Surutapalli - Lord Siva Temple

Surutapalli is a small village very close to oothukottai. Just half a mile from Oothukottai, we can find this temple. This is one of the old temples and it is located just in the Tamilnadu - Andhara border and belongs to Andhra pradesh state.

This is one of the unique temple where we can find Lord Shiva in human form in the moolavar. He is called as "Pallikondeswarar."

Location :
The temple is located in Chennai - Tirupathi border through Oothukottai - Thada route. This is exactly 57 kms away from Chennai and it takes less than a hour and a half to reach this place. We can find ample car parking space inside the temple.

Temple timings are : 
6 AM - 12 PM and then 4 PM to 8 PM in the evenings.

This temple is very famous for Pradoshams.

Sthala History :

As name suggests, Suruta means ' in tired state' and Palli means 'lying down'. This temple was built by Harihara Bhuga king from Vijayanagara dynasty.During the old days , when Devas requested Siva to have a life without death, Lord Siva adviced them to churn the ocean to get amritham (nectar) which will give Devas a life without death. All Devas churned the ocean and during the process, first it came a poison
before nector. When seeing the poison, Lord Siva went and took that to save the entire universe, while doing so, Lord Parvathi went and stopped Siva from swallowing the poison, if Lord Parvathi have not done that, the entire world would have been destroyed. Since the poison was stopped at the throat, Lord siva became drowsy and rested in the lap of Lord Parvathi and selected Srutapalli as the place.

When heard about this, all the Devas, other GODs and Saptharishi's rushed to see Lord Siva.
When Siva got up, he saw everyone and started to dance in happy mood, all the GODs, rishis and devas watched Siva dancing through the horns of Nandhi and hence Pradosham started.This temple is very famous for Pradoshams.

About temple :

While entering the temple, you will be welcomed by a huge size Nandi even before the Gopuram. Though Siva is the main deity, first we need to visit and get the blessings of Lord Maragadambikai. Since Lord Parvathi stopped Siva from drinking the poison, Lord Maragadambikai needs to be visited first. Usually in Siva temples the Goddess will be on the left side, however in this temple Goddess Maragadambikai will be on the right side.

Also this is the only temple where we will not find any balipeedam before the Goddess. Lord Vinayakar and Lord Murugar will be on the outside of Goddess Maragadambikai

Behind this, we can find Kala Bairavar. On the right side of Valmikeshwarar , we can find Lord Dampathi sametha Dhakshanamurthy. Clearly seen are sages, Patanjali and Vyagrapthar. The Lord, mounted on His bull mount is in a seated posture with one foot on Apasmasura and the other leg folded on a Yoga Pattai and embracing his Consort Gowri on a Rishaba Vahana.

                                                      For the above pic ( Courtesy : Hindu)

We can also find, Valmikeshwar, which is a suyambu lingam. History goes like, after Lord Rama defeated Ravanana and before going to Ayodhya , Lord Rama and Saint Valmiki prayed to Lord Siva who appeared as Suyambu lingam and hence the lingam has been named as Valmikeswarar.

The temple Pallikondeshwarar has been situated on the right side. Lord Siva can seen in a huge reclining position with Goddess parvathi. Also we can see Devas, Lord Brahma, Saptharishis, Vishnu and Indra waiting.

Since it is very close to Chennai, do plan to visit this unique temple and get the blessings