Sundareswarar Temple, Kovur

Sundareswarar Temple, Kovur is one of the Navagraha temples in Chennai. It is the temple dedicated to Budhan. This temple dating back to the 7th century AD was built by Kulathunga Cholan. The 7 tiered Rajagopuram of this temple faces South. The Presiding Deity Sundareswarar and His Consort Sowndarambika also go by the names Thirumayileeswarar and Thiruvudainayaki respectively.

The Legend goes that Goddess Kamakshi was in penance at neighbouring Mangadu to win the hand of the Lord in marriage. The intensity of the penance was such that it radiated lot of heat. This heat was too much for the people and the live stock of the neighbouring villages. At the same time Lord Shiva was also in penance and hence did not respond to Goddess Kamakshi’s prayers. The sages and the Devas approached Mahavishnu and sought help in getting relief. Mahavishnu directed His Consort Mahalakshmi to do the needful and save the people. Accordingly, Mahalakshmi was born as a cow and worshiped Lord Shiva here. Soon Lord Shiva opened His eyes and the whole place started cooling down. Thus the people were saved from the heat generated by the penance of Goddess Kamakshi. This place was called Gopuri because Mahalakshi had taken the form of a cow here. Gopuri, however, over a period of time has now become Kovur.

Veerabadhrar, Lord Murugan with His Consorts Valli & Devasena and Navagraham are some of the other sannadhis in this temple. Aruipathimoovar or the 63 Naayanmaars (Shivite saints) are also present in this temple.

 

Saint Thyagaraja, the great music composer and poet was once passing through this village while on his way to Tirupati. He was attacked by a few dacoits. He got down from his palanquin and told the dacoits that he was not a rich man and they would not get anything from him. The dacoits asked Saint Thyagaraja about the identity of the two young men who threw stones at them. Saint Thyagaraja said that he was the only one traveling by the Palanquin. The dacoits insisted that they saw two young men. The saint immediately realised that it must have been Lord Rama and Lakshmana. He realised that this place had some divinity to it and visited the temple. During this visit he wrote and composed five songs in praise of Lord Sundareswarar. The Kovur Pancharatnams are “Ee Vasudha” (Sahana), “Kori Sevimpa” (Karaharapriya), “Sambo Mahadeva” (Pantuvarali), “Nammi Vachina” (Kalyani) and “Sundareswarun” (Sankarabharanam).

Some Photographs from my latest visit in April 2013. It is really pathetic to see the state of the temple chariot.

 

 

 

 

The Sthala Vruksham at this temple is Mahavilvam. Each stalk of this Mahavilvam tree has 27 leaves. The vimanam of the Sanctum Sanctorum is Gajaprushta Vimanam like the one at Madambakkam Dhenupureeswarar koil, Somanatheeswarar Temple at Somangalam or the Ramanatheeswarar temple at Porur.

The worship benefits at this temple includes alleviation of the malefic effects of an unfavourably placed Budhan in ones horoscope, childless are blessed with progeny, the hurdles in getting married are cleared, good agricultural yield and career growth. Budhan bestows wealth and wisdom on his devotees. Students who are weak in studies can pray here and reap the benefit. Businessmen can pray here to improve their business.

Location: Kovur is on the Porur Kundrathur road. It is just about 4.5 kms from the Porur junction. Here is the link giving the details of MTC buses connectivity to Kovur.

View Chennai Navagraha Temples in a larger map

Other Temples nearby:

The navagraha temples of Chennai are in fact around Porur and are at a radius of about 10 kms from Porur.

1. Suryan Sthalam – Agastheeswarar Kovil, Kolapakkam
2. Chandran Sthalam – Somanatheswarar Temple, Somangalam
3. Chevvai Sthalam or Angakaran Sthalam – Vaitheeswaran Kovil, Poonamalee
4. Budhan Sthalam – Sundareswarar Kovil, Kovur
5. Guru Sthalam – Ramanatheeswarar Koil, Porur
6. Sukran Sthalam – Valleeswarar Kovil, Mangadu
7. Saneeswaran Sthalam – Agastheeswarar Kovil, Pozhichalur
8. Rahu Sthalam –  NageswararTemple, Kunrathur
9. Kethu Sthalam – Neelakanteswarar Kovil, Gerugambakkam

There are also alternate temples for some of the navagrahas. See my post on Kolapakkam to view the list.

Temple Timings: 7.00 AM – 12.00 Noon & 4.00 PM – 8.00 PM.

Temple address:

Arulmigu Soundarambiga Sametha Sundareswarar Alayam

Kovur

Chennai 602101

Phone: 044-24780124