Kamakshi Amman Temple

rdf:langString Kamakshi Amman Temple

rdf:langString Kamakshi Temple

rdf:langString The temple tower at Kanchi Kamakshi temple

rdf:langString The Kamakshi Amman temple has gopurams with gold overlays.

rdf:langString Pallava kings

rdf:langString Location in Tamil Nadu

rdf:langString The Kamatchi Amman Temple is an ancient Hindu Temple dedicated to the goddess Kamakshi, one of the highest aspects of Adi Shakti in Shaktism. It is located in the historic city of Kanchipuram, near Chennai, India. Its construction is credited to the Pallava kings, whose capital was in the same city. This temple, along with the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai and the Akilandeswari temple in Thiruvanaikaval near Tiruchirappalli are the important centers of Goddess worship in the state of Tamil Nadu.The present temple with goddess seated in padmasana was once stipulated to be a Buddhist Vihara of Tara Devi temple. The Buddhist vihar was said to be reconstructed during early pallava dynasty along with the existing ruins of the original Kaamakotta Nayagi shrine. This ancient temple got mentioned in Perunaraatrupadai, an ancient Tamil sangam literature which praises the renowned sangam era king Thondaiman Ilanthiraiyan who ruled whole Thondai mandalam during sangam era with Kanchipuram as capital city. The original godess statue was seen with two hands adorning a parrot in her right hand. The two handed goddess was said to be ruined during wars and invasion which was replaced by a golden idol (Bangaaru kamakshi) by Vijayanagara Empire. It was later shifted to udaiyar palayam during carnatic wars along with idols of Varadarajar temple. Now the golden goddess is residing in the West masi veedhi of Tanjavore with aseparate shrine. The image of the main deity, Kamakshi, is seated in a Padmasana, a yogic posture signifying peace and prosperity, instead of the traditional standing pose. The goddess holds a sugarcane bow and bunch of five flowers in the lower two of her arms and has a pasha (lasso), an ankusha (goad) in her upper two arms. A parrot perches near the flower bunch. There are no other goddess temples in the city of Kanchipuram, apart from this one, which is unusual in a city that has hundreds of traditional temples. There are various legends that account for this fact. According to a local legend, Adi Shankaracharya established the Sri Chakra in this Kamakshi Devi temple in the trough-like structure in that shrine.