Adhiparasakthi Siddhar Peetam, Melmaruvathur

Arulmigu Adhiparasakthi Siddhar Peetam is a goddess temple at Melmaruvathur, roughly 92 km from Chennai. In the 1960s a neem tree stood where the sanctum is now, and villagers held that its sweet sap cured illness. When a storm brought the tree down in 1966 it revealed a swayambu, a naturally formed oval stone, and people built a hut over it to worship. The name Siddhar Peetam, throne of the enlightened, reflects the belief that 21 siddhars rest here in jeeva samadhi. A three-foot image of the goddess, seated on a thousand-petalled lotus, was installed beside the stone in 1977.

Devotees believe the goddess speaks through Bangaru Adigalar, whom they call Amma, and the temple's message is 'One Mother, One Humanity'. Women may perform worship in the sanctum. Visitors circle the Om Sakthi stage with its trident three times before entering. There is no Navagraha shrine. A snake-pit hall, the putrumandapam, and a roofless shrine to the seven virgin goddesses stand within the complex.