Valleesanadhar at Thiru-vallidhayam (This place is now called Padi)

 The temple features:

This temple is located in Thiruvallidhayam otherwise known as Padi in Chennai.
The carpet area of the temple is 78,400 sqft and is built facing east. It has a 35 ft tower in 3 stages. The temple has two corridors.(Pragarams)
The deity is called Valleesanadhar and it is said that it is self incarnated in the east facing pose.
The lord's consort Devi Jagadhambal has seperate sanctum facing south. The temple tree is ' Padhiri 'and the 'theertham' is called Bharadwaja-theertham. The inner tower is called Gajaprushta-Vimanam. There are 14 stone inscriptions in this temple giving the history of the kshetram

The saint who sang hymns on the Lord:
Thirugnana-Sambanthar

Legend:
Once sage Bharadwaja changed as a bird called Valliyan and worshipped the Lord in this place. Henceforth this place came to be called Thiru-Vallidhayam. Guru Viyazha-bagavan (Jupiter) did penance to the Lord here and he suceeded in getting rid of sensual pleasures in this place.
Sage Agasthiya killed the demon Vathabi. Hence to wash away the sin incurred in killing a person the sage came here and did panance for a long time. The Lord Valleesa-nadhar appeared before him and granted the boon of washing away his sins and gave the sage liberation achieved through God realization.

Long time ago the Musim invaders broke the Devi idol. Later after independence a devotee of the lord made a new idol for the devi and installed it in this temple. Even today one can see the broken idol kept outside the sanctum.

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