Kapaleeshwarar Temple

The huge, ancient Kapaleeshwarar temple isn't far from our house, so Sarah and I spent an afternoon wandering the busy place of worship. Non-Hindus aren't allowed into the inner sanctum, but visitors are welcome to explore the courtyard and smaller shrines. 

The imposing gopuram, or temple gate ...



Flowers, fruit and diyas (small lamps or candles) for sale outside the gate. Worshippers use the garlands and bowls of fruit as offerings at the shrines.

Women making flower garlands to sell outside the temple ...

Doors at the main gate ...

The Kapaleeshwarar temple is a Shiva temple, but the first shrine is to Ganesha, whom many Hindus worship before beginning any other religious rite. The man in the foreground with his hands at his ears is performing a penance. The worshipper holds his ears with arms crossed in front and then bends his knees three times while facing the shrine.

The carvings on the gopuram and over the smaller shrines depict stories from Hindu mythology.

The Kapaleeshwarar gopuram is 40 meters tall, which doesn't even put it near the top 10 tallest (nine of which are in Tamil Nadu!).

Parvati was supposed to have appeared here to worship Shiva in the form of a peacock, so the peacock is an important symbol in the temple and also in the neighborhood. There are even peacock images at St. Thomas Basilica, which isn't far from Kapaleeshwarar.

Priest at one of the shrines, with a worshipper in the background ... Notice the sacred thread over the priest's left shoulder.

Sarah took this photo of women happily chatting in the courtyard. Looks Relief Society-esque, don't you think?

The temple flag pole, which is wrapped in colored cloth during festivals, looks a lot like the flag pole at St. Thomas Basilica. Notice the people prostrated in front of the pole, which is at the entrance to the inner sanctum.

Around the inner sanctum ...

We went out the west gate to look at the temple tank ...

... where we bought garlands from this woman, who draped the jasmine around our necks and gave us vermillion tikka marks.

Then we went back into the courtyard to continue our wandering.

Just inside the west gate, we saw a man ring the main temple bell at a signal from the priest inside. It was LOUD!

These women are praying at a shrine where the sacred cows are kept, near the tree where Parvati appeared in peacock form. After their prayers they fed the cows some greens and fruit that they'd brought with them.

Real, live sacred cows, complete with tikka and jasmine (just like me and Sarah ... hmmm) ...

Women who want children hang the wooden cradles from Parvati's tree, and women who want husbands hang tamarind root wrapped in colorful fabric. The tree is also covered with vermillion and tamarind paste smeared by people asking for blessings.

We stood entranced while these men climbed around on rickety scaffolding. I think they were preparing for the Aadi festival, which is going on now. More on that in a later post.

Holy family: Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha, Murugan ... with Shiva's vehicle, the bull.

Wooden horse used to carry temple idols during festival parades ...

Carving in the main doorway ...

The streets around the temple are full of shops selling anything you could ever want for your very own pooja.

The temple visit made for a fascinating, colorful couple of hours. It's a good people-watching place, since it's a busy, working temple. We saw old men shuffling around in saffron robes, women in colorful saris laughing and visiting, mothers teaching their young children the rites, men in business suits doing pooja before heading back to the office ... and everyone was friendly and welcoming. It was a nice afternoon.