Kapaleeshwarar Temple
— — a gateway painted in every colour at once.
Not only on a wall.
“The gopuram rises about forty metres above the Mylapore tank, every tier crowded with painted figures. Devotees walk the four mada streets around the temple before going in. The air smells of jasmine and camphor. Evenings during Panguni Uthiram bring the bronze processional deities out into the streets, and the neighbourhood becomes one slow river of light. from the studio
Kapaleeshwarar Temple, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Kapaleeshwarar Temple sits in the Mylapore neighbourhood of Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, dedicated to Shiva in the form of Kapaleeshwarar and to the goddess Karpagambal. The current structure dates to the sixteenth century, rebuilt under Vijayanagara patronage after the original coastal temple was destroyed; references to a Mylapore temple appear in seventh-century Tevaram hymns. The eastern gopuram, the temple's tallest tower, stands roughly 37 metres and is covered in painted stucco figures of deities, sages, and scenes from Shaiva mythology.
The temple's calendar year peaks at Panguni Uthiram, the ten-day festival in March or April, when the bronze processional images of Kapaleeshwarar and Karpagambal are taken out of the sanctum and carried in successive vahanas — the silver chariot, the bull, the peacock — through the four mada streets that ring the temple. The Arupathimoovar procession on day eight brings out sixty-three Nayanar saint-figures with crowds that fill Mylapore for a full night. Local families plan around it.
The temple is open daily, roughly 5:30 to 12:00 in the morning and 16:00 to 22:00 in the evening, with extended hours on festival days. There is no entry fee. Footwear is removed at the gate, and non-Hindus are welcome in the outer prakaram but not in the inner sanctum. The Mylapore tank, opposite the western entrance, is the quieter side to approach the temple. The site is a fifteen-minute walk from the Thirumailai metro station on the green line.