Of late, the cult of the Sapta Sthana circuit has been growing in Mylapore. It involves seven Shiva temples in the area. If social media is to be believed, the tradition is a thousand years old! And yet, until the early 2000s, none of us Mylaporeans had even heard of it, familiar though we were with the temples. Before we examine Sapta Sthanam in Mylapore, we need to recognise that the tradition has existed elsewhere for centuries. In the Thanjavur region, a group of seven ancient Shiva temples, all celebrated in the Tevaram, forms such a circuit.
The Seven Shiva Temples of Thanjavur
The seven temples are Thiruvaiyyaru, Thirupazhanam, Thiruchotruthurai, Thiruneithanam, Thiruvedikudi, Thirupoonthuruthi and Thirukandiyur. During Chithirai, in April or May, the Lord of Thiruvaiyyaru sets out in a palanquin and visits the other six temples. At each shrine, that temple’s deity joins the procession in another palanquin. By the end of the festival, seven palanquins travel together along the dry bed of the Cauvery, which connects these temples geographically as well as ritually.
Kapaliswarar: The Oldest Temple in Mylapore
In sharp contrast, Mylapore’s seven temples share neither a common legend nor the same antiquity. Among them, the Kapaliswarar Temple is certainly the oldest. Although its inscriptional records are weak, Tamil literary works establish its history. These include the Tevaram of the seventh century CE, the Periya Puranam of the twelfth century and the Tirupugazh of the fifteenth century. Scholars attribute the lack of inscriptions to the destruction of the older shrine by the sea. The Portuguese probably caused this destruction, though we have no written evidence. Their record of destroying Shiva temples in Sri Lanka supports the theory.
The present temple is said to be “around three hundred years old.” Since people have repeated this estimate for about a hundred years, let us add another century to it! The dubashes of the East India Company contributed greatly to the relocated precinct we see today.
Virupakshiswarar and the Question of Antiquity
The Virupakshiswarar Temple, with its vast tank, may be almost as old. Inscriptions dating to the eleventh century have surfaced here. Tradition associates Sivanesan Chettiar, the father of Poompavai, with this temple. According to the account, Sambandar came to Mayilai in the seventh century at Sivanesan’s invitation. Yet Sambandar’s Tevaram hymns praise only Kapaliswarar. The twelfth-century Periya Puranam also makes no mention of Sivanesan’s association with Virupakshiswarar. This silence raises questions about the temple’s claimed connection with the saint and his family.
The Other Shiva Temples of Sapta Sthana
As we know, Madras grew through the merger of villages and the arrival of migrants. Apart from the truly ancient temples that predate the colonial metropolis, many shrines emerged when prosperous settlers built places of worship that recalled their places of origin. This explains much about Mylapore’s remaining five Shiva temples. Government records, however, only add to the confusion. A government census in 1961 described the Karaniswarar Temple as three hundred years old. Migrants from Saidapet, a weavers’ colony with an older Shiva temple of the same name, may have built the Mylapore shrine. Yet another claim attributes twelfth-century inscriptions to it!
Conflicting Claims About Temple History
The Valeeswarar Temple presents a similar puzzle. According to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, it is 1,300 years old. The 1961 census, however, dates it to only 400 years ago! The temple probably drew inspiration from the Valeeswarar shrine in Kanchipuram, with which it shares a legend. The Teerthapaleeswarar Temple also raises questions. The 1961 census describes it as Pallava in origin, yet the same record dates the present shrine to only 500 years ago. Such discrepancies make it difficult to establish the precise antiquity of these temples.
The Newest Temples and Their Ancient Claims
Ironically, the two most recent temples have lately begun claiming the greatest antiquity. The Velleeswarar Temple began as a shrine dedicated to Ganesha, built by Mylapore’s weavers about three hundred years ago. The shrines to Velleeswarar and Kamakshi appeared in the 1850s, probably inspired by Mangadu and funded by the Sengunthar community. A tale now circulates that this temple predates Kapaliswarar! The Malliswarar Temple, meanwhile, was built in the 1850s by a Chidambara Mudaliar. It now claims to date back a thousand years!
Faith, History and the Sapta Sthanam Circuit
When challenged about their antiquity, most shrines offer a common explanation: invaders destroyed them so thoroughly that nothing remained. What remains inexplicable, however, is the silence of Tamil sacred poetry. Beyond a point, as with the legend of St Thomas, it may be best to respect faith and keep facts to ourselves.
Finally, regarding Mylapore’s Sapta Sthanam circuit, I suspect that the slim booklet Siva Temples of Mylapore, published in 2002 by Kalamkriya, the publication wing of the Sanmar Group, first gave devotees the idea. From there, the tradition has travelled back a thousand years!
This article appeared in The Hindu –https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/the-seven-shiva-temples-of-mylapore/article71551833.ece
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