01Vedas as trees
Vel is the white babul tree and kadu a forest. The temple’s katha says the four Vedas took the form of vel trees here to serve Shiva, so the Lord is Vedapureeswarar, the Lord of the Veda city. When all the devas and rishis went north to Kailasa for Shiva’s wedding and the earth tipped, Agastya was sent south to balance it; he grieved that he would miss the wedding, and Shiva and Parvati showed him their wedding form at a few southern shrines. Tiruverkadu is one of them, and the kalyana form stands behind the linga. Murkha Nayanar, the gambler who spent his winnings feeding Shiva’s devotees, was born here.
02Rebuilt in 1973
Sambandar’s hymn on Tiruverkadu is in the Tevaram. The old fabric had decayed badly by the twentieth century, and the temple was taken down and rebuilt in granite, completed in 1973, so most of what you see is new work in the old plan. Two gopurams face the shrines of Vedapureeswarar and Balambikai. The town is better known today for the Devi Karumari Amman temple a short distance away, and many pilgrims visit both together. The Masi Magam festival is the temple’s main utsavam.
The life of this place
- 1973 CEThe temple is rebuilt in granite on the old plan.
About 20 km west of central Chennai, near Poonamallee. The Karumari Amman temple is a few minutes away.
