Yoga Hayagreevar Temple - Chettipunyam - Chennai

Yoga Hayagreevar, Chettipunyam Village, Chennai.

HAYAGRIVAR,AN INCARNATION OF VISHNU WHO HAS THE FACE OF A HORSE. HE IS CONSIDERED AS THE LORD OF KNOWLEDGE/STUDIES.

People who suffer from speaking disorder may Do honey neivedyam and consumig it daily will help them curing from the disorder.

Praying Yoga Hayagreevar will lift one from studies, improves Memory, clear hurdles on marriage proposals.


Temple Timings: 7.30 AM to 12 Noon, 4 PM to 7.30 PM.
(open all days of the week).

Effective Dates: Wednesday, Thursday and Thirovonam Star day.

Temple Phone Number: 8675127999

Direction/Location

Wikimapia location here

Yoga Hayagreevar Temple is located in Chettipunyam village, Off GST (Chennai to Trichy NH ) Road, Chennai. - Near Maraimalai Nagar and Singaperumal Kovil.

When you come from Chennai it is on the right side - around 3 km off Chennai to Chengelpet (GST) road. If you are coming from Chengalpet, it is to your left. Just opposite toMahindra World City Entrance, you have to take the opposite road to the temple. The picture below shows the exact location on the GST road.

When going toward Chettipunyam, you could site a beautiful big lake on your right with lot of  birds swimming and flying around. Its a lovely sight really. On you left, there is a hillock.

Just immediately after passing the lake, the road looked to be turning left, but we need to go straight. We have the sign board anyway mentioning the temple direction, so no issues. I am just mentioning, just to take care on this spot, so that you are not missing the correct route.

From there, you are entering into the beautiful chettipunyam village, with trees on either side of the road with lot of monkeys. Just be careful...you know about monkeys :) We  were thrilled by seeing so many monkeys jumped on to the car playing.

In this  spot, that is just about 600 meters where you going to parking
your car, we can see Chengenni Amman or Senkenni  Amman with a big pond along side.

Then there comes the halt, car are not allowed after this point, and we have a big open layout to park your car(no charge as on date). I think it is during the crowdy days , otherwise the care might be allowed near to the temple. I am not sure though. But what I could understand from the exact location of the temple, it is really a rightdecision that cars are stopped way ahead before the temple, because the road is very narrow and actually the temple is inside the village and we could see house all around. So no space to park  cars

Front Gopuram

people selling flowers and vegetables

We walked about a KM from the car parking area and we could see the temple front Gopuram and see people selling garlands, thulasi, lotus, Archana bag. We also see people selling fresh vegetables like plantain pith & flower and various home grown vegetables and green leaves.

Temple Ticket  Counter

It is a Saturday and we could see the queue standing from outside the temple. I could see there are queues, upon enquiring I came to one is a special dharsan queue Cost Rs 25/- per person. You can get this tickets from the counter inside the temple just after the front door on your left. You may also buy other tickets like Arachana etc. Opposite to the counter, there is another open counter selling prasadam.

We took the special dharsan and that queue took 1 hr to reach the inside of sanctum sanctorum.

About the Temple:
Though the main deity of this temple is Varadharajah Perumal and Goddess Sri Hemambuja Nayagi., this temple is very famous for Sri Yoga Hayagreevar and he is the utsavar/uchavar.

Lord Hayagreeva is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. When two demons (asuras) Madhu and Kaidaba stole Vedas from Lord Brahma (the creator of the world as per Hinduism), Lord Vishnu took the form of Hayagreeva (horse face and human body), killed the demons, and handed over the Vedas to Lord Brahma. Hence, Lord Hayagreeva is considered as the God of Knowledge. Yoga Hayagreeva is a rare form of idol which is present in the Yoga Hayagreevar temple in Chettipunyam village.

Usually Hayagreevar is seen along with Sri Lakshmi, but here, He is seen in the posture of meditating  with his legs folded. Many students visit this temple praying for good scores in examinations. One can see students coming here with their pens, pencils, books,hall tickets etc. keep them at the Lord’s feet before taking their exams. Also we can see students writing their target scores on the exam with their roll number all over the walls of the temple.

The idol of Varadaraja is found along with his two consorts Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi. There is a separate shrine for Goddess Hemambuja Nayaki. There are also separate shrines for Andal, Alwars, and Garud. In the corrdior surrounding the main shrine (prakaram), you can find the idols of Hayagreeva and Nagaraja.

Kothandaraman Shrine

There is a big shrine for Lord Rama (Kothanda Raman), where he is found along with Sita, Lakshman, and Hanuman/Anjenayar.

Temple History:

The temple is about 400 years old. The temple originally belongs to Varadaraja Perumal (a form of Lord Vishnu). In 1868, the idols of Devanatha Swamy and Yoga Hayagreeva were brought from Tiruvandipuram temple near Cuddalore. It was done to protect these ancient and popular idols (metal idols - utsav idols) from alien invasion. Since then, this temple was referred either as Yoga Hayagreeva temple or Devanatha Swamy temple. In the recent time, the popularity of this temple has increased as people started bringing their school going children to this temple (as Hayagreeva is considered as the God of Knowledge).

Other details:

Lighting Lamps inside temple

There is a practice of lighting deepam and praying their wish. You may buy the lamp inside the temple for Rs 2 per lamp.

Temple Cows

Temple Calves

Few temple cows and calves were seen and people offer them bananas etc and worship them by touching them. Some people even offer cash/coins on top of the cattle, which the temple caretakers collects it.

Azhinjal Tree

Azhinjal tree is found on the prakaram, where students tie pices of cloth and arranges stones in decks and pray.

Dwajasthambha is made of stone here on which Sri Garuda is seen facing the Lord, towards the sanctum.

The prakaram is beatifully maintained with garden and found very neat.

Prasadam is sold inside temple. Found very good and tasty.

A big bell is found hanged onto the iron, but not encouraged to touch it, as it is found cracked. Looks like the bell is very old and also there is a mention above it on the wall as " Got Donation Rs 200  from Rajaram Naidu in 1920.

Anandha Nilaya Vimanam.