TWENTY KILOMETRES to the east of Sriperumbudur, the birthplace of Sri Ramanuja, is Manimangalam. The presiding deity at this ancient temple is Sri Rajagopala, who is seen in a standing posture facing east, with His consorts Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi. There is a separate sannidhi for Senkamalavalli Thayar. A peculiarity of the deity here is that He holds the conch in His right hand and the Sudarsana Chakram in His left hand. His lower right hand is in the Abhaya Hasta mudra and He holds the mace in His lower left hand.
Manimangalam finds a place in the history of Tamil Nadu as the place where Narasimha Varma Pallava defeated the Chalukyas in the 7th century A.D. This fact is mentioned in the copper plates discovered at Kooram. Kalki has written about the Manimangalam battle in Sivagamiyin Sabatham. He describes how Mahendra Varma Pallava was injured in the battle at Manimangalam, and how his son Narasimha Varma Pallava and his trusted lieutenant Paranjoti vanquished Pulikesin's army.
The inscriptions on the wall outside the main sannidhi have been painted over. It is galling to find that those in charge of temples seem to think that all they need to do to preserve them is to give them a coat of paint, even if this means obliterating inscriptions and ruining them. There is a small carving of Yoga Narasimha, about the size of one's palm, on the top of the outer wall of the sanctum sanctorum. Tirumanjanams are performed for this Yoga Narasimha.
Even in July, the pushkarini of the temple was bone dry. The priest lamented that the temple tank, which once supplied lotus flowers to Chennai, has now fallen into disuse. There are no vahanams in the temple except for the Garuda vahanam. The vacant land inside the temple on either side of the main sannidhi has been let out on lease and lessee had planted aubergine saplings in neat rows.
The bhattar is both the priest and the cook at the temple. He also officiates as the priest of — the Vaikuntanathar temple, which is as old as the Rajagopala temple, the Srinivasa Perumal temple at Padappai and a few other temples of recent origin. The utsavamurthis of the Vaikuntanatha temple are kept in the Rajagopala temple for safety reasons.
There are two pillars outside the Rajagopala temple with carvings of snakes. The bhattar was unable to explain its significance, but told us that he had once seen a cobra outside the madapalli. Our driver also claimed to have seen a snake making its way into the bushes that abound around the temple. With a nursery school next to the temple and school children playing behind the bushes, it is necessary that they be removed before someone gets bitten.
Sunkuvar Chatram is on the way to Kanchipuram from Chennai. To the north of Sunkuvar Chatram is Maduramangalam, the birthplace of the Vaishnava Acharya Sri Embaar.
Embaar was the son of Peria Piraatti and Maduramangalam Vattamani Kamalanayana Bhattar. He was the first cousin of Sri Ramanuja and the nephew of Tirumalai Nambi. Born in the Tamil month of Thai, in the star Punarvasu, nine years after the birth of Sri Ramanuja, he was christened Govinda by his parents. Along with his cousin, he studied under Yadavaprakasa, the Advaita vidwan who lived in Tirupputkuzhi.
Yadavaprakasa's Vedantic explanations were unacceptable to Ramanuja. Once, Yadavaprakasa decided to kill Sri Ramanuja, angered by Sri Ramanuja's rejection of his explanation. And it was Govinda who warned his cousin to escape. Thus it was Govinda who saved the life of his cousin who went on to become a Yatiraja — a king among yatis. For a while, Govinda dabbled in Saivism, but was soon brought back into the Vaishnavite fold by his maternal uncle Tirumalai Nambi. Govinda became a sanyasi and was given the name "Embaar" by Sri Ramanuja.
The temple at Maduramangalam, the birthplace of Embaar, is more than a 1000 years old and is said to have been built by a Thondaimandala king called Suparna. The deity is Sri Vaikunta Perumal and there is a separate sannidhi for Kamalavalli Thayar. The utsavamurthi is the aradhanamurthi of Embaar. Sri Embaar is believed to be an incarnation of Garuda, for which reason the pushkarini is called Garuda Pushkarini. The villagers firmly believe that poisonous snakes will not harm them.
There is a separate sannidhi for Sri Embaar, and he is seen wearing a pendant gifted to him by Sri Ramanuja. The temple owns about 100 acres of land in Maduramangalam and eight acres in Kandoor village. The temple has only one prakaram, and lying there uncared for is an ancient drum, which according to a resident, had been used during utsavams in the past.
The main utsavams celebrated are the Brahmotsavam in the Tamil month of Chithirai and the Embaar avatara utsavam in Thai.
Maduramangalam was originally called Mazhalaimangalam. Tiruvalluvar says in one of his couplets that only those who have not enjoyed the lisping of a child will enjoy the notes produced on a veena or a flute. There is nothing more madura (sweet) than mazhalai (lisping). So the change from Mazhalai to Madura is apt, for after all mazhalai is madura.
Kandoor is on the way to Maduramangalam and is famous for its Kalyana Varadar temple. Though there is no imposing structure and it has only one sannidhi, the priest claims that umarried men and women will soon find themselves entering matrimony if they worship at this temple. The temple houses the idols of Kalyana Varadar, Sri Devi, Bhoo Devi and Andal discovered about 500 years ago, and installed at the same place. The temple is therefore only 500 years old, although the idols are much older.
If one plans to travel by car, one can leave Chennai at around 6 a.m. visit both Maduramangalam and Manimangalam and be back by 2 p.m.