Residents of Ganeshapuram in Annur taluk, Coimbatore have built a temple for former Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa and have been worshipping her image alongside the chief deity Kalabhairavar since the temple’s inauguration in early July.

The temple is called the Arulmigu Eassappar Kalabhairavar Anjanaiyar Thirukovil.

Palanisamy Venugopal, a former councillor and one among the 30 trustees of the temple told The Covai Post, “The sanctum is small but amidst the four gods carved out of single stone, an image of Jayalalithaa Amma has been etched and we are doing pooja twice a day. Another image is of Kalabhairavar, the third of the 12 rasis or astrological signs and the last of Aajanaiyar or Hanuman.

“Amma has instituted many welfare schemes for our ward of nearly 23,000 residents. She has built two gardens, a hospital and TNEB service station. We are truly grateful for the hospital because no former leader has done that.”

The hospital is quite big, says Venugopal. It has equipment to detect uterus and breast cancer, diabetic analysis and a well-stocked pharmacy.

On why the temple after nearly three years of Jayalalithaa’s death, Venugopal said, “We are a group of friends going every year to Vellingiri hill temple. We decided to build this temple and pooled in money and also got some donations from the government before starting the construction. Hence the delay.

“Now we have also built three water tanks that will make us water sufficient for the next 50 years. Many people are visiting due to the Kalabhairavar deity and performing puja for Amma. We believe in feeding all stray dogs here because they are the vehicle (vahanam) of Kalabhairavar.”

There are two other temples for Jayalalithaa at Tiruchi and Thanjavur. Other celebrities venerated with temples are Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in Andhra Pradesh, veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan in South Kolkata, actors Rajnikanth (Karnataka) and MG Ramachandran (Thiruindravoor).