Maharishi Valmiki Temple at Thiruvanmiyur
There is a small temple or a Jeeva Samadhi for Saint Valmiki in Tiruvamiyur, Chennai. Interestingly, Tiruvanmiyur the name of the place, itself is derived from Thiru-Valmiki-Oor. One of the 18 Siddhas of TamilNadu is Vanmeegar. Some say he is same as Valmiki who wrote Ramayana.
Maharishi Valmiki is considered as one of the main Gurus of the Valmiki(Balmiki) sect. Maharishi Valmiki Jayanthi is celebrated with fervour in most parts of north India and there are several mandirs for him in the north.
This temple is nearby the famous Marundeeswarar Shiva Temple. As you can see from the image below, Valmiki temple is in the middle of the road and the highways department wanted to remove it. But it was stopped due to protests from various people. A few years ago, it was by the side of the road. A few decades ago, this was a part of the Marundeeswarar temple land. The East Coast Road, as it is known today was built only in 1998. Prior to that, the only road connecting Chennai to Pondicherry is the OMR road as it is known today.
The Marundeeswarar Shiva temple as the name signifies, Lord Shiva is said to have blessed Sage Agastya with knowledge of medicine ( Marundu – Medicine in Tamil). Even today, the deity is worshipped by devotees for better health. Specifically, people with skin problems come to this temple on full moon days (Pournami) , light lamps and perform archana to lord Shiva.
Any large temple has a strong association with a saint. For example, Palani temple with Sidha Bhogar, Meenakshi temple with Sundarananda, Srirangam temple with Sri Ramanuja and so on. This Marundeeswarar temple is associated with Agastya and Sage Valmiki.
Another temple associated with Sage Valmiki is that of Kuchalavapureeshwarar Siva temple in Koyambedu, Chennai. It is said that the ashram of sage Valmiki was located here and the sons of Lord Rama – Kucha and Lava performed Pujas here. There is a painting in the temple which shows this incident.
Another temple for Valmiki is located at Tirupathur in Sivaganga District in TamilNadu. It is said that Sage Valmiki did tapas at this place. There are several inscriptions which dot this temple,
