Kapaleeswara Temple of Mylapore

Kapaleeswara Temple is one of the most famous tourist place at Chennai.

Chennai is famous for so many things and one of them is Kapaleeswara Temple of Mylapore. This is the most famous temple in Chennai. The legend is that Goddess Parvatee worshipped to Lord Shankar in this place in the form of Peacock. In Tamil "mayil" means Peacock. That's how the name Mylapore has been derived.

How Kapaleeswara got its name

Similarly the Kapaleeswara is a combination of two Sanskrit words, which are "Kapalam" and "Eeshwara". Kapalam means skull! The mythological story behind this is; Once Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva met on the top of Mountain Kailas. During their meeting, Shiva felt that Brahma was not showing him the respect that he should get. So, he plucked one of the 5 heads of the creator. Than to satisfy Lord Shiva, Brahma came to Mylapore and installed a Lingam. That's how the place got its name "Kapaleeswara".

Chariot Festival

It was believed that the temple was built by Pallavas during the 7th century. There is a chariot festival that the temple trustee observed. The Lord will come out of worship room on his Golden chariot to meet his devotees. The height of the chariot will be around 15 feet 5 inch. The Lord will be seated in this chariot and go around the temple but with in the limits of compound wall. If any devotee want to pull the chariot, he has to pay a fee of INR 1001/-. However, maximum of 4 devotees can get this opportunity.

Faith on God

The faith of the devotees is very high for this temple. There was another story of Poompavai. She is the daughter of Sivanessan Chettiar. One day while plucking flowers from the garden a snake bites her. She died on the spot but his father kept her ashes in a pot with the hope that some miracle will happen and his daughter will come to life.

Later, a famous saint of the name "Thirugnana Sambandar" came to Mylapore. He took the ashes and put them in front of Lord Kapaleeswara. He started singing verses in praise of the Lord and miraculously Poompavai get back her life!

My Experience

During my stay at Mylapore, this was the most frequent visiting place for me other than "Marina Beach" and "Ramakrishna Math". It is one of the most peaceful and religious place. You automatically start thinking spiritually once you step into this temple. It is a must visiting place in Chennai.