For residents of Chrompet, if it is Lord Muruga, it is the Kumaran Kundram Temple situated in Nehru Nagar.
Considered to be the seventh abode of the deity, this shrine situated on the top of a cliff, makes for a picturesque scene by itself.
News Today makes a visit. “Legend has it that in the mid-20th century, Kanchipuram Chandrasekara Saraswati while paying a visit to the neighbourhood, saw the hill, and pronounced that a temple for Lord Muruga would come up. Following which, in two decades, I was told the construction for the temple had began,” said Devanathan, a resident here.
While deities Ganesha, Navagraham, Kali and Idumban are enshrined downhill, Lord Sundareswarar and His consort Goddess Meenakshi are seen in the second section of the holy place.
Atop the hill, in the North-facing gopuram, is the chief deity Lord Swaminathan with two arms. Idols of Karthikeya, Durga and Chandikeshwara are also present on the outer walls of the main shrine.
What makes this place different from other abodes of Lord Muruga is that, here, the God who is addressed as Swaminathan, has an elephant as His vahana, instead of a peacock.
When asked about this, Devanathan pauses for a moment and adds, “When the God was trying to convince Valli to marry him, He was in the guise of an old man to fool her. But Valli had not fallen in His trap. Since Muruga failed to take blessings from Ganesha when He prayed for success, the latter frightened her by appearing in the form of elephant. May be that is why His vehicle is an elephant and not a peacock.”
It was further learnt that the shrines downhill had come up in the late 90s and the rajagopuram had come four years ago.