Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Uthiramerur Sri Sundara Varadhar

Uthiramerur village is located about 85 kms from Chennai off the GST Road. This is an ancient village well known for its temples, architecture, sculptures and stone inscriptions.


The main temple here is for Sri Sundara Varadaraja Perumal which is said to be built in 750 AD during Pallava rule. A king called Nandivarma Pallavan has donated this whole town to 1200 vedic scholars who settled down here. Those days this place was called as Uthiramerur Chaturvedhimangalam.

Later it has been renovated by Rajendra Chola in 1013 AD and again renovated by Krishnadevaraya in 1520 AD.

Lord Vishnu is generally seen in either of the 3 forms, Ninraan (நின்றான் - Perumal in standing posture), Irundhaan (இருந்தான் - Perumal in sitting posture) or Kidandhaan (கிடந்தான் - Perumal in reclining posture like Ranganathar)

This is one of the few temples where you can have dharshan of Perumal in all his 3 forms.


The sanctum is built in such a way that all 3 forms of Lord Vishnu are set one above the other as 3 levels or floors.

The presiding deity is Sri Sundara Varadaraja Perumal here in standing posture along with Sri Devi and Bhoodevi in the first level.

There is a staircase on which one can climb with much ease to go to the next floor, just above the main sanctum. In this next level Sri Vaikunda Varadhar is seen in the sitting posture.

While climbing up to the next level there is Sri Parthasarathy preaching Gita to Arjuna on the outer wall facing south. Lord Narasimha is present on the outer wall facing west and Sri Varaha Perumal with Lakshmi facing North. Here Varahar is in sitting posture with Sri Lakshmi sitting on his lap looking at Varahar's face in a praying gesture.

There is also Sri Dhakshinamurthy on the tomb facing south which is unusual in Vaishnavite temples.

In the third (upper most) level the Lord is in reclining posture on Aadhiseshan as Sri Ranganathar. Lord Brahma is seen on a Lotus emerging from Ranganathar’s navel. Lord Shiva is seen near the feet of the deity with the Deer and Mazhu (a weapon) on his hands.

Lord Ranganatha is seen blessing Markandeya Rishi with his right hand. Bhoodevi is in a praying gesture standing opposite Markandeya.

Other than these three, there are other deities called Achudha Varadhar, Aniruddha Varadhar and Kalyana Varadhar in the 3 sides of the prakaaram.


It is said that Pandavas during their Agnanavaasam where they hid themselves and roamed around in forests have visited here and worshipped Lord here. It is said that Sundara Varadhar was worshipped by Yudhishtira, Vaikunda Varadhar by Bheema, Achudha Varadhar by Arjuna, Aniruddha Varadhar by Nakula and Kalyana Varadhar by Sahadeva.

All the above 5 Gods are the principal deities here, though Sundara Varadhar remain the main deity.


It is also said that Pandavas lost their power and wisdom and after worshipping here, they gained all their power back.



This is one of and most ancient and wonderful temples filled with architectural brilliance with great sculptures all around.



Uthiramerur is also known as the birth place of democracy. The stone inscriptions in this town explains how constitutions were laid for democratic administration and also about electoral systems etc., People here have followed the election system called “Kudavolai” system for electing their favorite leaders in the local elections and the rules for nominating in elections and the voting systems which is the fore runner for today’s electoral systems.


Aazhwaars like Thirumazhisai Aazhwaar, Thirumangai Aazhwaar, Poigai Aazhwaar & Peyazhwaar have composed hymns on this temple.

Uthiramerur is well connected by road with buses plying from Chennai and Kanchipuram.

A must visit place for the lovers of temples, culture and heritage.

26 comments:

  1. Very nice of you to continue to contribute.
    K. Hariharan

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  2. WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THANKS FOR YOUR DIVYA DARSHANS & PHOTOS
    - R. MOHAN

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  3. Truly this is a very informative weblog covering all the temples.

    Keep up the good work.

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  4. Sri Saravanan,

    Iniya Puththandu nallvazhthukkal..

    Warm Regards,
    Aravind..

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  5. This is invaluable information. Thank you so much. Please keep up the work. I'll recommend this site to many others who will love to see this site.

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  6. Sir
    You are doing a great job !
    I am a native of Uthiramerur and feel taken around the temple on reading your article !
    Your articles are really a big guide !
    Keep up your good work !

    Kalpana
    Bangalore

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  7. A divine blog, I felt blessed on visiting your blog. Great Job. Please continue your excellent work.

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  8. very nice fotoes and information are very good.happy to see my native village temple and iam proud of it

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  9. i am both very happy and proud to say that i am a native of uthiramerur so i hail from a beautiful and historical place

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  10. can you please give the correct address of the temple with pincodes/ telephone numbers if possible?

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  11. HI THIA IS NEAREST MY HOME CHENNAI TO UTHIRAMERUR DIRECT BUS 104 THIS IS EVERY 10 MINITES ONE BUS SO EASY TO CAME AND SEE

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  12. Very useful information. I plan to visit India in May. I will definitely visit Uthiramerur temple.

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  13. it is very nice to see the blog the place where i have studied upto high school level is given in detail. will feel happy if you can add more photos of lord with moolavirat as also the goddess sri anandavalli thayar. -- R.C.Rajamani, Hyderabad.

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  14. hai
    i'm frm madurai i want to visit this temple for pooja... can u pls help me out how to reach there... and any nice hotels near that temple to stay....

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  15. i am both very happy and proud to say that i am a native of uthiramerur so i hail from a beautiful and historical place
    !the varadaraja temple was related with ramanuja my great grangfather i guess
    vakkil ramanuja iyangar....or something..the thayar anandavalli who never steps out of the temple goparu..and the bramhoutsavam..garuda sevai!is awesome there!

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  16. Interesting blog..keep up the good work..

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  17. Your information about temples are very good. But people from far off places will need to know the route and also the temple timings so that they can plan and visit. Nice work and wish you continue

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  18. I am a native of Utthiramerur and very glad to see the temple photos. Great...

    U K Sundaravaradan

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  19. Romba nalla kovil. manasukku romba Aaruthalla irukku

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  20. THIS S NOT A DIVYA DESAM & NONE OF THE AAZHWARS HAVE COMPOSED PASURAMS ABOUT THIS TEMPLE -pl stand corrected& i wonder how you got this info

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  21. kindly give the temple timings & phone numbers, which will be informative for all

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  22. it is good to read, excellent information. Thanks

    sai sundaram

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  23. Sir, had a visit to the temple today. Awesome, a must see lord vishnu temple. Great.

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  24. Aho Bhagyam, Aho Bhagyam. Visited the Kovil today around 04:00 PM. if possible every one should visit the temple at least once in their lifetime and see the architecture of the vimana, beauty of the deities.
    But the outer parikrima path is littered with excessive human waste, what a disgrace that the people around the temple are using the outer parikrima as the open toilet.
    Some one must address this issue, sooner the better.

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  25. I have visited this temple and it is wonderful.It is very rare to see such temples where we have three floors wherein Perumal gives such a good darshan!

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  26. Great temple ..a must visit for Bhaktas!

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