- Ekambaranathar Temple or Ekambareswarar Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva, located in Kanchipuram in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.
- The temple is the largest temple in the town of Kanchipuram and is located in the northern part of the town.
- The temple gopuram (gateway tower) is 59m tall, which is one the tallest gopurams in India.
- It is one of the five major Shiva temples or Pancha Bootha Sthalams (each representing a natural element) representing the element - Earth.
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Ekambareshwarar |
- The other four temples in this category are Thiruvanaikaval Jambukeswara (water), Chidambaram Natarajar (Sky), Thiruvannamalai Arunachaleswara (fire) and Kalahasti Nathar (wind).
- It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, where all of the four most revered Nayanars (Saivite Saints) have sung the glories of this temple.
Temple Attraction :
- The central figures are a dancing Shiva, his consort Pavarti and in front, elephant-headed Ganesh
- The temple covers an area of over 23 acres (93,000 m2). Reaching a height of 59 meters, the temple's Raja gopuram (the entrance tower to the temple) is one of the tallest in South India.
- One notable feature of the temple is the Aayiram Kaal Mandapam, or the "hallway with a thousand pillars", which was built by the Vijayanagar Kings.
- The temple's inner walls are decorated with an array of 1,008 Siva lingams.
- The campus is 25 acres with 5 prakarams (or courtyards) and has a thousand-pillared hall. Kampai Tirtha, the temple tank is believed to have an underground holy river. The fourth courtyard contains a small Ganesha temple and a pond. The third courtyard contains lot of smaller shrines.
- The sanctum sanctorum contains the lingam along with the image of Shiva.
- There is no separate shrine for Parvati within the complex as with other Shiva temples in Kanchipuram. A local belief is that Kamakshi Amman Temple is the consort for Ekambaranathar. There is a small shrine for Vishnu named Thiru Nilaaththingal Thundathan inside the temple complex.
- Vishnu is prayed as Vamana Murthy and the shrine is hailed by the Alvar saints as one of the 108 Divya Desams. The sthala-virutcham or temple tree is a 3,500 year old mango tree whose branches are said to yield four different types of mangoes from its four branches.
- Panguni Uthiram festival celebrated during the month of March–April is the most popular of all the temple festivals in Kanchipuram