At a distance of 1.5 km from Vellore City Railway Station, Jalakandeswarar Temple, devoted to Lord Shiva is positioned contained in the Vellore Fort. The temple is called Jalakandeswarar, as it’s positioned at a decrease top than the temple moat.
The temple has two courtyards and has a principal shrine with a closed path round it and numerous sub-shrines. Contained in the Garbha griha, principal deity Jalakandeswarar is seen within the type of Shivalinga. Goddess Sri Akilandeswari Amman is seen in separate sanctum within the inside enclosure of the temple. To the outer partitions of Amman sanctum one can get the darshan of Vinayaka, Madeswari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. There may be additionally a Nandi statue in entrance, going through Sri Jalakandeswarar sanctum.
In keeping with puranas, Athri muni put in a Siva Lingam on this place and worshiped. After he left, with out correct upkeep the Siva Lingam within the temple was coated by an ant-hill. Rain waters within the decrease ranges of the ant-hill made a tank there. Lord Shiva appeared within the dream of a chieftain Bommi Reddy who was ruling the area and requested him to construct a temple there. The king went to the tank, demolished the ant-hill and took out the Shivalinga and put in the Lord within the water itself.
The development of the temple started within the yr 1274 CE and continued for nearly 50 years. The inside enclosure of the temple and the inside fort had been constructed by the Sambuvaraya through the 14th century, whereas the sprawling outer enclosure, the beautiful kalyana mandapa and the vasantha mandapa had been constructed through the reign of Vijayanagara king, Sadasivadeva Maharaya (1540 to 1572 CE).
The Jalakandeswarar Temple is a high-quality instance of Vijayanagar structure. The doorway of Jalakandeswarar is constructed with an extended tower having giant picket gates and is sculptured with iron like lotus flowers. The kalyana mandapa positioned on the western facet of the temple, which is a superb construction reflecting the finer facets of the wonderful Vijayanagara temple structure. There are extremely sculptured and adorned pillars on the principal entrance. The engravings on the ceilings of the temple and the pillars are extraordinarily beautiful.
Chaitra Poornima (April / Could), Mahashivaratri (round Feb), Aadipooram (July/August), Vinayaka Chaturthi (August/September), Navarathri (September/October) are the key festivals celebrated within the temple.
Timings: 6.30 AM – 1 PM and 5 PM – 8.30 PM