Sri Swayambhu Selva Vinayagar Temple - Shenbakkam

 

Sri Swayambhu Selva Vinayagar Temple is located at Shenbakkam Village in Vellore town in the state of Tamilnadu.

There are 11 Vinayakas in this temple. All are Swayambhu Moorthies in the form of lingam and Om.

There are four mice and one elephant sitting as Vahanas

This temple is located near the Palar River.

The other deities on the premises are Meenakshi Sundareswarar and Somasundareswar.

11 Vinayagars are Bala Vinayagar, Nandana Vinayagar, Omkara Vinayagar, Karpa Vinayagar, Chintamani Vinayagar, Selva Vinayagar, Mayura Vinayagar, Mooshika Vinayagar, Vallabha Vinayagar, Siddhi-Buddhi Vinayagar and Panchamukha Vinayagar.

This temple was built 500 – 1000 years ago.

It is believed that by doing milk abhishekam to Bala Vinayagar, the illness of children will be cured.

According to legend, A Maratha minister Thukkoji was passing through this place, when the axle of his chariot broke and forced him to stay there and worried about the obstacle to his trip. He prayed to Vinayaka and slept. Lord Vinayaka appeared in his dream and told him about his existence as 11 Swayambu idols arranged in Omkara shape under the ground and asked him to excavate them and build a temple. Thukkoji was overwhelmed and gladly performed the task. The mark of the chariot wheel is seen on the back of Selva Vinayakar's idol.

 

Once when Maha Periyaval and Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal were travelling by this route, the elephant on which the Chinna Swamigal was sitting refused to move when it got near the temple. Any amount of coaxing or cajoling by the mahout did not make it budge. It was only then that the Maha Periyaval remembered having made a vow to offer 108 “Setharu Thengai” (breaking 108 coconuts for the Vinayakas) to the Shenbakkam temple which he had totally forgotten about. He immediately requested the accompanying Mutt officials to organize for the same. Once the offering was made, the elephant quietly started moving forward without any protest. Vinayaka was able to remind Maha Periyaval about his prayer through himself (The Elephant).

Temple Timings

6.30 am to 11.30 am

4.30 pm to 7.30 pm

How to reach the Temple

3 km from Vellore

130 km from Chennai

Nearby Temples

Vellore, Jalakandeswarar Temple – 4 kms

Virinchipuram, Margabandeswarar Temple – 12 km

Tiruvalam, Sri Vilwanatheswarar Temple – 20 km

Sholingur, Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple – 33 km

Vellore, Vallimalai Murugan Temple – 33 km

Kaveripakkam, Sundara Varadar Temple – 41 km.