Abodes of Shiva

This temple is situated 10 kms from Kundrathur on Kundrathur - Padappai Road. It can also be reached from Tambaram. It is 6 kms from Kishkintha Theme Park. Good roads are available from Kundrathur, so it is better to reach the temple from Kundrathur.

Once Moon God was cursed by King Dakshan and lost his beauty. Distressed by this, Soman penanced here towards Lord Siva and regained his lost charm. Another legend says that Nandhi was cursed to look the opposite side, as it got over-confident and thought that he was better than the Lord Himself on winning a war against invaders!! Sources say that a sage named Somanathar attained Jeeva Samadhi at the feet of Lord Nandhikeswarar, who is believed to have guarded Lord Soman (Moon) against any disturbances while doing penance.

This temple is one of the Navagraha temples of Chennai (or Thondai Mandalam) devoted to Sri Chandra Bhagavan (Moon God). This ancient temple was built by the Chola king, Kulothunga, in 1073 A.D. This temple also has an unique statue of BRAHMA SUBRAHMANIAR – Subramania who did the work of Brahma, while Brahma was put behind bars, by Subrahmania himself. Lord Natarajar here is present as Chathura Thaandava Murthy which is again very unique and rarely seen anywhere. Sri Vinayagar, Sri Dhakshinamurthy, Sri Mahavishnu, Sri Brahma, Sri Durgai and Sri Sandigeswarar are seen on the outer walls of the sanctum. Sri Valli Devasena Samedha Sri Subramanyar and Sri Bhairavar have separate shrines on the outer praakaaram. In the southern side of the outer Praakaaram Saptha Maathaas are seen in a row along the walls, in which Sri Jyeshta Devi is also present. Sri Jyeshta Devi is said to be the elder sister of Sri Mahalakshmi, who evolved earlier to Sri Mahalakshmi when the mighty ocean was churned.