Manakula Vinayagar Temple Pondicherry: Pondicherry is about 155 km from Chennai and in this Pondicherry there is a popular temple of Lord Ganesha that is visited by many devotees from all over. This Manakula Vinayakar temple got this name 'Manakula' because there was a pond or kulam on the west side of this temple and this pond was full of sand or manal as it was close to sea. The uniqueness of this temple is here tower is fully covered with gold and this is not seen in any other Lord Vinayakar temple. It must be noted that this temple of Lord Vinayaka is one of the ancient temples in Pondicherry and it is 500 years old. In this temple the main deity Lord Vinayaka is facing eastern side.

Constructed on an area of 7913 sq ft, this temple has got main deity or Lord Vinayaka seen with his four hands blessing his devotees. It must be noted that Lord Vinayaka's top two hands hold angusam and pasam and lower hands have abayadana muthra and varadhana muthra. Devotees or people coming to this temple would be surprised to see the presence of rajagopuram, kodikambam that is of the height of 18ft and plated in gold. Nardhana or dancing vinayaka present here also attract the attention of many devotees. Vinayakar Chathurthi is superbly celebrated in this temple and people come in huge numbers during this festival. Likewise New Year is also celebrated in this temple and presence of huge crowd during the New Year would confirm that.

It is superb to note that Pondicherry Annai, Swami Arvindar and great poet Bharathiyar are ardent devotes of this manakula vinayakar. Devotees could also get to see Lord Vinayakar in his many forms in this great temple in Pondicherry. People can have darshan of Lord Vinayaka in this temple daily from morning 6 am to 1 pm and then from evening 4 pm till 10 pm.