Rarely visited temple in a historic village

Cheyyur, with its many temples, is one of the ancient villages dotting the stretch of East Coast Road (ECR), from Chennai to Pondicherry (Puducherry).
Rarely visited temple in a historic village

CHENNAI: Cheyyur, with its many temples, is one of the ancient villages dotting the stretch of East Coast Road (ECR), from Chennai to Pondicherry (Puducherry). One of the shrines here is for Vishnu, worshipped as Kari Manikka Perumal. Cheyyur was once called Seyyur alias Jayamkonda Chola Nallur, as seen from the inscriptions found in this village. It was situated in the ancient territorial subdivision known as Puraiyur Nadu a sub-division of Sembur Kottam in Jayamkonda Chola Mandalam.

The small entrance to the temple, without a gopuram, faces east as also the principal sanctum. The prakaram which has a nandavanam to the left of the main entrance, is clean and spacious. The small stone image of Kari Manikka Perumal is in a standing pose with the consorts, Sridevi and Bhudevi on either side.

The deity holds the Sankha and Chakra in the upper hands while the  lower right hand is in the pose of blessing His devotees (abhaya hasta) and the lower left hand rests on His hip (kati hasta). The passage (antarala) connecting the sanctum with the mandapa outside houses the processional image of Kari Manikka Perumal and other bronze deities. The outer mandapa, which has the Garuda sanctum, is supported by pillars with sculptures of deities like Vira Hanuman and also some of musicians and geometric designs.

The sanctum of Goddess Lakshmi, worshipped as Perundevi Thayar, is on the south-west attached to a small mandapa with many sculptures. On the other side is the shrine for Andal. Many inscriptions are still visible at the base of the outer wall of the principal sanctum.

Chithra Madhavan

cityexpresschn@gmail.com

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