Temples of Chennai - Sri Aadhi Kesava Temple,Chennai

Sri Aadhi kesava perumal temple located near to the Sri Vedantha Desikar temple, the temple is the abode of Sri Adhi Kesava Perumal with Mayuravalli thaayar, the temple is said to be the oldest amongst the temples in mylapore as the name suggests aadhi[earliest]kesava perumal apart from perumal his lovable disciple peyazhwar also worshiped here.

Aadhi Kesavan

Once Maha Vishnu mitigated the sufferings of Suryan who is also called Aadityan.  Since Kesavan blessed Aadhityan, he is called Aadhi Kesavan.  Aadhi means "first" in the world.  When Gajendra the elephant was caught by the crocodile, he shouted "Aadhi Moolame" and prayed to almightly to protect him.  Thus Aadhi Moolam refers to Aadhi Kesavan.

How Aadhi Kesavan found a place in "Mayurapuripatnam" now known as Mylapore:

Chandran is cursed:  A curse befell Chandran[Moon].  After roaming aimlessly, he came to Mylapore.  Maha Vishnu in order to bless Chandran asked at the holy rivers of India to confluence at Kairavani Pushkarini and help Chandran to get rid of his curse.

Chithrakulam - Sarva Theertham

The rivers obeyed Maha Vishnu and flowed to Kairavani Pushkarini.  Chandran has a holy dip at the holy waters and propitiated the Lord.  All the rivers requested the Lord to bless them and returned to their respective places.  Aadhi Kesavan requested all the rivers to stay back with him at Mayurapuram.  All the holy rivers blessed Chandran.  Thus the holy water is called "Sarva Theertham".  Since Chandran got rid of his curse,  it is called Chandra Pushkarini.  Over the years it came to be called "Chitra Pushkarini" but now it is called as "ChitraKulam".

Birth Place of Periazhwar

Peyazhwar is born in mylapore a few centuries back and showered immense love on perumal with his pasurams[poems]peyazhwar who incarnated on a lily flower in a tank near mylapore, azhwar is considered to be the sword of perumal.

Legend has it that there was a rivulet that connected Triplicane and Mylapore several centuries ago.  Since the origin of the river was at Kairavani Pushkarini, it came to be called Kairavani Neerodal.  The rivuletwas full of fragrant flowers like lilly and lotus.

The other end of the rivulet was another holy pond which is now the temple tank of Lord Parthasarathy which is also called Kairavani Pushkarini.

The temple faces east and adhi kesava perumal has a seperated sannidhi in standing posture perumal stays in the temple with four hands with sangu chakram in his hands offers abhayam[shelter]to his people and mayuravalli thayaar in a separate sannidhi mayuravalli[as mylapore was called as mayurapuri earlier] thayaar in sitting posture blesses people with wealth and health,chakarathazhwar with yoga narashimhar,aandal,anjaneya have separate sannidhis in the temple,the temple has a beautiful temple tank named chitrakulam[the important landmark for mylapore].The temple is preparing for navarathri celebrations for mayuravalli thayaar.

The temple is located near Sri Vedantha Desikar temple in Mylapore in Kesavaperumal street.  

This being a very ancient and beautiful temple, when in Chennai, do make a visit to Sri Kesava Perumal Koil.