Sri Yoga Hayagreevar temple in Chettippunyam Near Chennai
This article provides information on Sri Yoga Hayagreevar temple in Chettippunyam Near Chennai which is more popular for people in and around the place. The Hayagreevar Vigraham was brought from Thiruvandhipuram near Cuddalore.
Sri Yoga Hayagreevar temple in Chettippunyam Near Chennai
Chettipunym is a small village that is located thirty kilometres from tambaram near Chennai. The Hayagreevar temple is situated in the west of GST road. Chettippunyam is very close to Chengalpatu. The temple is situated three kilometres from Singaperumal Kovil, a highly visited temple. One can always make it a point to visit both the temples together. Chettippunyam village got its name because of the community named Chettiyars, who used to live here. According to the history of our ancient India, Chettiyars are the community of people who do trading and business. In Chettipunyam there were weavers and the sought the hill nearby to dry their products. Greatness of Lord Hayagreeva
Before learning about the temple, let us know about the Lord Hayagreeva. Lord Hayagreeva as the name says in Sanskrit is a God with Horse's head and human body. The word Hayagreeva = Haya (Horse) + Greeva (neck) itself means Horse's neck. He is also worshipped in the name of Hayasirisa meaning Horse head. When Lord Brahma was not able to create after he lost the vedas he approached Lord Narayana for help. Lord narayana arrived as Hayagreeava to save the Vedas from the two asuras, Madhu and Kaithaba. It is said that Lord Hayagreeva tauf=ght the vedas again to Lord Brahma and thus he is celebrated as the God of Knowledge. The God is of brilliant white colour and white lotus is his great seat. All these show the purity of knowlwdge. Lord Hayareeva is the God of Knowledge. He is worshipped to fulfil the wishes for studies and is the first God to be worshipped to begin studies. The Vaishnava tradition includes Lord Hayagriva as one of the main deities. The places where Hareevar deity is housed are, Mysore Parakala Math, Dindugal Soundararajan temple, Mylapore Desikar temple, Chettipunyam Sri Yoga Hayagreevar Temple and many other small temples have a small idol of Hayagreevar.Legend of Sri Yoga Hayagreevar Temple Near Chennai
The temple is said to have built about four hundred years ago. But initially the temple had only sri Varadharaja Perumal. On the 22nd day of tamil month vaigasi during the magam star, Sirasdar Rao Sahib Rangachar brought the idols of Dhevanandha Perumal and Hayagreevar from one of the Hundred and Eight holy places named, Thiruvaheendrapuram situated near Cuddalore. They brought the idols here to safeguard it from the invaders. Desika, a famous poet has written 32 verses of Hayagriva Stotram , this is to depict the 32 Brahma Vidyas. It is also said that Goddess Saraswathi, Lord Dhakshnamoorthi who are all Lords of Knowledge are said to be a part of Lord Hayagreeva. Specialities of Sri Yoga Hayagreevar Temple near Chennai
Sri Varadharaja Perumal and Goddess Hemambhuja Nayagi are the important Deities of the temple. Dhevanandha Perumal idol is the utchavar uswed in the temple and he is found having a prayoga chakra in his right hand. Sri Garuda is on the Dwajasthambha which is made of stone. Bhoodevi, Sridevi, andal, Tahyar are the other deities of the temple but they were installed later. Mudumbai Ramaswamy Iyengar brought the idols of Rama, hanuman, Sita, Lakshmanan from the palace of Tanjore and later he installed these idols in Chettipunyam Devanathaswamy temple. The idols of the temple remain mind blowing images. Initially the temple had only Varadaraja perumal's moolavar and utchavar.
The temple has a rare idol of Hayagreevar. Hayagreevar is genrally found with Lakshmi but in this temple Yoga hayagreevar is found in a meditating pose. That is the speciality of the temple. Students from different places come here to get blessings before going to their exams. Students give their offerings and then place their pen, hall ticket etc in the foot of the Yoga hayagreevar idol and worship the God of knowledge. Sri Hayagreevar is believed as the Lord of Education and knowledge and so the temple always has a crowd of students praying for their exams. The temple is devanathaswamy temple but truly the temple is most visited for Hayagreevar. The northern side of the temple has the famous and holy Azhijal tree. Devotees have the habit of praying for their education, marriage, children by tying up a cloth or thread in the tree. The temple gets its funds from the 55 acres of agricultural land and the ancestral house of Thiru Renagaswamy ayengar, which he donated. Rituals in the Hayagreevar temple in Chettipunyam Near Chennai
The tamil month of Thai, that is from January 15 to February 15 is the festival season of this temple. The Thiruparvettai is the festival celebrated by the villagers during thai month. There are several events organised such as vaigasi magam, deepam, thai poojai, Adi pooram, vijaya dasami, ramavani and many more. Every year the ninth day of Navrathri is celebrated as Mahanavmi in this temple. The temple rituals are performed according to the vaishnava tradition. The Ashtabandhana Maha Samprokshanam was celebrated in the year 1993.
The Yoga Hayagreevar Temple at chettipunyam can be reached by going to Singaperumal Kovil and its very close from that temple. There are no direct buses to chettipunyam. But it is situated three kilometres west of Singaperumal temple. The temple is open from 7 AM to 12PM and 4PM to 8PM. The temple is a must visit for students and it is also a very beautiful temple. The idols remain in our memory for a long time. The peace can be felt from deep within the heart after the sight of the sculptures. It is an ancient temple with amazing history. The ePuja website also provides facilities to book the puja for gaining knowledge for the Sri Yoga Hayagreeavr temple. Archanai can also be performed. The link for the page is:
http://www.e-puja.com/hayagriva.aspHow to reach Hayagrivar temple in Chettipunyam Chennai
Hayagrivar temple in Chettipunyam Chennai is very famous for the people in Chennai area. We can see a huge crowd of people visiting the temple regularly from places like Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpet etc. We can see many people visiting the temple during the weekends and special occasions. Bus and train facilities are also available to reach Chettipunyam from Chennai.
Reach Chettipunyam By Bus
There are many bus facilities available from various places to reach Chettipunyam. Buses from Chennai to Chengalpet will be stopping in Chettipunyam. From the main road the temple is in the reach of 1.5 km distance. Similarly there are also busses available from Chengalpet. The busses that go to Tambaram or Chennai have to pass through Chettipunyam. All the local busses will stop in Chettipunyam.
Reach Chettipunyam By Train
There are also train facilities available to reach Hayagrivar temple in Chettipunyam from Tambaram and Chengalpet. The frequency of the Train is also very good. For reaching Hayagrivar temple in Chettipunyam you have to get down in Marimalai Nagar to reach Chettipunyam Hayagrivar temple. From the railway station the temple is in the reach of 1 km.
Alternatively you can also take a cab to reach Chettipunyam Hayagrivar temple. The road to the temple leads to a stone quarry at the top. So the road facilities will be very good for the cars and Lorries to travel.