Thiruvanmiyur - this quiet suburb in the southern part of Chennai city is named after Vaanmeega Munivar (or Saint Valmiki as he is commonly known outside Tamil Nadu), the author of the famed Ramayana, who attained Samadhi in this region. He even has a shrine dedicated to him, in between the roads.
Today, I visited the Marundheeswarar temple. Legend has it that Yama, the lord of death, worshiped god Shiva in this temple. This is the reason you will not find any of the nine planetary deities in this temple. Marundheeswarar is derived from Marundhu - medicine, meaning god Shiva, cures you of the disease of repeated births and deaths and gives you moksha (eternal salvation) through the medicine of enlightenment (or gnaanam as it is called in Tamil) and banishing of karma.
Sadly I could not take too many images because this temple is restricted and I did not want to get into trouble. So here are some images from my visit.
The temple from outside.
At the entrance.
Flag pole of the temple.
The sacred tree of the temple - Prosopis cineraria.
Pigeons perched on top of a Gopuram inside the temple.
It was an interesting trip and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thank you.