Lord Narasimha with Mystic third eye at Singa Perumal Temple, Chennai

Lord Narasimha with Mystic third eye at Singa Perumal Temple

Singaperumal is an ancient but well know town near Chennai. The town is named after an ancient Narsimha temple that is believed to be around 1500 years old. This temple is located on top of a hillock. The temple is also known as Patalathri which means reddish hill. The earlier name for this place was Paatalaadri puram.

Main Deities: The main deity of this temple is Lord Narsimha. Narsimha is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu that is half man half lion. Lord Vishnu reincarnated himself as Narsimha to kill demon Hiranyakashyap and save his devotee Prahlaad.The Goddess Mahalakshmi here is called as Ahobilavalli.

Temple Specialties:

Narsimha is seen here as Ugra (fierce) swaroop, his 4 hands holding conch, sudarshan chakra (wheel) and shows the Abhay (fearless) hastha (hand) with one hand and the last hand rests on his thigh. The idol has three eyes and the third eye is shown by the priest only after Aarthi. This third eye is usually covered with the thirunamam (a mark made by clay paste on the forehead). The temple priest will show us third eye during arathi by lifting the thirunamam.

A Very very Rare Alinjal tree or Ankola (Scientific name: Alangium Salvifolium) is found inside this temple. Only 10-15 trees of this kind can be seen in entire TamilNadu. The mentions of this tree can be found in ‘Naachiyaar Thirumozhi’ composed by Sri Aandaal.

Temple Architecture:

This temple is built during the reign of the Pallava kings.During the time of Narsimha Avtaar, this place was a dense forest. It is believed that the lord came into the dreams of a saint called Jaaplar as Ugra Narsimha (ferocious narsimha). Here the lord is 8 feet tall.This is a rock cut temple where the entire temple and deity have been carved out of a small hill.To go around the temple, one has to go around the entire hillock. This is also known as Giri Pradhakshinam.The entrance to the temple has 4 main pillars with different sculptures on it. The Dhwajasthambha or the pillar where lamps are lit has a sculpture of Sri Anjaneya (hanuman) on it.

Festivals and Prayers:

Giri Pradakshina on full moon day is very famous.

In the month of June (Tamil month of Chittrai) the biggest festival called Brahmotsavam takes place in this temple.

It is said that seeing the third eye of Lord Narsimha can remedy fears, psychological problems or enemy problems.

People praying for marriage or children tie a small piece of thread from their clothes on the branches of the Alinjal tree.

Lord Narashimha Temple Entrance

Lord Narasimha Temple Dhwajasthambha

Rocks near Lord Narashimha Temple

Lord Narasimha Temple Gopuram

Way to the Lord Narasimha Temple

Message on Rock near Lord Narasimha Temple

Contact Information:

Phone: +91- 44-27464325, 27464441

Timings:  7.00 a.m. to 12.00 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.

Directions: Singaperumal Koil is about 45 kilometers to the south of Chennai, 25 kms from Tambaram and the temple is located about 100 meters off the GST Road.

Nearest Railway Station : Singaperumal Koil.

Nearest Airport : Chennai (50 kms)

Nearest highway. : NH 4. (Bus Service 60 C.)