The Kamakshi Temple is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Kamakshi, one of the forms of the goddess Parvati. It is located in the historic city of Kanchipuram, near Chennai, India and is popularly associated with Sankaracharya, one of the greatest Hindu gurus.
The Goddess also has a Chandraperai (a shape of moon like structure) in her forehead. The Goddess Kamakshi is situated in the middle of temple premises.
Three most important and popular form of Divine Mother
- One is her powerful of all embracing grace and opulence and properity, in the form of Sri Lakshmi. Mother Lakshmi is a mother of prosperity, peace and illumination. Without Her grace one can’t have inner peace or perennial joy.
- Second is her profound capacity for knowledge and self expression, in the form of Sri Saraswati. Goddess Saraswati manifests to create the universe through pulsation (Spanda), which animates the mind as subtle thoughts, and emerges on the physical plane as speech. All of material creation is also embodied in the subtle vibrations of this divine speech, and mantras, which encapsulate these energies, when properly pronounced, can actually recreate material reality.
- The third form is her splendid strength, her warrior mood and her world-shaking force, as in Kali, Durga, Saptamatrikas, Mahavidyas and Prathyankara Devi. She is the Hindu Warrior queen, the one which all the Devas and even Asuras meditate upon just to get a mere glimpse of her as a blessing before any great battle. As Sri Parvati Devi, She is the whole left side of Lord Shiva, her consort in the form of Ardhanarishvara.
The meaning of her name; Sri Kamatchi or Kamakshi Amman
Mother Kamatchi has very special eyes, as portrayed in her name itself. The word 'Kama' can be refered to as Love, wanton or attractive, magnetic pull. Thus, the name means one who has a beautifully dazzling and captivating eyes. But the word 'Kaa' also means means Sri Lakshmi and 'maa' means Sri Saraswati, as in Kamatchi, the Supergoddess with Sri Parvathi, Sri Lakshmi and Sri Saraswati as her eyes. She blesses all that dedicate themselves to her.
Temple Histroy:
Mangadu (forest of Mango trees)is a small town situated 24km from Chennai between Kundrathur and Poonamallee.When Lord Siva and Devi were in their garden in Mount Kailash, Devi playfully covered the eyes of Lord Siva. Immediately the whole universe was engulfed in darkness. The Goddess sought Siva's pardon and he directed her to perform severe penance on earth. She came to earth and started her penance on the Panchagni in Mangadu.
The Goddess performed the penance resting her left leg on the Panchagni with her left hand raised above her head, holding a jabs mala. This image is seen at the temple where she is known as Tapas Kamakshiamman.Lord Siva, satisfied with he devotion,appeared before her and married her at Kancheepuram where the Sri Ekambareshwar temple is now situated. Hence it is believed that unmarried girls who worship Sri Kamakshi here get married as all obstacles that delay their marriage will be removed. People also worship the Goddess for begetting children when they offer miniature cradles here.
When Goddess left after completing her penance without extinguishing the fire the whole area suffered from the unbearable heat for a long time. Sri AdiSankara of Kaladi came here and installed the SRI ARDHAMERU CHAKRAM to extinguish the fire and the Sri Chakra is considered very divine and powerful.
Temple timings:
- 5:30 am – 12:00 pm
- 4:00–9:00 pm
Poojas:
- Abhishekam (3 times a day)
- Morning - Starts at 5:30 a.m.
- Afternoon - Starts at 10:30 a.m.
- Evening - Starts at 4:30 a.m.
- Santhana Kappu (Sandal Darshan)
- Every Wednesday and Saturday evenings
- Pournami Pooja / Navavarna Pooja (Full Moon day)
- Night 9:30 p.m. onwards every month
- Saharsranamam Archana (Daily)
- Morning - 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
- Evening - 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- Ashtothram Archana
- Morning - 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
- Evening - 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- Thanga Ratham (Golden Chariot)
- Only on specific days
Listen Sri chaganti koteswara rao garu Pravachanam on Kanchi kamakshi Vaibhavam.
How to get there
By Road
Bus:
- From Chennai, Buses from Chennai leave for Kanchipuram every fifteen minutes from the Koyambedu interstate bus terminal. There is also an air-conditioned bus service numbered Z576 from 5AM to 6PM, which departs from the T-Nagar bus terminal every hour. It reaches Chennai from Kanchipuram in nearly 2 hrs.
- From Bangalore, Buses from Bangalore leave for Kanchipuram seven times a day.
- From Mammalapuram, Buses from Mammalapuram leave approximately once per hour, it seems. There's one as late as 3:30PM, probably later. If you cannot get a direct bus, it's possible to go half-way and then change to a 212B or a more expensive and quicker private bus in order to complete your journey.
Car:
- Kanchipuram is 69 Km from Chennai and about 280 Km from Bangalore. If you take the Chennai-Bangalore expressway, you can reach it in about an hour and a half from the outskirts of Chennai, or four and a half hours from Bangalore. Traveling from car by Tirupati will take three to four hours.
- State Highway 58 connects Kanchipuram to Chengalpattu, which can be reached either from Chennai or from Mamallapuram and Pondicherry. If you're coming from Madurai or Trichy, the temple towns of South Tamil Nadu, you can take the road up to Tindivanam, and take State Highway 116 through Vandavasi from there.
The nearest airport is Chennai International Airport, just a 2 hours drive away.
By Rail
Can be reached from Chennai central railway station and Arakkonam railway station.
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