ஸ்ரீ வரசித்தி விநாயகர் கோயில், கனிபாக்கம்Sri Varasidhi Vinayaka Swamy Temple, Kanipakam

Sthala Mahātmyam

The Sri Varasidhi Vinayaka temple at Kanipakam, in Chittoor district, enshrines a celebrated swayambhu (self-manifest) Ganesha that arose from a well. Sthala mahatmya: three brothers, one blind, one deaf and one mute, were deepening a well when their tools struck a stone from which blood flowed; miraculously their afflictions were cured, and a self-formed idol of Vinayaka was revealed within the water. Villagers' offerings of coconut water once flowed over about one and a quarter acres of land, giving the place its name, Kanipakam, from Kani (wetland) and Pakam (flow of water). The idol still stands in the spring-fed well, its water remaining at a constant level in all seasons and given to devotees as tirtha. It is believed the murti is slowly growing, a silver kavacha made decades ago no longer fitting, and will keep growing until the end of Kaliyuga. The deity is revered as an upholder of truth, disputes being settled by oaths sworn before him after a holy dip. The eleventh-century Chola shrine was later expanded under Vijayanagara. Festivals: the twenty-one-day Brahmotsavam from Vinayaka Chaturthi.