Vaacheeswarar Temple, Tirupaasur

This temple is located 7 Kms from Tiruvellore railway station which is on the Chennai Central - Arakonam section of the Southern Railway. It is 4 Kms from Veera Raghava Perumal temple in Tiruvellore which is one of the 108 Divya Desam shrines of God Vishnu.


Situated roughly 50 Kms from Chennai, the Shiva temple at Tirupaasur has gopurams on the east and the south side entrances. Once we enter the main gopuram, there is a spacious courtyard on all the 4 sides. The inner prakaram houses the shrines for the main deity, female deity and Lord Subramanya. The main shrine for Vaacheeswarar and the female deity Thangaathali Amman, are facing east. At the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum, tall stone images of Dwarapalakas can be seen. On the left side of the main sanctum sanctorum, Vinayakar Sabha is situated wherein stone idols of God Ganesha in various sizes can be seen. On the outer walls of the sanctum sanctorum, stone images of Dakshinamurthy on the south side, Annamalayar on the west side and that of God Brahma on the north side can be seen. The inner prakaram of the sanctum sanctorum houses the stone images of Thirunavukarasar, Sambandar and Sundarar.


Karikal Valavan, the Chola King is said to be associated with this temple. According to the legend, this sthalam was a bamboo forest and the Chola King Karikal Valavan while passing through this forest found a Sivalingam under the banboo trees and constructed this temple for Lord Shiva. Inscriptions from the Chola period are found inside this temple.