Rajeswari sametha Rajeswarar temple is a small but very pious temple located in the North Ul veethi aka North Car street, off Sankara Mutt, in Tiruvanaikka.
This temple has a small tower at its entrance.
Lord shiva is East facing. There is a bali peetam and a Nandhi once you cross the main entrance. Ambal Rajeswari is south facing. There is another nandhi with its tail and one ear cut off. This was the one before Shiva before muslim invasion. This nandhi was damaged during that invasion and a new nandhi was placed before the Lord. Usually while placing a new one, the old one is buried under the earth. But this was not done here. They have covered the old nandhi with sandal paste.
On entering the artha mandapam, one can have darshan of Rajeswarar and Rajeswari.
There is also a window with 9 holes on the wall opposite to ambal as we go a round outside the sannidhi. We can see Ambal through that hole also.
In the koshtam surrounding the garba griham, there is a sannidhi for Dakshinamurthy on the south side.
To the back side of the garba griha, on the wall there is Lingodhbhavar.
At the south west corner, there is a sannidhi for Ganesha.
As we move further towards right, exactly to the back of garba griha, on the west, there is a sannidhi for Subrahmanya.
Next, in the north west corner is the sannidhi for Gajalakshmi.
As we move further, in the north, there is a sannidhi for ChandikEswarar.
We cross the vimaanam of Ambal and see another mandapam hosting Bhairavar, naga devathaas and few others.
This mandapam has the pancha mukha lingeswarar and Tripurasundari Ambal facing each other. Ambal faces to the west, i.e one of the face (east face) of the pancha mukha lingam.
Pancha mukha lingeswarar has one face facing each direction - east, west, north and south and one face facing upwards. Grand decorations are done to this Shiva linga on Pradosham days, Shivaratri and Karthika month Mondays. Few photos attached.
Outside this temple, there is a temple for Vinayaka called as Vetri MookkaRundha vinayakar. This Vinayaka was inside the main temple (Jambukeswarar), Which after the Muslims invasion, had the trunk cut and thus was shifted to a place outside Aanaikka temple. So the name came as Mookkarundha Vinayakar.
Many thanks to the temple Sivacharyar who was very kind enough to provide me with details of the temple and also shared the photos of the alankarams done to Shiva and Ambal on Kartikai Somavaaram in 2017.
Next time you visit, Tiruvanaikka, dont miss this place.
This temple has a small tower at its entrance.
Lord shiva is East facing. There is a bali peetam and a Nandhi once you cross the main entrance. Ambal Rajeswari is south facing. There is another nandhi with its tail and one ear cut off. This was the one before Shiva before muslim invasion. This nandhi was damaged during that invasion and a new nandhi was placed before the Lord. Usually while placing a new one, the old one is buried under the earth. But this was not done here. They have covered the old nandhi with sandal paste.
On entering the artha mandapam, one can have darshan of Rajeswarar and Rajeswari.
There is also a window with 9 holes on the wall opposite to ambal as we go a round outside the sannidhi. We can see Ambal through that hole also.
In the koshtam surrounding the garba griham, there is a sannidhi for Dakshinamurthy on the south side.
To the back side of the garba griha, on the wall there is Lingodhbhavar.
At the south west corner, there is a sannidhi for Ganesha.
As we move further towards right, exactly to the back of garba griha, on the west, there is a sannidhi for Subrahmanya.
Next, in the north west corner is the sannidhi for Gajalakshmi.
As we move further, in the north, there is a sannidhi for ChandikEswarar.
We cross the vimaanam of Ambal and see another mandapam hosting Bhairavar, naga devathaas and few others.
This mandapam has the pancha mukha lingeswarar and Tripurasundari Ambal facing each other. Ambal faces to the west, i.e one of the face (east face) of the pancha mukha lingam.
Pancha mukha lingeswarar has one face facing each direction - east, west, north and south and one face facing upwards. Grand decorations are done to this Shiva linga on Pradosham days, Shivaratri and Karthika month Mondays. Few photos attached.
Many thanks to the temple Sivacharyar who was very kind enough to provide me with details of the temple and also shared the photos of the alankarams done to Shiva and Ambal on Kartikai Somavaaram in 2017.
Next time you visit, Tiruvanaikka, dont miss this place.
