Kapaleeswarar Temple Chennai

Overview of Kapaleeswarar Temple

Kapaleeswarar Mahadev Temple is considered to be the best temple after 12 Jyotirlingas. In ancient times Shivaji's pindi was on his back. But now there is a huge temple. This temple was renovated in Peshwa era. Godavari river is seen flowing in front of the temple stairs. This is famous Ramkund. According to the Puranas, Lord Rama had blessed his father Raja Dashrath in this kund. Apart from this, there is a lot of temple in this complex.

Kapaleeswarar Temple is an excellent example of Dravidian architecture. These temples are said to have been built by Pallava kings in the seventh century.

Current structure of the Kapaleeswarar temple

The city of Vijay Nagar has been built in the sixteenth century. The main building of the temple is made of black stones. There are two main gates of the temple where huge gopurams are made. The main gopuram of the temple is 120 feet high and it was built in 1906.

Legends to Kapaleeswarar temple

This temple is named on Kapalam and Godwar. Kapalam means head, while God is Lord Shiva's second name. When Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva met on Mount Kailash on Hindu mythology, Brahma could not recognize Lord Shiva's superiority. Being provoked by this, Shiva grabbed the Brahma's head and dragged him. At that time Brahmadev had five faces. The four faces used to videoconstrate and used to condemn the fifth. The fifth face seeing Lord Shiva began to condemn him. Angered by this, Shivji cut his head. After this, Shiva took the sin of killing Brahma. To get rid of that sin Shivaji was roaming in the universe. During this time, he saw a cow and his calf in front of a Brahmin's house. That Brahmin was going to put a rope in the nose of the bull. As soon as he reached the rope, the bull struck him and he died. After this, on the bull's eye, the sin of killing Brahma and his body became black. To get rid of this, on the advice of his mother, the calf reached the Ramkund near Nasik and washed off his bath. Shivaji was also watching the whole incident. They also came to Nashik on the path of the bull and took bath in Ramkund. From this, Bholainath got rid of the sin of killing Brahman. After this Bholenath considered the calf (Nandi) as his mentor and refused to sit in front of him. Since then there is no Nandi statue in front of Bholenath. It is believed that in this area, Parvati had worshiped for a long time to get Shiva. Therefore, it is considered as the temple of Lord Shiva fulfilling his wish. There is also a temple of Parvati in the temple premises. In Tamil, Parvati is called carpagmal. According to the belief, Shakti (Parvati) took her as a peacock to receive Shiva. Peacock is called Mile in Tamil the name of this area on the same name was called Mylapore. It is the tree in the temple premises under which Parvati had a long worship. Shiva is worshiped in the temple as Kapaleeswarar. Here is the penis of Shiva established. The poet's poetry tradition of Tamil is related to the temple of Kapaleeswarar in Tevaram. Devotional poet Nayanar of Tamil sing praises Shiva. There are huge hallways on both sides of the temple. Among them, 63 statues of praise are made of sculptures. Gaushala also has a temple complex. To decorate the temple in the temple premises, the beautiful color rangoli is decorated.

Pooja - Worship Timing at Kapaleeswarar temple

Basically, there are 5 kinds of pooja (worship) done in different timings. "Ko pooja" takes place by 05.00 A.M, "Vaikarai Pooja" takes place by 06.00 A.M, "Kaala sandhi Pooja" takes place by 08.00 A.M, "Uchi Kaala Pooja" takes place by 12.00 P.M, and "Ardhajama Pooja" 09.00 P.M.

How to reach Kapaleeswarar temple

In summer, Chennai's weather becomes very hot. However, the cold season is quite pleasant. There is also International airport of Chennai and Chennai Central railway station, Tamil Nadu and can be reached via road.