DAMAL is a small village in Kancheepuram District, which is about 86 KM from Chennai, situated on the Chennai - Bangalore national highway (NH4) and from Kancheepuram, it is about 15 KM. A beautiful village, surrounded by lush greenery vegetation, less populated, calm and quite village suburb, away from the densely populated metro. There is no railway station near to Damal. Major railway station nearer to Damal is Katpadi Junction which is about 56 KM away and the Kancheepuram R.S. which is about 15 KM, located nearby.
Thirupukuzhi (3 KM), Musaravakkam (4KM), Sirunaiperugal (4KM), Vishar (8 KM) are the nearby villages to Damal. Damal is surrounded by Vembakkam Taluk towards South, Kanchipuram Taluk towards East, Kaveripakkam Taluk towards West, Arkonam Taluk towards north.
Damal village is bordered by Kancheepuram District and Tiruvannamalai District and Vellore districts on three sides.
As per legendary tales it is said that this village was originally known as Dhana Mallapuram. About three centuries ago, this village was given to Vaishnavite clan as charity or "தானம் " by the Madhwa clan. Over period of time, the name Dhana Mallapuram was shortened to be called as Damal.
Few temples are situated in this village and to name them - they are Sri Drowpathi Amman Temple, Sri Manthaiveli Maari Amman Temple, Damal Sri Damodaraaya Perumal Temple (also known as Sri Thirumalazhagi Samedha Damodara Perumal temple, Varaheeswarar Temple and Ponniyamman Temple.
Sri Thirumalazhagi Samedha Damodara Perumal temple is a small beautiful temple surrounded thickly inside by many kind of flowering plants which presents like a temple in the midst of a beautiful brindavan.
 |
| கோயிலின் நுழைவாயில் |
Sri Damodara Perumal and His concert is Sri Thirumalazhagi, a name given in Tamil language. As per Indian Mythology, Lord Vishnu or Narayana had taken two full avathara - பூரண அவதாரங்கள். One avathara was as a stately prince - Lord Sri Rama and the other avathara was Lord Krishna to protect Dharma and to spread peace and love on earth.
The name Krishna was given to him because of his skin color - in Sanskrit Krisna means the color of night which is dark. Krishna is portrayed as an attractive young boy with bright eyes and divine glow on his dark or blue skin playing a flute. He is a mischievous boy who had an infinite liking towards butter and curd. He would steal them from the neighbour houses with his friends and consume them. When neighbours complain about Krishna mischievousness to His mother Yasodha, she decided to punish Krishna for his wrong doings. So she tied Krishna with a rope to a wooden mortar as punishment. Krishna got himself marked by the rope as a sign of his getting bound by those who love him dearly. Even today, one can see the tied rope markings on Krishna at the Moolavar sannadhi at this temple. This is how Lord Krishna got his name Damodaran (Damu + Utharan which means Damu is rope and Utharan is one who got the markings of the tied rope in his belly.) and presents himself in standing posture for the devotees in Damal. Lord Perumal gives darshan to His devotees as Damodaran only in this temple and nowhere He can be seen as Damodaran. Some of the other details pertaining to the Sthala Puranam are given in the board as given below which can be seen inside the temple.
 |
ஸ்தல புராணம் வரலாறு
|
One can also see the horoscope of Lord Rama, Lord Krishna and Lord Hanuman in a board kept inside the temple.
Temple view from the highway
Thrughout the Tamil year Chithrai to Panguni, various festivities to the deities in the temple are being performed, attracting devotees in large numbers from nearby villages.
Inside the temple, a beautiful garden laid with thick flowering plants gives a gives a rich greenery surrounding to the eyes.
Some of the garden pictures inside the temple :-
Bilva tree
There is a tree under which Lord Damodara swamy's lotus feet kept in a peetam. A notice board on the tree displays that whoever wanting to have child can pray to Lord Damodara swamy for a child and tie a pair of anklet on this Lotus feet on a particular day - which happens to be a Rohini star day, with full devotion, they will be blessed with a child - a staunch belief being observed by the devotees even today.
Sannadhi for Sri Anjaneya
A small rest house is there on the left side of the temple entrance where one can avail a short rest before or after visiting the temple.
Small rest house
The temple is open for darshan from 6.30 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. every day, with breaks for lunch time in between. On special occasions, request can be made to the conce
Sri Varageeswarar Temple:
Nearby, there is a temple for Lord Shiva, called asSri Varageeswara Temple with a sannadhi for His concert for Sri Gauri Ambal. The temple architecture resembles to Chola, Pallava and Vijayanagara dynasty period. As per puranic legend to this temple, Lord Vishnu after his varaha avathara did not return back to vaikundam. Devas requested Lord Shiva to make Lord Vishnu to come back to vaikuntam . Lord Shiva took the form of a hunter and threw an arrow on Varaha and then Lord Vishnu realised the reason why he took Varaha avatar. Hence, here Lord Shiva is valled Sri Varageeswarar in this temple.
This is a beautiful temple, large spacious corridor around the mantap and the deities sannadhi.
There is a 'Bilva' tree in the corridor which has got a significance of having five leaves in a string, a rare one to see anywhere. Bilva or Belpatra leaves are from Bel tree. Bilva leaves is an important item while worshipping Lord Shiva. This leaf is considered to be trifoliate which signifies the holy Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva,, also signifies the three eyes of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is very fond of Bilva leaves. It is said, doing puja to Shiv Linga with Bilva tree leaves the Lord blesses them with their desires. According to Skanda Purana, the Bel tree grew from the sweat droplets of Goddess Parvati which fell on the Mandrachal mountain. Hence, it is believed that the Goddess resides in this tree in all Her forms - be it root as Girija, trunk as Maheshwari, branches as Dakshayani, leaves as Parvati, fruit as Katyayani and flower as Gauri. Goddess Lakshmi also resides in this sacred tree. Hence, Lord Shiva is extremely fond of its leaves. Apart from these legendary tales, the leaves have got great medicinal values as per Ayurveda scriptures. The roots, skin, leaves, fruit etc. of this tree are used to cure various ailments.
From the entrance, we can enter into the main sannadhi situated for Lord Sri Varageeswarar in the form of Linga. On top of the Linga there is a window opening through which sun rays are reflected on the Linga on a particular day in a year (every year) which is considered to be very auspicious.
A separate sannadhi is there for His consort Sri Gauri Ambal.
A separate sannadhi is there for His consort Sri Gauri Ambal.
Temple view from the highway
Thrughout the Tamil year Chithrai to Panguni, various festivities to the deities in the temple are being performed, attracting devotees in large numbers from nearby villages.
Inside the temple, a beautiful garden laid with thick flowering plants gives a gives a rich greenery surrounding to the eyes.
Some of the garden pictures inside the temple :-
 |
| Bilva tree |
There is a tree under which Lord Damodara swamy's lotus feet kept in a peetam. A notice board on the tree displays that whoever wanting to have child can pray to Lord Damodara swamy for a child and tie a pair of anklet on this Lotus feet on a particular day - which happens to be a Rohini star day, with full devotion, they will be blessed with a child - a staunch belief being observed by the devotees even today.
 |
| Sannadhi for Sri Anjaneya |
A small rest house is there on the left side of the temple entrance where one can avail a short rest before or after visiting the temple.
 |
| Small rest house |
The temple is open for darshan from 6.30 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. every day, with breaks for lunch time in between. On special occasions, request can be made to the conce
Sri Varageeswarar Temple:
Nearby, there is a temple for Lord Shiva, called asSri Varageeswara Temple with a sannadhi for His concert for Sri Gauri Ambal. The temple architecture resembles to Chola, Pallava and Vijayanagara dynasty period. As per puranic legend to this temple, Lord Vishnu after his varaha avathara did not return back to vaikundam. Devas requested Lord Shiva to make Lord Vishnu to come back to vaikuntam . Lord Shiva took the form of a hunter and threw an arrow on Varaha and then Lord Vishnu realised the reason why he took Varaha avatar. Hence, here Lord Shiva is valled Sri Varageeswarar in this temple.
This is a beautiful temple, large spacious corridor around the mantap and the deities sannadhi.
There is a 'Bilva' tree in the corridor which has got a significance of having five leaves in a string, a rare one to see anywhere. Bilva or Belpatra leaves are from Bel tree. Bilva leaves is an important item while worshipping Lord Shiva. This leaf is considered to be trifoliate which signifies the holy Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva,, also signifies the three eyes of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is very fond of Bilva leaves. It is said, doing puja to Shiv Linga with Bilva tree leaves the Lord blesses them with their desires. According to Skanda Purana, the Bel tree grew from the sweat droplets of Goddess Parvati which fell on the Mandrachal mountain. Hence, it is believed that the Goddess resides in this tree in all Her forms - be it root as Girija, trunk as Maheshwari, branches as Dakshayani, leaves as Parvati, fruit as Katyayani and flower as Gauri. Goddess Lakshmi also resides in this sacred tree. Hence, Lord Shiva is extremely fond of its leaves. Apart from these legendary tales, the leaves have got great medicinal values as per Ayurveda scriptures. The roots, skin, leaves, fruit etc. of this tree are used to cure various ailments.
From the entrance, we can enter into the main sannadhi situated for Lord Sri Varageeswarar in the form of Linga. On top of the Linga there is a window opening through which sun rays are reflected on the Linga on a particular day in a year (every year) which is considered to be very auspicious.
A separate sannadhi is there for His consort Sri Gauri Ambal.
A separate sannadhi is there for His consort Sri Gauri Ambal.
There are eight Lord Bairava sculptures (Sapta Bairavas) on the pillars around the temple which is very rare to see anywhere. Some of them are reproduced below:
A separate sannadhi is there for Lord Subramanya along with His consort Valli. Opposite to this, sannadhi is there for Lord Vigneswara.
Sannadhi for Navagraha is also there.
Since the priest resides nearby, he can be contacted through his mobile phone number which is displayed on the wall, if the temple is closed.
