Ayyanar worship is popular from Madurai and
the Pudukkottai area up to Vriddhachalam. Ayyanar is a popular
village guardian deity who lives on the outskirts of the
village in a thickly wooded sacred grove. His role is to
protect the village from evil with the help of his associate
Karuppusamy, who rides a tiger and is also worshipped.
The highlight of Ayyanar shrines is the large
terracotta horses and elephants which provide Ayyanar his
transport to ride around the village at night. The priest
of the Ayyanar shrine is from the potter community.
The Ayyanar shrine at DakshinaChitra
was constructed by Muthuswamy Kolalar, the priest of the
Ayyanar shrine in Melkalpoondi, in South Arcot district.
To prepare for the shrine, the neem tree, itchli tree, peepul
tree, banyan tree and vembu maram, were planted at the site,
in accordance with the priest’s instructions. Back
in Melkapoondi, the priest did a puja (with beads and bones)
to ascertain whether the god was willing for another shrine
to be built. He was. Then the priest came to Madras to see
if the DakshinaChitra site suited
Ayyanar. It did.
On July 31, 1992, after the shrine had been
built and a week after the priest had arrived with one helper,
work began on the terracotta figures. The elephant and the
two large horses were prepared by mixing clay with straw,
left to dry and then fired on site in a kiln of brick and
mud, built around it.
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Ayyanar
Shrine from Tamilnadu
