DailyPhoto Chennai

Gangadeeswarar & Pankajakshi

7 comments on “Gangadeeswarar & Pankajakshi”

1. 

   30 Mar 2010 at 4:09 pm Steffen

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   Interesting entrance. I’ve seen such a door in Singapore too. It was very amazing and very colourful. Greetings from Stuttgart.

   Ram : Thanks Steffen, Thanks Stuttgart. Yes the Singapore temple takes the same Tamil Architecture.
2. 

   30 Mar 2010 at 5:40 pm Mr. Leif Hagen

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   Reminds me of my temple visits in Bengaluru a year ago!
3. 

   31 Mar 2010 at 6:17 pm R Sathyamurthy

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   One more must visit added to my list of places to visit after retirement!

   Ram : Keep your list open …
4. 

   1 Apr 2010 at 2:48 am infopediaonlinehere

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   interesting information on this temple…interesting to know that this temple has 1008 lingam

   Ram : Thanks, but i don’t think this has 1008 Lingams, this is one of the 1008 lingams worshipped by King Baheeradhan …
5. 

   14 Apr 2010 at 3:38 am Dr A Raman

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   Dear RamN
   One of my Madras friends brought Asoka Mitran’s comments (in a differn webpage) to my attention. I wrote a supplement to Asoka Mitran’s comments, as well as to the one which appeared in the same webpage.
   Unfortunately, I could not upload my note in that website.
   Subsequently I found your remarks on Gangadareswara (not Gangadeeswara) temple in Purasawalkam. I thought my note could explain some elements that have not been discussed in your note. A few (minor) errors could be occurring in my note attached below, for which I apologize; I was replying from the information I remembered.
   Hope my note would help people in Purasawalkam to search for factual information, rather than relying on mythology and unsubstantiated stories.
   Best wishes
   A Raman
   **************************************************************************************
   Having lived in Adiappa Mudali Street (a by-lane of Lawder’s Gate Road terminating in Vellala Street) all through my childhood and early youth, I enthusiastically read Asoka Mitran’s commentary on the Purasawalkam temple tank.

   Whenever I have returned to Madras, I have, on most occasions, visited Gangãdaréswara Temple. As the subsequent columnist has referred, the temple is certainly better maintained, but Asoka Mitran’s concerns are about the tank, which are of course true. As a student of M Ct M Çidambaram Çettyar Memorial Preparatory School, I have, with profound joy and glee witnessed the annual téppam festival in the temple tank in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With the poor status of the tank, lo, the téppam festival has been given a go by, for the last 4—5 decades.

   Pankajãmbal saméda Gangãdaréswara temple is estimated to be at least 1000 years old. It is said that it was constructed during the time of Kulôtunga Çozha (the II or the III, I cannot recall exactly), who is considered to have brought water from the Ganges and added that into the temple well (note: not the tank), and consecrated the temple to Siva and naming Him as Gangãdaréswara. Unfortunately, no professional historian has verified these claims and established the facts. I certainly remember attending a lecture by Dr R Nagaswamy on temple archaeology and epigraphy in general in the precincts of Gangãdaréswara temple some 30 years ago, but he too never made any specific remark on the history of Gangãdaréswara temple.

   Purasa tree [Tamizh] (Butea frondosa, Leguminosaceae; p(a)lasa [Sanskrit]) is the śtala vrikśa. It is because of this tree the locality gets the name Purasa-p-pãkkam, which over time got corrupted as Purasawalkam. Controversy on the śtala vrikśa of Gangãdaréswara temple exists: some biologists working on the śtala vrikśa theme think that the ‘helicopter plant’ (also referred commonly as the ‘aeroplane’ plant, because the fruits will resemble a plane), biologically known as Hiptage benghalensis (formerly Hiptage madablota) (Malphigiaceae)(Vasantakãla mallikai [Tamizh], Mãdavi latã (Sanskrit; note that madablota is the corruption of Mãdavi latã) is the śtala vrikśa. The last time I visited, I noticed that this woody creeper is struggling in the outer prãkãra. The purasa tree survives adjacent to the well and the shrine dedicated to Mahã Viśnu (Satyanãrãyanã) in the outer prãkãra.

   The trustees claim that Purasawalkam Gangãdaréswara temple is a pãdal-pétra śtalam. One Dévarãm song refers to the Lord of Purasa-puri. Again controversy shrouds this claim. A tiny, but ancient Siva-kśétra exists adjacent to the former Dãsãprakaś Hotel in the Aravãmudu Garden Street (I do not know its current status). Some historians and Tamizh scholars say that the pãdal refers to this Siva-kśétra in the Aravãmudu Garden Street.

   Ram : Thanks Raman, very useful …. also checked out on the Purasa Tree last week ….
6. 

   17 Apr 2011 at 11:11 pm Awasthi

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   Thank you everyone for the information, i live in puruswakkam and visit the temple atleast twice every week, currently there is renovation work is going on near the tank and while digging an very old Durga Amman idol has been found which they have kept underneath the tree near tank next to ganesha idol………just taught to share the latest development about the tempel
7. 

   14 Dec 2011 at 5:06 pm Mohana

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   It seems this temple has Purasai tree as sthala virutcham, which is being the tree of Pooram star. As this is in Chennai city, I am very eager to visit as I am pooram.

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