01A staff instead of eyes
Sundarar lost his sight when he broke his vow to Sangiliyar at Tiruvottiyur, and set out on the road pleading at each shrine. At Tiruvenpakkam, the temple’s katha says, the Lord gave him an oondru kol, a staff to lean on; Sundarar threw it back in his hurt and it struck Nandi, whose horn is broken to this day. His padigam here has the voice of a devotee who argues with his Lord. As he went on towards Kanchi, the Devi lit his way like lightning, and so she is Minnoli Ammai.
02Under the reservoir
The Tevaram-era temple stood in Venpakkam village. When the Poondi reservoir was built in the 1940s to store water for Madras, the village and temple went under. The images, carvings and mandapa pillars were taken out and set in a new temple on the bank of the reservoir, consecrated in 1968. When the water is low, the old temple can still be seen. Brahmotsavam in Vaikasi is the chief festival.
The life of this place
- 1968 CEThe new temple on the bank of the Poondi reservoir is consecrated.
At Poondi, on the north side of the reservoir, on the Tiruvallur–Uthukottai road.
