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Temples of Tamil Nadu
Karpaka Vinayakar
Tiruvarangam (Koyil)
Ekambareswarar Temple
Perur Patteeswaraswamy
Kailashnathar Temple
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Temples in South India >> Tamil Nadu >> Ekambareswarar Temple


Welcome to the city of thousand temples. Kanchipuram district is situated on the north-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, adjacent to the Bay of Bengal and Chennai city. It is bounded in the west by Vellore and Thiruvannamalai district, in the north by Thiruvallur district and Chennai district, in the south by Villupuram district, in the east by Bay of Bengal. It lies between 11° 00' to 12° 00' North latitudes and 77° 28' to 78° 50' East longitudes. The district has a total geographical area of 4, 43,210 hectares and coastline of 57 Kms.

Kanchipuram, the temple town is the district headquarters. For administrative reasons, the district has been divided into 3 revenue divisions comprising of 8 taluks with 1214 revenue villages. For development reasons, it is divided into 13 development blocks with 648 Village Panchayats.

Kanchipuram was the historical capital of the Pallavas during the 7th - 9th centuries. Kanchipuram is one of the seven sacred cities of India. Kanchipuram is famous for hand-woven silk fabrics and saris. The weavers use the highest quality silk and pure gold thread. Kanchipuram is also known as Silk City. Sankaracharya 'Math' is situated at Kanchipuram.

Ekambareswarar Temple is one of the famous Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, located in Kanchipuram in the state of Tamilnadu, India.

It is one of the five major Shiva temples (each representing a natural element), representing the element Earth. The other four temples in this category are Thiruvanaikaval Jambukeswara (water), Chidambaram Natarajar (sky), Thiruvannamalai Arunachaleswara (fire) and Kalahasti Nathar (wind).

Reaching a height of 57 meters, the temple's gopuram is one of the tallest in South India. One notable feature of the temple is the Aayiram Kaal Mandapam, or the "hallway with a thousand pillars". The temple's inner walls are decorated with an array of 1,008 Siva lingams. The sthala-virutcham is a 3,500 year old mango tree whose branches are said to yield four different types of mangoes.

It is also one of the 108 Divya desam for Vaishnavaites. There is a small Sannidhi for Lord Vishnu named ThiruNilaaththingal Thundathan. Legend says that once Parvati was doing Tapas under the Mango Tree. In order to test her devotion Lord Shiva sent fire on her. Goddess Parvati prayed to her brother Lord Vishnu. In order to save her,he took the Moon from Lord Shiva's head and showed the rays which then cooled down the tree as well as Parvati. After that, Lord Shiva again sent River Ganga to disrupt the tapas. Parvati devi prayed to Ganga and convince her that both of them are sisters and should not harm her. Ganga did not disturb her penance after that. Then, Parvati made a Shiva Linga out of sand and got united with Lord Shiva. Here, Lord Vishnu is prayed as Vamana Murthy.