KAPALEESWARAR TEMPLE

The peaceful Kapaleeswarar Temple of Chennai is believed to be one of the oldest and most revered holy places of the city. The shrine of Lord Shiva, Kapaleeswarar temple is situated in Mylapore, a suburb of Chennai. The temple is an emblem of Dravidian style of architecture with giant gopuram tower. The temple has two entrances. Its fragmentary inscriptions exist since 1250 AD, though the architecture and structure of the temple is more related with the culture that prevailed in 16th century, when Vijay Nagar kings refurbished it. As per the tradition, Goddess Karpagambal is offered a garland made of gold coins named kaasu maala on the ritual of Friday worship.
The wife of Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvati is worshipped in the temple in the incarnation of Goddess Karpagambal, which refers to the Goddess of the Wish-Yielding Tree. There is a godly story behind the name Mylapore as according to the Puranas, the divine Shakti offered her devotion to Lord Shiva in the form of a peacock. In Tamil, peacock is called as 'mayil'. Hence, the area surrounding temple was developed with the name Mylai. The original deity of the temple is placed at Kanchi Mel-Chitamoor near Tiruttani. The temple also features a number of Vahanas, Sanskrit word for Vehicles, such as the bull, adhikaranandi, elephant, bandicoot, peacock, goat, and parrot along with a golden chariot which is a recent tradition seen in the temple.
Though the clear picture about who built the temple is not known, it is commonly believed that the temple was originally built by Pallavas in the seventh century CE due to its reference in the hymns of the Nayanmars; however, the architecture of the temple seems to be just 300-400 years old.