Ambalavaneswarar Angambakkam

God

Ambalavaneswarar, facing east

Goddess

Sivagamasundari, facing south

Other Deities

Vinayaka, Sidhdhi Vinayaka, Mukthi Murugan, Somaskandar, Sivagamasundari, Naagar, Mahalakshmi, Kasi Viswanathar, Muruga with consorts, Perumal, Naalvar, Bhairava, Navagraha, Surya. Sanctum niches – Ganesha, Dakshinamurthy, Mahavishnu, Brahma, Durga, Chandikeswara

Ambalavaneswarar Angambakkam is an ancient east facing temple with a gateway in the east. A small gate is also present in the west where a west facing shrine for Vinayaka is present. The outer Prakaram is spacious and has the west facing Vinayaka shrine, Theertham well and navagraha shrine in it. The inner Prakaram is entered through a Mantapa where all the other deities are present. The Shiva Lingam is small in size. The Paalar River flows adjacent in the north of the temple. The Nataraja idol was found in the well in the Prakaram and installed by the locals.

Holy Water (Theertham) – Well, Paalar River

Sacred Tree (Sthala Vriksham) – Vanni (Prosopis cineraria), Naagalingam (Couroupita guianensis)

History

Ambalavaneswarar Angambakkam is an ancient temple but no historical information is available as of now.

Legend

The ashes of a dead person brought here by his son was kept outside while he worshiped the lord here at Ambalavaneswarar Angambakkam. The ash in the pot when opened to mix in the river was found to have turned into flowers. Since the ashes of the Angam (body) turned into flowers the name of the place became Angambakkam. The lord is believed to have appeared in the dream of the local people and revealed the location of the Nataraja Idol inside the Temple Well.

Directions

Ambalavaneswarar Angambakkam is about 4 kilometers from Walajabad. Cross the Paalar River at Walajabad and at the Avalur crossing take a left and drive straight for about 3.5 kilometers to reach Ambalavaneswarar Angambakkam.

Stay and Food

None locally. Walajabad and Kancheepuram are the nearest places for food.