Anjaneyar Temple Nanganallur

Getting there

• By air

  Chennai International Airport is close to Nanganallur, which is a residential area.

• By train

  Palavanthangal and Meenambakkam are the two railway stations serving the neighbourhood, and Nanganallur Road is the nearest Chennai Metro station.

• By road

  Buses 52L, 52K and 52P serve Nanganallur, and other routes do too. From the city, the main road into Nanganallur starts at Trident Hotel Junction on the Grand Southern Trunk Road, just north of the airport.

Why devotees come here

Anjaneyar Temple in Nanganallur, a southern neighbourhood of Chennai, is dedicated to Hanuman. Its principal idol is 32 feet tall, carved from a single rock, and is described as the second tallest Hanuman after Panchavatee near Puducherry.

Hanuman is held to be the only deity present in both great epics: as Rama's direct disciple in the Ramayana, and on the flag of Arjuna's chariot in the Mahabharata. The main shrine houses the idol in a temple tower 90 feet tall, and the deity faces west, so the main entrance is on the west.

Chandrashekarendra Saraswati of the Kanchi Mutt installed the idol in 1989, and the Kumbabishekam, the consecration ceremony, was held in 1995. In July 2013 the state's Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department took over the temple's administration, after the Madras High Court upheld the withdrawal of its exemption. Inside the complex, a Rama shrine with Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman stands in the northwest corner, and a Krishna shrine with Rukmini and Satyabhama stands in the southwest.

The temple observes Hanumath Jayanthi, Gokulashtami and Sri Rama Navami.

Tips for your visit

• Enter from the west, since the deity faces west and the main entrance is on that side.
• The Rama and Krishna shrines are inside the temple complex, in the northwest and southwest corners.

Questions people ask