beautiful mandapam..!

I don't find any reference to this Mandapam in any other blog posts on Thirukkazhukundram, Surprising..! Considering how awesome this structure looks..! Look at other pictures of this in the full photo set below, you will agree with me..!

I always have a fascination for the details of Gopuram work. I used to wonder how it would look at the top of these towering gopurams. With today's Digicams (ofcourse you need super zooms), you can reach up to the roof of the Gopuram and take a peep - Just like this..!

The Vedhagiriswarar temple on top of the hill is visible from this base temple. A beautiful sight this.... the temple looks like a tree-top-house of Munar of Kerala..Isn't it ?! Don't miss the videos section, I have a video that zooms into the hill top temple from the base temple..!

There are a couple of Sannadhis in the outer praharam.One for Murugan, another for Tripura Sundari and One for Arunachaleswarar..! The a natural ambiance to these because of the trees is enjoyable.

I enjoyed walking past these and you would like them too.. take a stroll past these Sannadhis..!

The Murugan Sannadhi had these withered frescoes at the entrance..

and I found some good colorful frescoes in the roof of the Mandapam at the entrance as well...withered of course..!They were awesome..and you are likely to miss them, if you don't look for them..! This mandapam seems to be used for parking  Vahana Vehicle as of now...!  

Time to get into the temple. There were a few colorful objects inside as well...!

The 63 Nayanmars - cute and beautifully metal made..can be found in the praharam just outside the Garbhagraham..!

While returning, I just peeped into the Vahana Mandapam which is on the left side just before the first entrance of the temple..It had a couple of colorful Vahanams (used as seats for deities during procession )..!

Full Set of Photos



Videos

 Time to bid you good bye.. Will meet you in a new place some time- if not soon..!

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