Kariya Manikka Perumal Temple

Kariya Manikka Perumal Temple

Kariya Manikka Perumal Temple is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu located at Pondavakkam Village in Tiruvallur District of Tamilnadu. Presiding Deity is called as Kariya Manikka Perumal and Goddess is called Kamalavalli Nayaki.

This Temple was built by Krishna Devaraya for the Brahmin priests of Nagalapuram Temple.

There is no Raja gopuram for this temple. The Dwajasthambam is 36 Feet height made of original Teak wood. Presiding deity Sri Kariya Manikka Perumal is found in Nindra Thirukolam (Standing Posture). The Vimanam above the garbhagriha is big and Dashavathara sculptures are made on that.There are shrines for Alwars, Garuda and Hanuman in the Temple premises. The Madapalli is in the south east of praharam.

The village Ponthavakkam was developed by Shri Krishna Devaraya for chanting Vedas at Vedanarayana Swamy temple of Nagalapuram.

The village was originally called as “Puguntha vakkam” (In tamil “PUGUNTHA” means entered) in commemoration of the entry of Veda Parayana Ghosti into this village for the purpose mentioned above. And as years passed, the name of the village has turned into “Ponthavakkam”.

The specialty of this temple is during Panguni month on 5th, 6th and 7th (i.e March 19th-21st) Surya Bhagavan worships the Perumal with his rays in the morning between 6:15 am and 6:25 am. During these days, sun rays directly falls on Kariamanikka Perumal (Moolavar) feet. The temple structure is designed in such a way that the sun rays directly enters into temple Garbagriha and falls on Perumal feet only during 3 days of the entire year.