Adhiparasakthi Siddar Peetam( Melmaruvathur Adhiparasakthi Temple)
The Adhiparasakthi Temple is located in Melmaruvathur in Kanchipuram District in Tamil Nadu. This Temple is situated at a distance of 92Km from the metropolitan city Chennai. This Temple is also known by the other names Om Shakthi Temple and the Maruvathur Amman Temple. To explore further famous temple Sripuram Golden Temple
Siddhar Peetam
This place is called by the other name Siddhar Peetam. In the Tamil language, the Siddhar means Saint and the peetam means throne. Thus the Siddhar Peetam means the Throne of the souls of the Siddhars.
History
Since 1966, the Swayambu had been worshipped by the people for several years. Then the idol of Goddess Adhiparasakthi Amman( incarnation of Goddess Shakthi) was established inside the sanctum on 25th November 1977. This idol is 3 feet tall sits on the thousand-petal lotus base.
Story of the Temple
In the early 1960s, there was a neem tree in this place.This neem tree had produced a sweet nectar rather than the bitter taste, which was a shock . On hearing this many people tasted the nectar from the Neem tree. Many people found that their illness was cured after eating this nectar. So they protected the tree from the woodcutters and the cattles. A forceful storm in 1966, overturned the neem tree, which showed the Swayambu(self emerging divine stone) underground to people for the first time.
The Swayambu in the Tamil language means the self came. This Swayambu is the oval shaped object, which is an attribute of the Hindu Goddess Amman. On seeing this people constructed a hut over this place and offered poojas to the Swayambu.
In this Siddhar Peetam, Goddess Shakthi is said to transmigrate into a holy person Arulthiru Bangaru Adiagalar. Thus, every day the Arulthiru Bangaru Adigalar come to the sanctum to perform the poojas, to promote the spirituality to this world.
Architecture of Adhiparasakthi Temple
The Om Sakthi stage with the slokam, “Om Shakthi” is at the front of the temple on the Highway. Then there is a Soolam (Trishoolam) of the Goddess, installed on the stage. One must go around this stage, thrice to enter inside the Peetam, for the worship. In this temple, the main sanctum faces towards the Om Shakthi stage. There is an idol of Goddess Adhiparasakthi Amman along with the divine Swayambu inside the sanctum having the 10*10 feet dimension. Then the consecration of the sannidhi of Saptha Kanni (seven Goddess), was made in 1974.
Other features of the Temple
It is wholly believed that the Goddess Mother(Goddess Shakthi), is in the form of the cobra snake inside the snake pit. The devotees get the blessings here in this Putrumandapam, the place where the snake pit is present. The goddess appears in the form of a snake during the nights.
There is a Saptha Kanni Temple (Temple of Seven virgins) without a roof, at the right side of the Putrumandapam inside the Temple premises. Since all the temple of virgins will not have the roof. In Hinduism, the Saptha Kannikas are the Parivaara Devataas of Goddess Athiparasakthi.
Then the notable thing is there is no sannidhi for Navagrahas in this temple, because the Goddess here is the supreme power to those nava grahas. So it is believed that those who worship this Goddess, will escape from the ill effects of the Nava grahas.
Celebrations
Unlike other temples, the women can go inside the sanctum and perform the poojas. On the Aadi pooram festival, bangaru Adigalar performs Angaprathatchanam inside the temple. On the first day of Navrathri festival, Bangaru Adigalar lights up the divine Agandam. It is a belief that the Angaprathatchanam and worship of Agandam, during the Adipooram will wipe all the sins. On this auspicious Aadi pooram , people perform abisekham(ablution) to Swayambu using the milk.
Other than this, the Thai poosam is the popular festival in this Temple. During the Thai Poosam, pouring the Kanji is a special event. Every year for a particular period, the devotees wear “Shakthi maalai”. Then the devotees hold fasting and carry irumudis, so that they get success as per their prayers. It is a belief that the carrying of the irumudis, will protect the devotees from the bad evils. Then the people of all communities and castes are allowed to perform the Poojas as per their religious methods in this Temple. At the Nagapeetam of this temple, lamps are lit in the lime fruits for well being of the family.
The other auspicious days are the Tamil New Year, Chitra Pournami and all the new moon days.
Other social activities
The well known religious practices and the social activities are performed by Adhiparasakthi Temple Management. The Temple Management offers the free clothes and the equipment to poor people. They offer help for the widows, physically challenged people and arrange marriage to poor people. Then they organize the spiritual conferences regularly to enhance the world peace.
In India, there are 5000 Mandrams through which the Adhiparasakthi Temple perform the devotional activities. Then the Sakthi Peedams are there in various countries like the Singapore, Nigeria, Zambia, France, America etc. The Arul vaaku is the process in which the devotees find the solutions to their problems.
Transport facilities
You can reach this site through the trains or the buses. All the buses trough the Southern part of Tamil Nadu goes through this place. So there are frequent buses from Chennai to Melmaruvathur. There are few trains available from Chennai to Melmaruvathur, which runs by the time. If you are a flight traveler, then you must reach Chennai Airport. From there, you can pick a road transport to reach this site.
Location: Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu.
Timings: Morning – 6.00 A.M to 12.30 P.M (Timings may vary with festivals)
Evening – 4.00 P.M to 9.30 P.M