Chennai: Pazhandi Amman Temple at Vanuvampet has been in existence for nearly 100 years now. Initially, with only the idol that was worshipped by the people for many years, the temple upon the support of the people slowly developed and now has some of the unique specialities like a 21-feet Vinayagar idol and a 79-feet Murugan idol which is under construction.
Speaking about the temple, K Sundaramoorthi, trustee of the temple says, “Centuries ago, the land here, which is now known as Vanuvampet was under the control of Alandur Reddiyar. Slowly as many residential areas began to develop across the city soon Vanuvampet was developed and initially, an idol of Amman was placed by Veeraswamy Nayakkar at this place. The exact year of its establishment is not known. But slowly as the people began settling around the locality, many devotees started worshipping the idol and by 1952, Sabbathy, who lived close by built a small temple.”
Sundaramoorthi who was an ex-Councillor became the trustee of the temple in 1986. “It was only in 2009 the temple’s renovation work began and in 2011 the kumbhabhishekam was done to the present structure,” he adds.
The main sanctum of the temple has the idol of Goddess Pazhandi Amman. At the rear side of the temple, there are separate sanctums for Sri Valampuri Vinayagar, Sundareshwarar, Dakshinamoorthi, Meenatchi, Lakshmi Narayanar with Goddess Lakshmi, Sri Anjaneyar, Valli Devasena Sametha Subramaniar and Darma Sastha. All the sanctums are placed next to each other.
The temple also has a tall Vinayagar idol named Viswaroopa Ganapathy placed near the entrance which was erected only two years ago. Speaking about it, Sundaramoorthi said, “Once a devotee was speaking to me about Pillayarpatti Vinayagar and at that time I thought of erecting a big Vinayagar idol at this temple and soon the work for it
began and the 21-feet idol was constructed three years ago.”
Behind Viswaroopa Vinayagar idols of 18 Siddhars are also kept under the temple’s sthala vriksha Peepal tree. Navagraham is also placed here. “The idols of all 18 Siddhars were placed only last year,” he added.
“Devotees whose marriage is getting delayed or married couples who long for a child say that after worshipping the deity whatever they had wished were becoming true. People with ailments also worship the deity for good health,” he adds, Construction of a 70-feet Murugan idol is on at the temple and speaking about it Sundaramoorthi said, “After the idol of Vinayagar was erected, I got a dream as if the lord himself was talking to erect a similar idol for his brother Murugan. Since he is also known as Tamil deity we decided to construct a 79-feet idol and the works began two years ago. We are confident that it will be ready by 2020. Devotees who wish to donate for the construction of the idol can also do so.”
The temple is open from 7.30 am to 10 am and from 4.30 pm to 8 pm.