with all the issues connected to chidambaram hogging the limelight - must be good for your thillaiyil oru kollaikaran. especially like the one of the 3000. amazing today i landed on this link - talks of the king sibi bringing 3700 vaishnavite brahmins from near the ganges to this town - one of them dying and the lord taking his place....read on
ONLY A handful of temples have been dedicated to Lord Varaha, the most important of them being those at Thiruvidaventhai (Thiruvidanthai), on way to Kadalmallai (Mahabalipuram) and Srimushnam, where the Lord is hailed as `Gnanapiran.' But one place, which bears the name of this incarnation is Swedha Varaha Kshethram or Thiruvellarai, 17 km from Tiruchi on the road to Thuraiyur, and it is one of the 108 holy places. But the Lord standing tall and facing east is known as Pundarikakshan or the `Lotus-eyed God.' This ancient temple has been renovated at a cost of Rs. 21.25 lakhs and the Mahasamprokshanam was performed on March 16.
Considered to be anterior to Srirangam, it is also known as Swedhagiri, Adhivellarai, Uthama Kshethram and Hita Kshethram. According to the Puranas, 64 `Chathuryugas' (the present Kaliyuga being one among them) have passed since the Lord was enshrined here and the temple was built by Emperor Sibi.
Bhoomidevi and Sage Markandeya were among those who worshipped the Lord here. Sibi brought 3,700 families of Srivaishnavite Brahmins from the banks of the Ganga and Yamuna and settled them here as per the advice of Sage Markandeya. When one of them passed away, the emperor was perturbed but the Lord told him that He would take the place of the 3,700th Brahmin.
According to another legend, the emperor, before he built the temple, one day saw a white boar (Swedha Varaham) in the forest and chased it. It hid itself in an anthill near the place where Sage Markandeya was doing penance. When he enquired the sage about the boar he asked him to pour milk over the anthill to find it.
He did so and found the massive idol of the Lord in its present form emerge from it. The Lord told the emperor to build a temple there. This was said to have happened millions of years ago.
The Goddess in this holy place is known by the beautiful names of Pankaya Selvi and Shenbagavalli. According to legend She did penance here for union with the Lord, who appeared as Krishna from a well known as `Poonkinaru,' long before the Lord took the incarnation as Devaki's son in Mathura. That seems to be the reason for Saint Periyazhwar addressing the Lord here as child Krishna. Assuming the role of Yasodha, he appeals to the Lord to allow Him to apply `Kaappu' on Him.
In ten poems, he portrays the childish pranks of Lord Krishna. But for Thirumangai Azhwar the Lord here is the one who took incarnations as Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Narasimha, Varaha and Koorma. He also refers to the Lord taking the form of Hamsa and Parimuka Perumal (Hayagriva), which are not so well known. He has also sung the glory of the Lord in his `Siriya Thirumadal' and `Periya Thirumadal.' Both the saints have dedicated to the Lord 24 Pasurams.
There are seven holy water sources in the temple known as Divya Theertham, Varaha Theertham, Kandha Pushkarani, Chandra Pushkarani, Padma, Pushkala and Manikarnika Theerthams. The temple, surrounded on all sides by 36-feet-high compound walls, has a 50-feet-high unfinished Rajagopuram at the entrance and resembles the Srirangam temple in many ways.
The utsavar idols of Sri Senthamarai Kannan and Senkamalavalli Thayar.
Situated on a sprawling 10-acre site the temple has three Prakarams. Lord Pundarikaksha in the sanctum sanctorum is in a standing posture facing east. There are shrines for Krishna, Vishwaksenar, Nammazhwar, Chakarathazhwar, Nadhamunigal, Kulasekara Azhwar, Thondarippodi Azhwar, Andal, Ramanuja and Manavala Mamunigal.
Two entrances
There are two entrances to the main shrine one opened during the Utharayanam (Thai to Ani months) and the other opened during the Dakshinayanam (Aadi to Margazhi). The Vimanam is known as Vimalakrithi Vimanam. There is a separate shrine for Goddess Pankaya Selvi on the right side and She is the custodian of the entire temple town. The Jeeyar here is known as `Pankaya Selvi Jeeyar.' The temple is famous for its `Swasthik Kulam' (Naalu Mooali Kaeni) on the southeastern side.
Ramanuja spent many years in this holy place. Vedanta Desika and Manavala Mamunigal also offered `Mangalasasanam' to Lord Pundarikaksha. Uyyakondar, a disciple of Nadhamunigal, was born here.
When Nadhamunigal, an expert in `Ashtanga Yoga,' offered to impart training in the same to him, Uyyakondar was said to have politely turned down the offer saying that `how can one celebrate a marriage in a house where death has occurred.'
The inference thereby was that when there were thousands of souls to be redeemed, there was no point in his learning the Yoga to attain eternal bliss.
He was said to have taught the people Azhwars' Divya Prabandam songs, which were brought back from the oblivion by his mentor. Another preceptor, Engalazhwan, who was an expert in Sri Bashyam, was born here.
The Pallava Kings have carved out two cave temples in the rocks in this place, and there are many inscriptions throwing light on the history of the Cholas and Pallavas. Historians consider one of them to belong to the period of `Pallava Malla' Nandivarman II and another belongs to the period of Rajaraja I.
The Swasthik tank in the temple finds mention in one of the inscriptions, which calls it `Maarpidugu Perunkinaru' and it was believed to have been dug up by Maarpidugu Ilangovelan Sathan, a feudal lord under Pallava kings.
There are also inscriptions of Hoysala kings here.
There is another cave temple carved out of a rock known as Swedhagiri where Lord Siva, known as `Vada Jambunathar' and Pundarikaksha are enshrined.
Inscriptions belonging to the period of the Pallava King Nandivarman, who won the battle of Thellaru, have also been found in this place.
The Saivite holy place of Thiruppaingneeli is situated near Thiruvellarai.
Hi vijay chidambaram's thillai vaal anthanar, or thillai moovaayiramavar is a community that always draws the deepest respect from me. thats a personal opinion and i am sure most dont share an equal liking for them.
one thing about the community is its always been loggerheads with the ruling establishment. and while kings may come and kings may go they continue.
the first clash came with the cholas over devaram. the second was ganging up with the cholas to dispose off the vaishnavaite govindarajar into the bay of bengal. then came the muslim invasion and the deekshithars protected the idol. then they fought with the naiks of gingee when they wanted to re establish vaishnavism in thillai. some dikshithars even went to the gopuram top and jumped down to create a "theettu" on the day govindarajar was re established. then the french and british ccupied the temple to use it as a fort and the dikshitars moved to thiruvarur with nataraja. finally they had a clash with tamilnadu government on the take over of the temple issue. they went upto supreme court and proved the temple was a private owned one. rm veerappan the hr& ce minister took it as a personal issue. on a spree of vendetta he even tried to arrest all the deekshithars on the issue of baaliya vivaaham- child marriage( dekshithars can do puja to the idol and take a share in the income only if they are married. so they get married at 10 years or 12 years still)he planned to take over the temple saying there was no one to take care of it then. somehow their divine support intervened and rm veerappan was fired over some other issue by MGR and thereafter ceased to be a power in tamilnadu politics. now this issue of devaaram. lets see what natraja decides. i only hope its a true sense of religion thats behind this movement and that it would not be taken over by the atheist gang. the jewels and gold inside the temple are mind boggling. venketesh
The thiruvellarai inscriptions of Pallavas talk about a Radha Krishna shrine and not about the present shrine in which the lord blesses with chandra and surya
I can never forget the miniature sculptures that adorns the adhistana of the main sanctum sanctorum. Extremely fine pieces possibly of pallava origin
One shows Krishna dancing kudak koothu - multiple kudams (Remember silappathikaram and its references to Maayon's Kudak koothu)
Another shows Krishna killing the Asura who comes as a Heron
Another one is Narasihma avatara
The cave temple of Jambunatha contains many fine sculptures and an excellent chola nandhi
> hear that the asura is called bakasura. but we also read of bhima > killing bakasura ...were there two
I am not very sure vijay. But looking at the photos Nanda had sent, I remembered that Thiruvellarai krishna is shown slaying the deamon as portrayed by the azhvaars : Kokkin vaai pilanthu
You should see the way krishna holds down his left leg and literally tearing away the long beak - amazing.
But my favourite is kudak koothu.
Also, Thiruvellarai shows Varaha hugging bhumi devi in a very peculiar way. We could not understand what exactly he was doing and checked with Dr.Kalaikkovan. To our utter astonishment, he clarified what it was: The lord is biting devi's ears.. chellak kadi !
Should I conclude with the remark "Idhu eppadi irukku?"?