Ekambareswarar Temple, Kanchipuram

Deity

Ekambaranathar (the element of earth) with the old mango tree

Where

Tamil Nadu · 12.85N 79.70E

Usual hours

6 am – 12.30 pm, 4 pm – 8.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Guru

Visited for

Prithvi, earth, where Kamakshi made a linga of sand and held it through the flood. Panguni Uthiram is its festival; the mango tree under which she worshipped is circled for marriage and children.

The sthala purana has it that Parvathi did penance under a mango tree on the bank of the Vegavathi, worshipping a linga she had made with her own hands out of the river sand.

Sivan is said to have sent the river down in flood to test her. She is said to have held the sand linga to herself rather than let it go, and the marks left on it by her arms and her bangles are pointed out on the moolavar today. He is worshipped here as Thazhuva Kuzhainthar, the one who melted at the embrace, and the two were married at this place.

The mango tree behind the sanctum is held to be the same tree. Tradition has it that its four branches bear fruit of four different tastes, one for each of the four Vedas.

Ekambareswarar is a Tevaram Paadal Petra Sthalam and one of the three great temples of Kanchipuram. There was Pallava work here, rebuilt under the Cholas, and the outer enclosures and the tall southern Rajagopuram belong to the Vijayanagara period; the gopuram is associated with Krishnadevaraya.

The southern Rajagopuram is among the tallest temple towers in Tamil Nadu and is the face of the temple from the street.

A thousand-pillared hall stands in the outer prakaram, and the Sivaganga tank lies inside the walls. A panel of 1,008 small lingams is set into one of the prakaram walls.

The sand linga is in the sanctum and no water abhishekam is done to it, for the obvious reason. The old mango tree stands in a small enclosure behind, with a shrine beside it.

Panguni Uthiram is the festival, kept as the Thirukalyanam of Ekambaranathar and Kamakshi, and it is the day the temple is fullest.

Maha Sivaratri, Karthigai Deepam and the Aadi and Thai months bring their own crowds. Couples circle the mango tree all through the year.

Also called

Ekambaranathar Temple, Kanchi Ekambaram, Prithvi Sthalam

Period

Pallava origin, rebuilt under the Cholas and greatly enlarged under Vijayanagara

Reaching it

Kanchipuram is about 75 km from Chennai and roughly 65 km from Vellore. Kanchipuram has its own railway station; the temple is in the northern part of the town, a short ride from the Kamakshi Amman temple.

• Kanchi Kamakshi Amman Temple 1.1 km · Sakta (Amman)
• Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram 4.7 km · Vaishnava
• Vallakottai Murugan Temple 27.9 km · Murugan
• Adi Kesava Perumal Temple, Sriperumbudur 29.2 km · Vaishnava
• Vadaranyeswarar Temple, Thiruvalangadu 35.1 km · Saiva
• Patalathri Narasimha Temple, Singaperumal Koil 35.4 km · Vaishnava

Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.

• Were the hours right when you went?
• Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
• A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board

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