Chennakesava Perumal Temple

Overview

The Chenna Kesava Perumal temple is a famous hindu shrine located at Devaraja Mudali Street in the locality of Sowcarpet, Chennai. The temple is quite old and is one among the very few temples that were built with the aid from the British East India Company. Until the 17th century, the original Chenna Kesava temple was present at the site where the present Madras High Court stands.

The British East India Company is said to have demolished the original Chenna Perumal temple in the year 1757 AD. Due to severe protests from the public, the East India Company decided to donated some land and money to a person called Manali Muttukrishna Mudaliar in order to construct an alternate temple. Sri Muthukrishna Mudaliar built the new Chenna Kesava Perumal temple in the year of 1762. He is also credited to have built a temple for Lord Shiva called the Chenna Malleeswarar temple. Few also believe that the city Chennai was named after this popular Chenna Kesava Perumal temple. During the time of the original temple, the place had to face lot of problem in the form of invasions by the French and the muslim ruler Tipu Sultan. The priests of the old Chenna Kesava temple is said to have taken the idols of Lord Chenna Kesava to Tiruneermalai temple in order to safeguard from such invasions.

About the Temple

The Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple was popularly called the “Pattanam Kovil”. The temple is situated at one of the ever busy and bustling area of Flower Bazaar, which stands as an important landmark in that region. The place also lies within close proximity to other prominent locations of Chennai such as the NSC Bose Road, Rattan Bazaar, Sowcarpet, Broadway and High Court.

During olden times, the Thondaimandalam region was made up of that area between the Pennar river of Nellore and Pennar river of Cuddalore. Kanchipuram was capital of this region. The modern city of Chennai was previously known as “Madraspatnam” or “Madras”. Madras was the area which was initially occupied by the Britishers. They built the Fort St. George and subsequently expanded their territory through merging numerous native villages around the fort, into the city of Madras.

The original city of Madras majorly had settlements of the Europeans, more predominantly by the British. The surrounding areas were later incorporated into the Madras State, which included the areas of other ancient Hindu temples such as Thiruvanmiyur, Thiruvotriyur, Thiruvallikeni (Triplicane), Thirumayilai (Mylapore) that had a history of more than 1000 years.

The British then began the construction of fort St George in the early 1640s. It was built stage wise over a period of many years. The area within the British territory where the native Indians lived was referred to as the “Blacktown”. At present the Chenna Kesava Perumal and Chenna Malleeswarar are located near the landmarks Broadway, Mint Street and Kothawar chavadi, a busy vegetable market area.

Festivals

Pongal, which is the harvest festival of Tamil Nadu is celebrated in the Tamil month of Thai (mid-January) and lasts for four days. People express their gratitude to the Sun, Earth and cattle for helping them in making the harvest successful.

How To Reach Chennakesava Perumal Temple

Road

The Nearest Bus stop is the Sowcarpet bus station.

Railways

The George Town Railway Station which is on the local train line is the nearest railway station.

Airport

The Chennai International Airport is the closest located airport.

Temple Address

Chennakesava Perumal Temple,
Devaraja St, Rattan Bazaar,
George Town, Chennai,
Tamil Nadu - 600003.