Masilamani Eswarar Temple, tirumullaivayil

Masilamani Eswarar Temple,Located in tirumullaivayal (ambatthur) near chennai.Lord Shiva known as Masilamani Eswarar & Female deity known as Kodiyidaiamman .

This temple is 2 Kms from Ambattur, the industrial hub of Chennai city and is well connected by town buses. There is also a suburban railway station known as Tirumullaivayil on the Chennai Central - Arakonam section of Southern Railway and the temple is 1.5 Km from the railway station.


Sundarar has composed hymns on the God of this temple. Sundarar when he lost his eye sight at Tiruvottriyur, came to Tiruvadamullaivayil and composed a Pathigam consisting of 11 songs. This temple is more than 1200 years old. The king Thondaiman, who ruled Thondai Naadu with Kancheepuram as the capital, was once defeated at the war by his enemies Kurumbars. The king, dejected by the defeat, was returning from the battle field on his elephant. When the elephant's legs got entangled with mullai creeper on the ground, the king cut the mullai creeper with his sword to free the elephant's legs. To his surprise he found blood coming out from underneath the mullai creeper. When he cleared them, he found a Sivalingam. After prayers to the God, the God sent Nandi along with him to fight his enemies once again. The king won the war, and in appreciation of God's help in conquering his enemies, he constructed the temple at Thiruvadamullaivayil.

Because Nandi went to war along with the king, the Nandi in this temple is facing east instead of facing the God as seen normally in other Shiva temples. There is a grand tower on the southern entrance to the temple. It is considered very special to pray the female deity Kodiyidaiamman here in full moon days. In this temple, there is no seperate shrine for Navagrahas, the nine planets. Sage Vasishtar has visited this temple and did penance and got Kamadhenu.