Parantharami Mani

     This is the temple of Kanda Kottam in Rasappa Chetty Street, Park Town dedicated toTamil Kadavul Murugan. The temple has been in existence for more than 350 years.  The legend behind the temple goes like this.Two friends Mari Chettiar and Kandappa Achari used to visit the Murugan Temple at Tiruporur 40kms away from Madras.  Once after having darshan when they were sleeping under a shadow tree when  God came in their dream and said there is a idol of him in the Ant hill nearby.They found it true and brought the idle to Madras and installed it in a Vinayaka temple in the Garden of Muthialu Naicker in Peddanaickenpet. When mari Chettiar wanted to build a separate temple for the Lord  Naicker gave him a  piece of land in Park Town and the temple was built in 1673 AD.The Utsavar is called Muthukumaraswamy.  The temple is under the hereditary trusteeship of Ayira Vysya Beri chetty community.

     This is a photo of the temple taken in the year 1951 of Sannadhi Stret, Mylapore. when the main tower was not built.The tower on the western side is the old one. The Mckenzie map of the temple of early 1800s also does not show the tower.The main tower was built in 1906. Legend says the temple was originally a Murugan temple with Singaravelar as main deity and Lord Shiva shrine came later after it was destroyed in the 16th century by Portugese when it was near to the sea shore.  Even now there is a separate Dwajasthambam for Murugan shrine. The main Dwajasthamba on the west side was gold plated in August 1947. A lot of coconut trees and low height tiled houses can be seen on the Sannadhi Street.  The second photo is the picture in 1920s and the third one is of 2015.