The Azhagar Vishnu Temple In Chennai That Serves Dosas As Prasad

Add as a preferred source on Google

Azhagar Kovil (Alagar temple),is a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu which is situated 21 km from the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Azhagar kovil is located on the outskirts of Madurai on the foothills of Azhagar Malai.

One of the 108 Divya desha temples, temple belongs to kallazhagar ( kallalagar) or Vishnu who is depicted here as Madurai Meenakshi's brother.

God is called Sundar Rajar who is also called kallazhagar.He is called so because he steals hearts with his beauty: Azhagar also means the one who has charming looks..

The Noopura Ganga Spring: Nupura means anklet. There is a spring called Noopura Ganga or Silambaru near the temple which is believed to have sprung from the anklet of Vishnu. The temple uses this water for abhisheka and for preparing the food.

It is a perennial river that originates at the feet of Rakkayi Amman from a cave inside the temple. This theertham, while flowing, runs through many herbs and absorbs their goodness.

This water is so therapeutic that it is believed to cure incurable diseases.Chithirai festival is a 10-day Festival that is grandly celebrated in this temple. There is an Akhand Jyoti that burns always in the temple.

Prasadams: Puliyogarai, curd rice, Milagu vadai are few tempting Prasadams. The sumptuous dosa prasad that is offered here is made of black gram dosa. This dosa is prepared on a pancha loha tava and fried in ghee only.

A huge dosa is prepared in the morning and then offered to God in the evening. It is firstly served to the goshti group which sings hymns and keertans.

Azhagar dosai more or less looks like appam and not as soft as a regular dosa. It is quite a bit thick but tasty because the outer covering is crisp and inner pulp is soft and good to chew. It should not be prepared with parboiled rice and only raw rice is used.

Panchamirtham in Palani and Laddu in Tirupathi are prasadams unique to these temples. Similarly, Dosa is the unique prasad served here in the Kallazhagar temple. Grains are donated to the temple in bulk, and hence the temple cooks grind them and prepare Dosas.

This is offered as divine prasad here. Whether God shows any preference for it, depends on so many factors. Whatever it is, the dosa preparation is very tasty although we are not supposed to analyse and study the taste of the dosa from so many angles as it is prasad and not our regular food.

Azhagar Kovil dosai Recipe And Preparation: In the vegetarian kitchen the dosas are prepared and offered to God and then to devotees. Dosa batter is deep fried in ghee. The recipe can be read here.

It requires ingredients like Raw rice -1 cup, urad dhal 1 cup, pepper jeera 3 tbsps coarsely ground, curry leaves a few, salt , and ghee to fry.

The method involves soaking urad dal for four hours and then blending it in a mixer and adding raw rice flour to it. Flour is made by soaking raw rice for two hours and when it dries, it is powdered.

Add curry leaves, jeera powder and salt to the batter and wait for 6 hours. Deep fry in ghee.This is prepared in south Indian homes, as unique temple prasad for certain very holy festivals and occasions.