- December 21, 2024
Contents
Visiting temples and worshipping Gods are always considered as a way of living in Hinduism. Lord Murugan is the son of the Almighty Shiva and Goddess Parvati. It is believed that Lord Murugan came to birth from the blaze that came from the Lord Shiva’s third eye and he was brought up by the Karthika women. Hence he is called as Karthikeya. The Lord Murugan is also called as the “Tamil God”, as he is predominantly worshipped in Tamil Nadu. He always hold an unavoidable place in the history of Hinduism. Here, we are going to dig deeper the history of Vallakottai Murugan Temple.
Tamil people have been worshiping Lord Murugan since ancient times. Proof of this is that Murugan had temples in ancient times. The book Purananuru refers to Murugan Kottam. Kottam means fort.
There is a reference to Lord Murugan in the ancient literature Purananur. The Lord in Thiruchendur is called as Senthil and in ancient times Thiruchendur was also known as Alvai. There is also a reference to the Thiruparankundram Murugan Temple in the Akananuru. According to the book, various festivals were held throughout the year and were attended by a large number of people from Madurai.
Vallakottai is a town located in the Kanchipuram district. Vallakottai Temple is located at a distance of 24 km from Tambaram on the outskirts of Chennai and about 12 km south of Sri Perambathur on the Sriperumbudur – Chengalpattu route. In the songs composed by, Vallakottai is described as Kottai Nagar, Kottaiyam Patti, Kodai Enum Patti, and Kottai. Although wrote about this temple under many names, it is now known as Vallakottai. There are many reasons why the temple got that name, but only one of them is acceptable. There was a Murugan temple at Thirupatti near Vallakottai in Kanchipuram district. There was a fort at Vallam and hence the name Vallakottai.
The sculptures of the temple mainly the standing sculptures of Valli and Devyani showcases the artistic interest of Pallava Kings. Pallavas have built temples to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu in many places. Documents found in the research show that the Vallam Temple in the fort city is one of them.
The sculpture of the Pallavas was such that all the temples they built were carved out of rock and they did not use stones, gravel, or any other metal to carve them. Archaeologists are still struggling to gather enough evidence before reaching the final conclusions about the location of the cave sculptures.
The temple must have been seven hundred years old as sang the glory of the temple seven hundred years ago. When he went to the place where the temple was, he received the grace of Lord Murugan under the tree called Batavari.
The temple was built by Bhagiratha, the king of the Ilansi kingdom but, the time period of his rule is unknown. It is also not known whether it was Bhagiratha who brought the Ganges to the earth. Ilansi was a very small kingdom. So why did he come here from so far and build a temple on the land ruled by the Pallavas? The answer to that is a myth. Bhagiratha is very arrogant and he did not respect the sages. Once Naradha came to visit him, but he turned his face to the other side without asking him to take his seat. So Naradha Sage was upset and left the place. Then a monster named Goran was coming from the opposite direction with a huge army. When he saw Naradha he went near him without any arrogance and worshiped him. So Naradhar thought that a lesson should be taught to Bhagiratha through him.
Naradha questioned him about his journey with such a big army. Goran said that he need to win a hundred kings in order to perform Aswametha Yaha. Naradha adviced him to invade Ilansi Kingdom and defeat the arrogant King Bhagiratha. Goran took Naradha’s advice and invaded Ilansi Kingdom. Bhagiratha fled leaving his country in order to save himself. He wandered many places without knowing what he should do. One day on the way he saw Naradha. He ran towards him and fell at his feet, apologizing for the insult he had done and asked him to help him. By then his arrogance had completely vanished.
Naradha asked him to meet the sage Dhurvasa and ask him for the solution. Without any hesitation Bhagiratha went to the sage Dhurvasa and asked him how he can regain all that he had lost. The sage directed him to the fort city Vallakottai and asked him to worship the Lord Murugan, where he can be seen with his two wives under the Batavari tree. After worshipping the Lord Murugan in Vallakottai, he regained all that he had lost. Pleased by the blessings of the Lord Murugan, Bhagiratha built a temple there for Murugan.
It was at that point that Arunagirinathar, who was on his way to Thiruthani from Thiruporur, reached the place where the Batari tree was located. He went to sleep under another tree near the pond and he heard a voice asking Have you forgotten me, Arunagiri? He woke up on hearing the voice. The voice sounded three times. Then he got up and looked for the voice, but no one was seen nearby.
Arunairinathar realised that it was Lord Murugan who questioned him. He then sang 7 songs on Lord Murugan which is collectively called as Thiruppugazh.
People are thrilled to see the two-meter-tall statue of Lord Murugan there. The Mahabhishekam takes place on Sundays. Thousands of people from Chennai and its surroundings come here on holidays and Sundays. Then Annadhanam also takes place.
Special pujas are held on days like Tamil New Year, Krithika and Sashti. Since 1997 some devotees have been working together to clean the temple and make efforts to transform the temple premises in a way that is beneficial to the devotees who come here.
The temple is open from Morning = 6:00 am – 1:00 pm and Evening = 4:30pm – 8:30 pm. The temple rituals/pujas are performed five times a day:
Each ritual has three steps:
Vallakottai Murugan Temple, Sannithi Street, Vallakkottai, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu 602105
Vallakottai Murugan Temple Contact Number: +91-4427172225
