Tiruvenpakkam

Shiva as Oondreswarar

Consort மின்னொளியம்மை, கடிவாய்மொழியம்மை

lingam

Shaiva temple

250px|thumb|left|The main entrance as viewed from outside According to Hindu Sthalapurana, Sundarar, the Nayanmar saint lost his vision while arriving at this place. Pleased with his devotion, Shiva gave him a club (meaning oondr in Tamil), he came to be known as Oondreeswarar. Sundarar was unaware of the person giving him the club and threw it away in disgust. It is believed to have broken the horn of Nandi of the temple, which is indicated in the Nandi facing Shiva. While Sundarar was on his way to Kanchipuram from this place, Parvati appeared as a lightning in front of him, giving the name of Minnoli Nayagi (minnoli indicated lightning in Tamil). The original complex is believed to have been built by Cholas, while the present masonry structure was built during the 16th century. There are inscriptions from later Chola emperors like Rajaraja Chola I (985–1014 CE), Kulothunga Chola I (1070–1120 CE) and Rajendra Chola III (1246–1279 CE). The temple was moved to the current location in 1942 to ease the construction of Poondi reservoir by the then Mayor of Madras Sathyamurthy. Also there are several donars who had been there in the original place of reservoir having several acres of lands. They had donated lands for the reservoir and one of those is the Venpakkam Zamindars.

Architecture

Dravidian architecture

First attested

7th century

Details are compiled from Wikimedia projects and published temple sources. Send a correction if something is wrong.

• Wikipedia, Paadal Petra Sthalam
• Wikipedia, Oondreswarar Temple

More links

• HRCE Tamil Nadu
• English Wikipedia
• Google Maps
• Tamil Wikipedia