The Alwars and Acharyas have sung innumerable hyms in praise of the Great Lord Sriman Narayan in their Pasurams. The great lord Sriyappathi Sriman Narayana has also shown his grace on all his devotees by appearing in various forms in various names all throughout the world.Several bhakthas, rich and poor, have in their times built several temples in honour of the Lord who has given dharshan to them or has risen there for given dharshan to all who come to his lotus feet.
As per the saying 'Nagareshu Kaanchi', the Pallava dynasty had their capital in Kancheepuram near Chennai. During the age of Sri Rajasimha Pallava ( 2nd Narasimha Pallava) in the time from 680 A.D to 728 A.D, it proved to be one of the golden ages for the art and architecture of ancient India and tamil nadu in particular. He built several grand structures in stones in and around his dynasty for both Vishnu and Shiva.
One such great temple is the Mahabali puram (Mamallapuram) rock cut temples.
The temple at Nanmangalam village near the present day Pallavaram (pallavapuram) is one such old temple.
The presiding diety here is Sri Sri Devi Bhu Devi samedha Sri Neelavarna Perumal, who is the abhimana stala diety of the Thiruneermalai Neervarna perumal which is one of the 108 divya desams sung by the alwars.
This stalam of the Lord is one of the pratana stalam and the dhosha parihara sthalam. Several devotees have prayed to the lord of this temple and have had their wishes fullfilled.
Temple Specialities
The temple follows the Pancharatra Aagamam.
1. Sri Nammalwar (Kaari Maaran) moola vigraham is near the Sri Sannidhi and is in a chin mudhra pose.
2. The Lord and Sri Devi and Bhu Devi divya mangala Vigrahas are made from stones equivalent to Shaligrama Shilas.
3. The Lord Sri Neelavarna perumal is in standing posture with flames emerging from his sides, as if arising from the sacrificial alter.
4. There are two statues of Sri Hanuman on either sides of the temple entrance. They are like the dwara palakas for the temple.
5. There is an old Dheepa Stamba in front of the temple, in which there is a standing posture of Sri Hanuman facing the Lord towards the west. Thus this temple has the speciality of having 3 Hanuman Sannidhis.
6. The utsava dieties of Sri Neelavarna Perumal, Sridevi and Bhudevi are made of Panchaloga and are very mejastic and beautiful giving peace and happiness to who ever sees them.
7. This temple has featured in the book, "Sri vaishnavam - 108 Temples".
This book was published by the renouned PadmaSrhi Anmeeka Seva organiztion. The book has details of all temples around Chennai and which are more than 200 years old.
There is record in Stone cuttings that the temple was built in the 8th Century AD. That puts the temple's existence sometime before 1200 years. This Kshetram has been the Abhimana Kshetram for Thiruneermalai which has been in existence from the same time.
The Temple was built by the Pallava kings especially Sri Rajasimha Pallava ( 2nd Narasimha Pallava) in the time from 680 A.D to 728 A.D, and was patroned by the people living in the village for a long time. But, Time took the ravage on the temple and the temple went into a very bad condition due to lack of funds and no proper management.
Most of the temples assets where lost or where taken up by unauthorized occupation.
It was in 14-4-2003 that a small group of Bhagavatotamas gathered under the roof of the Great Lord to start a Bhaktha Jana Sabha. Thus was born the "NEELAVARNA PERUMAL BHAKTHA JANA KAINKARYA SABHA". Bhagavataas from far and near came to help the sabha in its activities in restoring the temple and getting the grace of Lord Sri Hari Vishnu.
The Perumal was done aradhanam by Vaikanasam previously and later changed to Pancharatram by perumal's wish.
The old Garuda Vahanam was replaced with new Garuda Vahanam by a devotee who had made a wish and got it fulfilled.
The Thayar sannidhi and Sri Sudharsanar, Sri Yoga Narasimhar sannidhis have all been completed and in the finishing stage.
The samprokshanam for the newly built sannidhis is planned in the thai masam in the month of January 2010 ( date yet to be decided ).
The new thirumadappalli ( temple kitchen ) is refurbished to modern standards and the office has been now moved to the first floor above the thirumadappalli.
A compound wall around the main temple complex is now drawn and is yet to get finalized on the side adjacent to the road due to government plans to extend the road.
The ardha mandapam has now got a new Air Condition unit installed with the pressing efforts of Sri Rajagopalan Battacharya swami ( perviously working in Thiru Vada Mathurai - Mathura divya desam ) and Sri Bhaskar Rao and other devoted people of Nanmangalam.
A devotee from Thambaram has made all the electrical fittings rewired to high standard and also had 2 new fans installed inside the maha mandapam for the convenience of devotees.
The temple is still in very need of further help for upkeep and further running of the temple administration.
The future of the temple now looks bright and perumal has time and again proved his greatness in this place by making the wishes true for the devotees.
The temple is still in need of patrams ( cooking utensils ) for the daily nevadhanam ( offering to god ) as well as nitya Anna dhanam that is being planned in the temple.
there are still lot of places where devotees wishing to contribute can do so, for example,
1) buying of ghee for the lamp inside the garbha graham
2) buying of thiru thirai ( temple curtains ) for the garbha graham.
3) for helping in the installation of Azhwar and Acharya sannidhi which is planned as the next stage near the thayar sanndihi.
4) by donating rice, grams, vellam or sugar for chakkarai pongal
5) by participating and giving pachchai karpooram
6) by taking part in the satya narayana pooja which happens every pournami in the temple.
7) by contributing for the new utsava moorthys for thayar, sudharsanar and yoga narasimhar.
8) by contributing for conducting regular ekadasi utsavams where perumal could be decorated on garuda sevai.
Please contact Sri Bhaskar Rao swamy in the number provided for finding out how you could help the temple at present and in future.
2 comments:
This blog is very informative. I'm residing at Nanmangalam(Arunodhayam Nagar) for more than 7 years and never knew these many details about the temple and the Lord. Fortunately got to know it atleast today :)
Yes it happens that we do not know about ancient temples within Chennai, due to carelessness of Govt to preserve ancient temples.This blog is highly informative
. I recently visited the temple and was shocked to find that all adjacent lands have been encroached some of them sold by unscrupulous realtors to apartment owners. This is the state of many of Ancient temples of Hindus in India. Here even the salary of the priest is not given by government although it comes under HRCE
Time for Hindus to reclaim their heritage and save ancient temples which has lot of science behind their construction. So action is needed to preserve them and put pressure on the government to restore the temples!!!
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