[Dhoosi] Mamandur Sri Sundaravalli sametha SRi Lakshmi Narayana Perumal Thirukovil

From ancient times, our lives are intrinsically mingled with temples which are the torch bearers of our glorious heritage – the hindu way of life. Obeisance to God, Acharyas and those involved in temple work is our primordial duty. Kanchipuram has been the repository of many magnificent temples. There are several big temples and for Vaishnavaites “Perumal Kovil” would mean the temple of Lord Devarajar – Athigiri Arulalar. Temples in kanchipuram are torchbearers of the glorious heritage of the Kanchipuram District and are repositories of the magnificient art forms that evolved over several centuries.

Nearer the city famous for silk sarees [which itself is called as "City of 1000 Temples"] – there are many more Temples of dating back to Pallava and other ancient era. This area is also known as thondai mandalam in tune with Thondaimans who ruled this land and have had constructed many temples of yore.

There are many important places in and around Kanchipuram and as you travel from Kanchi to Vandavasi / Cheyyar, you would cross the Salai Kinaru (from where thirumanjana theertham for Devarajar was brought), Iyengar kulam, Palar bridge, Dhoosi, you would come to the hamlet ‘Mamandur’ – known as Dhoosi Mamandur due to its proximity to Dusi. This village has a big reservoir and is about 3 km away from Palar and about 8-9 km away from Kanchipuram. Legend has it that Lord Varadharaja Perumal used to visit this place on every Chitra Pournami day. Though not much of water could be found in Palar these days, it is a river which rises in Kolar and flows through Andhra and enters Tamilnadu before confluencing into Bay of Bengal at Vayalur. One of its main tributaries is Cheyyar river.

In the Mamandur village stands the majestic grandeur Lord Arulmigu Sundaravalli Thayar sametha Lakshmi Narayana Perumal. This temple is many centuries old and has rich history with many vidhwans hailing from this place. Many Sampradhaya periyavars have told that many of the Nalayira Divyaprabandha adhikaris hailed from this hamlet of Dhusi Manandur. The temple houses Lord Lakshmi Narayanar who is in sitting posture with Lakshmi devi on his lap. The Thayar thirunamam is ‘Sundara valli Thayar’ and has an individual sannadhi. There are beautiful idols of Sadagopar (Nammalwar), Kaliyan (Thirumangai Azhwar), Udayavar (Ramanujar) and Varavaramuni (Swami Manavala mamunigal). It is learnt that ‘samprokshanam’ was conducted way back in 1950 and recently on 5^th Sept 2010 ‘Samprokshanam” was conducted with the initiative of many people hailing from this village. Hundreds of people with lineage of this village descended on that day at the Temple and witnessed, the Samprokshanam being conducted in the presence of the Two great Saints – Sreemath Paramahamsa Appan Parakala Ramanuja Embaar Jeeyar Swami and Sree Govinda Yathiraja Jeeyar Swami, both hailing from Sriperumpudur.

Today [29^th Mar 2015] had the fortune of visiting our ancestral village and worshipping at this Temple. Here are some photos of the Temple and Perumal.

Adiyen Srinivasadhasan.