Vadapalani Andavar Temple – It Is 125 Years Oldest Shrine In Chennai City

VADAPALANI ANDAVAR TEMPLE

AT

CHENNAI

Vadapalani Andavar Temple is located in Vadapalani, Chennai. The temple is dedicated to Lord Muruga. The temple was renovated in 1920 and a Rajagopuram was built during that time. The temple has grown in popularity believed in part due to the patronage of cinema stars.

Built about 125 years back, this much hallowed and regularly frequented Lord Muruga Sannidhi has emerged from a thatched shed, an unostentatious one enshrining a Murugan picture only, and established for itself a name on par with ancient places of worship. Around 7000 couples are married here each year.

According to the sthalapurana, one Muruga devotee by name Annaswami Nayakar with his limited means built a small thatched hut and kept a Murugan painting for his personal worship primarily. During his meditation and worship, he used to experience some divine power entering his body and inspiring him to utter some mysterious things, whatever he said in his trance was found true.

His utterance went by the name of ‘arulvakku’ (God blessed statements) and relieved people in several ways, like curing diseases and getting jobs, solemnizing marriages, etc.

There are very many sannidhis in the vast courtyards of the temple, like Varasiddhi Vinayaka, Chokkanathar, Meenakshi Amman, Kali, Bhairava, Shanmuga with Valli and Devasena.

The moolavar in standing posture resembles the Palani Muruga in every respect. In the inner prakara, there are many niches housing Dakshina Murti, Chandikeswar, Mahalakshmi, et al. it has a spacious hall used for conduting marriages and religious discourses. It is one of the most frequented Murugan shrines in the city of Chennai.

By Air

Chennai International airport is just 7 kilometres away from the city. There are pre-paid taxi booths outside the airport from where you can hire a taxi and reach your destination. Charges may vary as per the cab vendor. However if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, auto-rickshaws can take you to the city at a relatively low fare.

By Train

Chennai has three major railway stations namely Chennai Central (code MAS), Chennai Egmore which is just 2 kilometres from the city (code MS) and Tambaram which serves the suburban areas of Chennai. Many super-fast and express trains run on a daily basis and are well-connected to cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Cochin, Hyderabad, Kolkata and other Indian cities. 

By Bus

Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminal (CMBT) is one of Asia's largest bus stations. Around seven state owned companies run buses to and from various destinations within South India. they connect cities like Tirupati, Pondicherry, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and others. You can choose from deluxe, semi-deluxe, hi-tech, rajahamsa executive and sleeper buses while taking a route to any of the neighbouring cities. Also, there are various buses that connect major cities Bangalore and Calicut to Chennai.