Kanchipuram or kanchi or Kancheepuram, is a famous temple city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It served as the capital city of the Pallava Kingdom. It is also known by its former names Kanchiampathi, Conjeevaram, and the nickname "The City of Thousand Temples" ^[1] It is now the Administrative headquarters of Kanchipuram district. Kanchipuram is located 72 kilometers from Chennai, the capital city of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India.

Kanchipuram is considered one of the seven holiest cities to the Hindus of India. In Hinduism, a kṣetra is a sacred ground, a field of active power, a place where moksha, final release can be obtained. The Garuda Purana enumerates seven cities as providers of moksha, namely Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Varanasi, Avantikā, Dvārakā and Kanchipuram

Temples in and around Kanchipuram

Last Updated: 12th June 2016

Kanchipuram was the capital of Pallava regime and is well known for temples and silk sarees. It is the seat of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham established byAadhi Sankaracharya. It is believed that Sankaracharya attained samadhi at Kanchipuram, although another school of thought holds that Kedarnath in the Himalayas is the site of his samadhi. The town has 5 out of 275 Shiva temples glorified by the Thevara hymns and 14 out of 108 Vishnu divya desams. Kamakshi amman forms the central amman shrine for all the Shiva temples here and so none of the Shiva temples within Kanchipuram will have amman shrines. Ulagalandha Perumal and Pandava thoodhar are temples with stunningly huge moolavars. Kailasanathar Temple and Vaikunda Perumal Temple are the places must be visited by everyone just for the sheer beauty of the of art and architecture.

This is a temple town with more than 150 ancient temples and only some of them are listed here. For a very detailed version with complete list of temples