ARDHANAAREESHWARA TEMPLE – TIRUCHENGODU- TAMILNADU 

Very rare is a temple dedicated to UMAMAHESHWARA in the form of ARDHANAAREESHWARA (Half Male – Half Female) as the main deity in a Temple.

In fact Tiruchengodu is the only town in Asia where the Temple has supreme MAHADEV as the principal deity in the form of a combination of Prakriti and Purusha in the same Idol. This is one of the 64 manifestations of Lord SHIVA, where he gives half of his body to his Consort PARVATHI.

The temple has a shrine of ADI KESAVA PERUMAL, (MAHAVISHNU) who instructed his sister PARVATHI as GAURI, the KEDARA GAURI VRATAM to become united with her consort as ARDHANAAREESHWARA. Known as “Madaorubagam” or Ammaiappan in Tamil.

The temple is referred to in the “THEVARAM”, a treatise in Tamil written by Saivite Saints called Nayanars around the 7th Century. This means the Temple was in existence before the 7th century.

In fact according to inscriptions on the wall of the Temple, it exists From the Sangam Period and is of more than 2000 years. Elango Adigal in the “SILAPATHIKARAM” has referred to Tiruchengodu as Chengodu.

Known as TiruKodi Mada Chengundrur during the Vedic times, On a hill of about 650 Feet stands Mahadev with half his body given to parvathi.

One can reach the temple either by Car or Bus or can climb up the 1206 steps to the Temple. En-route one has to climb the 60 identical steps known as (Aruvadam Padi) or (Satya Vakku Padi ) steps of Truth as named by the saint Arunagirinathar. There is a 60 ft long Adishesha the snake carved on the hill, naming the hills as Nagamalai or Nagagiri.

The 84.5 feet Rajagopuram is on the Northern side with a 5 tiered Gopuram built by the Vijayanagara King Krishna Deva Raya in 1512, which leads one to a compound of about 260 X 170 Feet. Being on top of the Hill the compound is clustered with mini shrines, showing the influence of more than a number of dynasties, including the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, Vijayanagara & Nayaka’s who have left a mark with their own contributions to the construction of the Temple. Inscriptions from the period of Parantaka Chola, Vijayanagara, Mysore Kings and Nayaka’s are found.

The western entrance leads to a Manadapam which does not lead to a sanctum, but has a Nandi mandapam and Dwarapalaka’s at the end of the Mandapam. In the centre is a peedham mounted on a huge tortoise. This Mandapam has beautiful Sculptures on its pillars. Behind this mandapam is another Mandapam which leads into a passage in a U form through the South into the Sanctum of Lord Ardhanaareeshwara facing west. This Mandapam also has the Sanctum of the Sengodu Velavar or Murugan Sannadhi exactly behind the sanctum of Ardhanaareeshwarar. Again the Mandapam is hugely decorated with figurines on the Pillars.( See Photos).

In the Garbhagriha the Lord Stands tall by about 6 Ft with an image half formed or thought to be natural or Swayambhu. The image has the lord on the right half and his consort on the left half also known as Baagampiriyaalammai (Part of the body – mother, literally). There is a water spring below the feet of the Lord.

The temple has many sub-shrines including that of the Utsava Bera of Ardhanaareeshwarar, Mallikarjuna, Sahasralinga, Vishwanath and Visalakshi, Nataraja & Sivagami,Sangameshwara with Vedanayaki, Vinayaka, Bhairava, Surya, Navagraha & Lingothbhava, Kuberalinga,Sapta matrikas, apart from other shrines. In fact it is unique to find the sanctum of Adishesha in a Shiva temple.

On circamumbulation one also finds the shrine of the Beautiful Lord Mahavishnu as Adi Kesava Perumal along with his consorts Shridevi & Bhudevi. There is a temple dedicated to Vinayaka known as Ucchi Pillayar Koil above this temple in the same hill.