Thirupuleeswarar Temple, Kalpakkam, Chennai.

There are plenty of ancient temples in India which have not become famous for various reasons. I am very passionate in exploring such temples. My first visit to such a temple is Thirupuleeswarar and Vaikundaswamy temple (Shiva & Vishnu), Voyalur, Kalpakkam, Chennai. Locating the temple was very easy for us. This temple is located in Voyalur which is 4 kms from Kalpakkam en route to Pondicherry. A small board is kept on the left side of the road. Take a left turn, the temple is easy to locate. I would suggest to go in a car or two wheeler. Surprisingly both the temples are in the same compound. It is well maintained by ASI. While we reached the temple around 4.30 pm, only the watchman was there. To our surprise, he was so kind and called the priest over the phone. The priest of this temple generally does the poojas in the mornings. If there are visitors, he comes to the temple. The interesting fact about the temple is that it was built 1500 ago by Mahendravarma Pallavan I. Even though the temple was built during the same period when the Shore temple, Arjuna's Penance and other monuments of Mahabalipuram were built, Mahabalipuram became famous and unfortunately this temple did not. There was a little bewilderment and amazement in our minds why no Gopurams are there in the temples. Yes, there are no Gopurams in the temple. Even the priest had no answer. There are separate sanctum sanatorium for Lord Shiva (Thirupuleeswarar), Lord Vishnu (Vaikunda Perumal), Angaiyar Kanni Thaayar and Sri Arumuga Peruman (Lord Murugan). The statue of the six-faced Arumuga Peruman is monolithic and is beautifully carved. The temple has many stone inscriptions in Tamil. There is a "Suranga Paadhai" in the temple (which is closed now). No one knows where the path leads to. The specialty of the temple is that the temple is built in such a way that during the sunrise, the sun rays falls on all the idols (Thirupuleeswarar, Vaikunda Perumal, Angayar Kanni and Sri Arumuga Peruman) simultaneously. Unluckily we missed that.
There are plenty of unexplored, beautiful temples in and around Chennai. People must start exploring these unexplored temples.

The Entrance