Adipureeswarar Temple

Getting there

• By train

  Tiruvottiyur railway station and Wimco Nagar railway station both form part of the Southern Railway network.

Why devotees come here

Adipureeswarar Temple stands in Tiruvottiyur, a coastal neighbourhood in northern Chennai. Shiva is worshipped here as Adhipureeswarar, and Devi Vadivudai Amman is worshipped too, as the form of wisdom power.

The name Adhipureeswarar means the first form of Shiva, and the Shiva here is worshipped under that name. Devi Vadivudai Amman is worshipped here too, as the form of wisdom power.

Tiruvottiyur is closely tied to the Thyagaraja Temple. That shrine is one of the Paadal Petra Sthalams, which the Tevaram hymns praise. It is also a major Shaivite temple, dedicated to Shiva and linked with the worship of Vadivudai Amman.

Inscriptions preserved at the temple show that Tiruvottiyur was an organised settlement by the late Pallava period. Later, the central shrine was rebuilt under Rajendra Chola I in fine black granite, as a three-tiered vimana. Tiruvottiyur is a coastal neighbourhood in northern Chennai, on the Bay of Bengal. The state's temple portal uses the name Arulmigu Thiyagaraja Swamy Temple for this shrine, so you may see that name on signs and listings. The official page lists morning darshan from 6 AM to 12 noon and evening darshan from 4 PM to 8:30 PM, with a break between them.

Tips for your visit

• Search with both Adhipureeswarar and Thiyagaraja Swamy, since both names are in use.
• The official temple page uses the Thiyagaraja name, so it is the one to match on the state site.
• Both Shiva and Devi Vadivudai Amman are worshipped in this temple, so both names appear on the official page.

Questions people ask