Manju's Blog

Tyagaraja Temple is at Thiruvotriyur in North Chennai. The temple is said to be over 1300 years old. Lord Shiva is worshipped as Tyagarajar, Adipureeswarar and and Padampakka Nathar here. The Moolavar here (Aadipureeswarar) is a Lingam of earth, covered with a kavacam, removed only on the occasion of Kartikai Full Moon. The shrine of Goddess Vadivudai Amman attracts a large gathering of devotees on Fridays and full moon days.

Adi Sankaracharya the great religious leader is said to have visited this shrine. Ancient Pallava inscriptions are found in this temple. The temple main tower (Rajagopuram) is 120 feet height. This is a big temple with vast corridoors. A large number of people visit this temple.

According to mythology, this shivasthalam is considred as the first shivasthalam after the great deluge (pralayam). The pillars in this temple mandapam have inscriptions from the period of Chola Kings Parakrama Chola I and Uttama Chola. There are 108 sivalingams in this temple. The festival conducted during the Tamil month of Masi (February 15th to March 15th) is the main attraction of this temple.

Lord Siva forms a row a 27 lingas representing the 27 stars in this temple. Goddess Vadivudai Amman represents Gnana Shakti, the goddess who bestows knowledge and wisdom. Vadivudai Amman is also known as the Beautiful Goddess. Her Blessings will bestow one with knowledge, wisdom and divine beauty.

Guindy National Park is considered as the breathing lung of the cosmopolitan city of Chennai. The park is the prime visiting location of more than three lakhs tourists during a season. Entire family can spend time in this park on a vacation.

The Guindy National Park covers an area of 2.82 square kilometers. This park is the smallest National Park in India and one of the very few which is located inside a city. The park is an extension of the grounds surrounding Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Governor of Tamilnadu. The Guindy National Park is situated behind Gandhi Mandapam, Kamaraj Memorial and Rajaji Memorial on Sardar Patel road on the southern outskirts of Chennai. The rear southeast edge of the park ajoins the campus of Indian Institute of Technology.

The park boasts of 24 varieties of trees, 14 varieties of shrubs and over 14 types of mammals like elephant, antilope, spotted dear, jungle cat, toddy cat, Indian civet, etc. The park also has over 37 varieties of birds, like black chested, black winged kite, honey buzzard, pariah kite, and so on. There are also many kinds of amphibians and snakes in the park. Some species of tortoise and turtles, especially the endangered star turtle, lizards, geckos, chameleons as well as a large variety of insects and butterflies are available here for tourist attraction.

Guindy Snake Park and the children’s park are also very attractive to the visitors. The snake park has a huge variety of snakes, venomous and non-venomous, small and huge turtles and tortoises, various species of crocodiles, caimans and gharials. The Snake park and Children’s park have separate entrances and independent entry fees. There is a seperate entry fees for Cameras.

St. Thomas Mount is a small hill located near Guindy, Chennai associated with St. Thomas, the apostle of Jesus Christ. Chennai suburban rail network has a small station in St. Thomas Mount.

St. Thomas is believed to have been martyred here. He was one of the first Christian reached in India to preach Chirstianity. He spent his last years in St. Thomas Mount and was assasinated by persons hostile to him in AD72.

Chennai Domestic and International Airport and Guindy Race Course are very near to St. Thomas Mount.

We reached chennai on 7th March. We are at Ernavoor near thiruvotiyur. We left Mumbai on Jan 3st. First we went to Miraj from there to Kerala and we were at kerala for a month and finally reached chennai through madurai, trichy and pondichery. it was a nice trip… on the way we stayed at madurai and pondichery and visited madurai meenakshi temple…