Last week I visited Swarna Vinayaka Temple near Ponnai town, located in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. This place is about 30 kms from Chittoor district. Ponnai is a small town in the border region of Andhra Pradesh(AP) and Tamil Nadu. Chittoor is the southern most district of AP where in the world famous Tirumala Tirupati Temple is located.
On the eve of Ganesh Chathurti, we visited this temple last week. The Swarna Vinayaka Temple near Ponnai is a beautiful temple. Here in this temple, you get to see 2 idols of Lord Ganesha (Vinayaka) inside the sanctum. Of these one is man made and another one is swayambhu (Sanskrit word meaning naturally grown in the shape of a god). This temple has a great architecture, take a look at the pics of this temple here. Since the temple is about 2.5 kms from the town, you still get to feel the village sceneries around with agricultural farms around. Due to this, the premises adjacent to temple is very peaceful without any noticeble external noise. The special pooja’s are offered to the god here in the form of “Maha Ganapati Homa“.
Also, there is a Navagraha Kottai temple (Planets God’s Fort) next to this Ganesha temple. Speciality of this place is that all the 9 planet gods along with their wife/wives are set up individually. At this place, one can perform Navagraha pooja in the form of a ‘homa‘. Rahu-Ketu pooja is done with all proper rituals. Many suggest this place as an alternative to Srikalahasti for the same pooja since all devotees are paid individual attention unlike other temples. Of all the things, my attention was at the internal design and theme of these two temples. I am sure, you would have figured it out by looking at the pics by now. Nice place to visit for sure… Feel free to visit this place sometime.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
This is one of the beautiful place, luckly i was there for 2 days in this place.
we did Naga pratista and homa here. We had a nice discussion with Mr.Velu ( founder of the temple) there is lot to learn from him.
Peaceful place & beautiful temple.
Hey dude….
Do you have any idea how to travel from hyd… And also do we need to contact any one to make those homa and Navagrha pooja… Also how abt accommodation..
Can you pls provide the details…
I appreciate u if you reply to this message
hiii sir. I’m from ponnai village. i’m really happy to read about our village in net. I was just searching for ‘ponnai’ and your link appeared on top. I’m really surprised to see your detailed article. Thank you for writing about my village!
The most impressive thing about this temple is it doesn’t have a hundial I heard the Promoters of this temple are taking care of the maintenance themselves and don’t rely on public offering, The atmosphere and the setup of this temple is something unique and I did felt a vibrant energy flowing here, this is a temple a must see place when you are in pilgrim around the Vellore belt.
Dear all
Please let me know how to reach to this navagraha kottai from Hyderabad. is there any train going very newr to that place.
regards
sridharan
Hi… I am basically from Oddaneri Vllage ( Other Name : Vinayagapuram).thank for puplishing this article about our village… Please could you tell the which location temple that name is actually “Oddaneril village”.the founder of temple Mr.Velu (Bangalore). Now his settled in Oddaneril village.After seeing this article i am so happy.I now working as a Estimation Engineer in Abudhabi one of Reputed Big company.
Hi Prakash, nice to know about you. I am glad that I was able to put up an article on your home town. Whenever I visit a place which doesn’t have much info on internet, I plan to convey some message about the place through this mode. I am pleased to read that you liked the article.
Dear Mohan,
That is the rural village last 20yrs before they developed.Temple founder Mr.Velu now oddaneri village only. if u can discuss with him.u will get much more information. It will usefull for your article.
Hi… I am basically from Ponnai… Thanks for publishing this article about our village.. If somebody wants to have a beautiful trip to villages, Ponnai will be your best choice…. A holly place with number of great historical temples around…. VISIT OUR VILLAGE AND ENJOY!!!
Hi Ganesh,
It is really luck guy to born in that village, hey I need small help on this village dude…I am planning to visit the Navagraha temple with my friends, Could you please send the details for the below one’s
1. What is best place to stay there?
2. To whom I need to contact to get more details about pooja.
3. What is the nearest station to get down from train, we are staying in Hyderabad.
4. Is there any other visiting place to visit.
5. Can you please provide ur contact number if possible, so that i can contact u or some else who stays there.
I really thank you in advanced for you great help.
@Naveena
You are most welcome :)
@prasad
Yes, this place is also known as Vadneri or vadeneru. I am sorry, I don’t have any contact number as such. It is better to go there during Rahukal. Appropriate days would be either Saturday or Monday.
Usually, temple opens at around 5:45 in the morning. I am not sure till what time it will be open during the evenings.
hi dear Mohan. The info on this temple is very useful. can you pl clarify few more things as I will have to go there to perform rahu-ketu puja. Is this place called Vadeneru (near Ponnai)? Do you any contact telephone number of the temple or its purohit/manager etc so as to set up a prior appointment for performing the puja. what are timings of the temple?
Hey Mohan, thanks for the info about this temple. I will be visiting Tiruttani this weekend. From your map link, I could make out that this temple is on way to that place. I shall visit this temple. Thanks for including the map and specialilty of the temple.