>

155= Temple no 155 in the Paadal Petra Sthalam
38 = Temple no 38 in kaviri thenkarai

This is a paadal petra sthalam. Thirugnanasambandhar has sung about this temple. Main deity is Vedhapureeswarar and he is facing west.
Goddess: Soundarya Nayagi
Tree: Sandalwood
Theertham: Vedhamirtha theertham
Vinayagar: Gnanasambandha Vinayagar

Dont miss the rudraksha tree behind the temple and also the rudraksha decoration above the sivalingam

This is one of the few temples where I have seen lingothpavar. Others that come to my mind are SurutapaLLi and kanjanoor. This temple has some inscriptions from the time of Kulothunga Chozhan III.

தொழுமாறு வல்லார் துயர் தீர நினைந்(து)
எழுமாறு வல்லார் இசைபாட விம்மி
அழுமாறு வல்லார் அழுந்தை மறையோர்
வழிபாடு செய்மாமட மன்னினையே

Source: திருமுறைத்தளங்கள்

If you like old temples with not much crowd(When I went there was no one else) then this place would be the ideal choice. In case you visit this temple, do not forget to have a look at the sokkataan mandapam, and the paintings there.


Apart from the Sivan temple, there is a perumaL temple here. The deity is called aamaruviyappan and the temple is one of the 108 divyadesangaL.

I do not have much photographs from this temple as renovation is going on. One interesting thing is that, perumaL is directly facing the sivan over here. The sivan temple is at the east end of the road, facing west and the perumaL temple is at the west end facing east. PerumaL is around 16 feet tall.

This place has one more reason to be in the history books. This is where the great Tamil poet, Kamban was born. There is a memorial for Kambar here.

Some information:
This temple is around 9 kms from Mayavaram(MayiladuthuRai). From Mayavaram proceed towards Kumbakonam via Kuthalam. After some 6 kms, you will reach a junction where on the left side you will get a road called as ‘Komal Road’. Proceed in that for around 3 kms and you will reach Therazhundhur.

Trivia:
At the junction, you will find a piLLayar temple. It seems when thirugnanasambandhar visited this place he was confused whether to take left or right for the temple. And piLLayar guided him. So he is called as vazhikaati vinayagar
Entire set of photographs, can be found here

Sambuvarayars are from Padavedu. They ruled this place. According to history, most of the temples (Except for Venugopala Swamy and Lakshmi Narasimhar) were submerged in sand. They were discovered in 1993 by TVS family and from then they are maintaining it.


It had rained the previous night and the route to Padavedu was quite scenic. Lush greenery all around made me wonder if I was near Vellore. I took the Vellore-Tiurvannamalai route and later took a diversion for Padavedu beyond a village called Kannamangalam.
Till Kannamangalam it was a state highway and later a normal road. Even the normal road was quite good. As always with many village roads, you could see few kaaval deivams on the way. I am not sure what these small dolls are. Any idea what they could be?

Vinayagar Temple

This is the first temple I visited. The Ganesha is around 5.5 feet tall and looks very majestic. There is nothing apart from this statue here. But worth spending few minutes. My brother mentioned to me that there is a place called Uppur near Rameswaram, where such Ganesha temple is there.

Renuka Parameswary Temple
This temple was extremely crowded. It is a big one and looks like any other Amman temple with people doing anga pradakshanam, and other kind of prayers. In case you weren’t aware, Renuka is the mother of Parasurama. I would recommend you this site for further details

Ramar Temple

This is a temple where Lord Rama is in the pose of meditation. He is seated in Padmasana. This temple was also buried in sand and was dug out recently. They have renovated the temple really well without disturbing the original architecture. This is a must visit temple for anyone who loves old temples in a peaceful atmosphere. You are not allowed to take photographs within the temple.

Veera Anjaneyar Temple

This is on the way to Ramar temple from Renukambal temple. It is close to a Draupadhi Mandapam. This priest does the pooja for Varadaraja perumaL temple too. So if you want to visit Varadaraja Perumal temple, you better visit here first and ask the priest to take you there. There is a 7 to 7.5 ft tall Anjaneyar inside.

Lakshmi Narasimhar Temple

Lakshmi Narasimhar temple is at a place called Ramanathapuram pretty close to the Ramar temple. You will see a small blue board on the right for this temple. Keep looking for that

After visiting Ramar temple, I went to Lakshmi Narasimhar temple. This was one of the temples that was not submerged. From Ramar temple keep going straight, take first right.

You will come across a small bridge over a small river. Keep going straight till you see the blue board. You will get to see another hill immediately, but that is Velmurugan temple where there is a single Vel. I didn’t go there.

It is on top a small hill and the view from here is breathtaking! They do Abishekam for Narasimhar on Sundays.

Varadharaja Perumal Temple


This was my favorite. I have never been to a temple which is in the middle of a field. Extremely nice ambience with fields, banana trees and mountains covering it. This temple is for Varadaraja perumaL. This is a good place to meditate and spend atleast half an hour forgetting everything else. The walk through paddy field and banana trees is an interesting experience too with water trickling down on you. No words can do justice to this place. I would definitely visit this place again!

Ammayappa Eswarar Temple

This temple is the oldest of the lot and looks very simple. The amman in this temple is Aparnambikai and the statue is around 5.5 to 5.7 feet tall. Right in front of the Amman statue, there will be a pit from where they discovered the statues and ornaments. Ask the priest to show you the place. The priest mentioned that Thirunavukkarasar has sung a song on this temple, but I am not very sure. Nevertheless a must visit place in Padavedu.

Some details
There are two to three routes for reaching Padavedu. I would suggest you to take the route via vaazhiyur. If you proceed for some around 26 kms from Vellore on the Vellore – Tiruvannamalai route you will find this sign board on the left.


Take a right turn there and keep proceeding for some 4 or 5 kms. You will have a diversion for Padavedu.

You can ask people for directions and they will definitely help. First you will reach Ganesapuram and from then on it is just one road. In case you are coming from Bangalore, after crossing the paLLikoNda toll gate take a right turn. That is some 1 or 1.5 kms after the toll gate. After traveling for around 22 kms in that road, you will reach a junction called Sattamadurai. Take a right turn there and travel further for some 10 kms till you reach the vaazhiyur junction. You get to avoid Vellore, and also save some 45 kms.

No food is available at Padavedu. As you can see all that is there are just temples and agricultural lands But if you call the priest Vasudeva Bhattar in advance he will arrange some temple prasadam(puLiyodharai, curd rice, lemon rice etc) for you Mr Vasudeva Bhattar can be reached at +91 98940 34069.

Venugopala Swamy temple on the hill is open only on saturdays. And by morning a tractor and jeep leaves for the hill. Car cannot climb up. I think the tractor leaves at 7 or so in the morning. So plan for this place on a Saturday as you will get to see that temple too. Photography is not allowed inside in any of the temples.

All the statues in the temples are extremely old. They date back to 12th century AD and before. Till 1993 all these were buried under the ground, and renovated by TVS group. Special mention needs to be done about the Renukambal trust(Owned by TVS) which maintains these temples in such a clean and beautiful fashion.

Please do make it a point to visit this village once. It is just a day trip either from Bangalore or Chennai Its worth it. And try to visit some temples which are mentioned in the Renugambal site(Photos are available), that I have not covered. And in case you are visiting, do visit everything and not just a few.

Entire set can be viewed here

Somnatheshwarar Temple, Melpadi

Melpadi is a small village on the Tiruvalam – Poigai road. There is a Sivan temple close to the shore of the river(River without water). This temple is called as the Somnatheshwarar temple and is maintained by ASI. It seems great grand father of Rajaraja chozhan (I could not get his name. Something that starts with aruNa’) was visiting this place after the war at Thakkolam. He died while he was resting here. So his son built this temple and also a samadhi for his father.

This temple is open only till 6 in the evening. Ideal time for visiting this temple would be after 5 PM. Its very nice to see in Twilight. It is secluded, empty and therefore very nice. Apart from me there were only two people. Temple priest and one guy from ASI. Actually you are not supposed to take photographs inside the temple. In case you want to do that, take permission from the ASI office within Vellore Fort(Near Jalakanteshwarar temple). It is not very tough to get permission. So in case you are visiting this temple do get the permission. Unfortunately I could not!

This temple is around 12 kms from Tiruvalam. It is on the way to VaLLimalai on the Tiruvalam – Poigai Road. Tiruvalam is in the south. Chennai in East, Bangalore in the west and Melpadi on the north. After crossing some 7 or 8 kms do ask people for Melpadi. It is a very small turning and there are very high chances of you missing it. Not many people know of this temple. So ask for Melpadi(pronounced melpaadi), and once you are in Melpadi ask about the temple. By the way there is another village nearby called as ‘Erukampattu’ and there is a perumaL temple close to the shore(Again river with no water). This temple closes by around 3.30 or 4 PM itself. So visit there first, and then come to Melpa(a)di.

Entire set can be viewed here.

Gadambur Temple, Ambur:

After some research, I heard about this place via google. The information was that there was a Sivan temple and a small pond on top a hill. Well, there was a temple and a small pond. But it was a Murugan temple. The place is called as Kailasagiri and once upon a time there was a Sivan temple.

The Mughal rulers demolished the temple and threw everything in the pond. Much later that is around 200 years back, this Murugan temple was built during the Britishers period. Right next to the temple, there is a small cave and some Muslim ruler was hiding here to escape from the British. Visit this place in early morning or late evening, as it might be pretty hot otherwise. Its quite good. It will take an additional 1 to 1.5 hours to go and come back.

Some details.
While coming from Bangalore, take a left turn(If you are coming from Chennai, then right turn) at Ambur – Pennathur road. There are 2 movie halls and 1 Reliance petrol pump on your left (That is before taking the left turn). Immediately after taking the left turn you will see a restaurant called as Hotel Amirtham. This place is good for breakfast and lunch. Toilets are clean too(Just that it is there in the second floor). After some 7 or 8 kms you will get to see a coconut shell kind of mountain towards your left and there will be a small arch ‘Subramanya Swamy Tirukovil’. Take left and keep driving for another 2 kms.

The last 1.5 kms is very bad. You would need to climb around 500 to 600 steps. You can climb in say 15 minutes without taking a break or 20 to 30 minutes depending on the no of breaks. Nothing is available on top. No. Not even water. So carry your own stuff. Right on the way, there is a village caled Thuthipattu. There is a Bindhu Madhava PerumaL temple which I didn’t visit. Maybe next time.

There is an old man who looks after this temple. Mr Ponnuswamy. He will be your tour guide there