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Temple Speciality

Temple Name

Sthalam

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Varadharaja Perumal or Perundevi Thayar

Varadharaja Perumal Temple, also called Hastagiri and Attiyuran, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu located in the city of Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the Divya Desams, the 108 temples of Vishnu believed to have been visited by the 12 poet saints, or the Alvars.&nbsp;It is located in a suburb of Kanchipuram known as the Vishnu Kanchi that is a home for many famous Vishnu temples. One of the greatest Hindu scholars of Vaishnava Vishishtadvaita philosophy, Ramanuja, is believed to have resided in this temple.

The temple along with Ekambareswarar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple in Kanchipuram is popularly known as Mumurtivasam (abode of trio),&nbsp;while Srirangam is referred to as: &#39;Koil&#39; (meaning: &quot;temple&quot;) and Tirupati as: &#39;Malai&#39; (Meaning: &quot;hill&quot;). Among the Divya Desams, Kanchipuram Varadharaja Perumal temple is known as: &#39;Perumal Koil&#39;. This is one of the most sacred places for Vaishnavites. The fourth of the Divya Desams that completes this series is Melukote,&mdash;which is known as Thirunarayanapuram. Vaishnavites believe that visiting all four places without a break will guarantee one a place in paramapadam.

There is a temple of Varadharajaswamy in Kurmai of Palamaner mandal in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, called the Kurma Varadharaja Swamy Temple.

Puranam

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According to Hindu legend,&nbsp;Saraswati&nbsp;cursed the king of celestial deities,&nbsp;Indra, to become an elephant and roam around the place. He was relieved of the curse with the divine power of Vishnu, who appeared as the mount, Hastagiri.&nbsp;Hastagiri&nbsp;indicates a mount/hill in the form of elephant.&nbsp;Indra, the king of the devas, is believed to have installed the silver and golden lizards in the temple, who were the witness of the ordeal, after being released from the curse of the goddess&nbsp;Saraswati.

Brahma&nbsp;performed a&nbsp;yagna&nbsp;here, the site of which was about to be washed away by the fast flowing river Vegavati (Saraswati in the form of river), known today as the&nbsp;Palar River. The temple deity, Vishnu, laid himself flat to stay the flow and the&nbsp;yagna&nbsp;was successfully performed. Vishnu emerged with brilliance of thousand Suns as Varadharajaswamy inside the athi tree, and stayed here permanently until he was submerged in nearby tank since the deity came from yagna done by Brahma (Historically speaking, his placement may have been due to fear of invasion by the&nbsp;Delhi Sultanate).

As is the case with the association of South Indian temples with a sacred tree, a name of the temple, Attigiri, is derived from the atti&nbsp;tree (fig), considered sacred to&nbsp;Vaishnavas&nbsp;as well as other Hindus.&nbsp;The present stone deity found inside the temple is from a nearby Narashima temple. The deity is called Devaraja Perumal, whose worship is equated to the Adi Athi Varadharaja Perumal i.e. two gods residing in one presiding idol.

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According to a Hindu legend,&nbsp;Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, separated with his wife&nbsp;Saraswati&nbsp;over a misunderstanding. He performed the&nbsp;ashvamedha&nbsp;sacrifice, seeking boons from Vishnu. Vishnu was pleased by the devotion, and came out from under the earth as a boar, making Saraswati unite with Brahma. Another legend states that the disciples of the sage Gautama were cursed to become lizards. They resided in the temple, and were relieved of the curse by the divine grace of Vishnu. There is a panel in the temple where the two lizards are depicted in the roof of the temple.

Thirukkachi Nambigal (also known as Kanchi Purnar) was an ardent devotee of this temple. He used to bring flowers everyday from&nbsp;Poovirundhavalli, where he maintained a garden. He performed the rituals of the&nbsp;Aalavatta Kaingariyam, waving to produce breeze with the help of a hand fan. It is believed that Vardharaja used to converse with him, while he was performing the ritual.

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Nambi also composed the Devarajaashtakam (a Sanskrit poem of 8 verses) for the presiding deity.&nbsp;Ramanuja, an influential Vaishnava preceptor, is regarded to have received answers to his six questions from Varadharaja. through Thirukkachi Nambigal.

The temple has around 350 inscriptions from various dynasties like&nbsp;Chola,&nbsp;Pandya, Kandavarayas,&nbsp;Cheras,&nbsp;Kakatiya,&nbsp;Sambuvaraya,&nbsp;Hoysala&nbsp;and&nbsp;Vijayanagara&nbsp;indicating various donations to the temple and also the political situation of Kanchipuram.

Varadharaja Perumal Temple was renovated by the&nbsp;Cholas&nbsp;in 1053 and it was expanded during the reigns of the great&nbsp;Chola&nbsp;kings&nbsp;Kulottunga Chola I&nbsp;and&nbsp;Vikrama Chola. In the 14th century another wall and a&nbsp;gopura&nbsp;was built by the later Chola kings. When a&nbsp;Mughul&nbsp;invasion was expected in 1688, the main image of the deity was sent to&nbsp;Udayarpalayam, now part of&nbsp;Tiruchirappalli district.

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Halls in the temple with sculpted pillars

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It was brought back with greater difficulty after the involvement of local preceptor who enlisted the services of general Todarmal.Robert Clive, the British general during the colonial period visited the&nbsp;Garuda seva&nbsp;festival and presented a valuable necklace (now termed Clive&nbsp;Maharkandi), which is adorned during a special occasion every year.At present the administration is carried out by Hindu Religious and Endowment of the&nbsp;Government of Tamil Nadu.

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Halls in the temple with sculpted pillars

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The old inscriptions and records of the temple states that several leaders like Vyasatirtha and Satya-Vijaya Tirtha from the&nbsp;Dvaita&nbsp;school of Vedanta had evinced interest in this temple. An epigraph of the temple datable to 1511 CE records that the Dvaita saint and Kulaguru of&nbsp;Krishnadevaraya,&nbsp;Vyasatirtha&nbsp;presented a village and serpant vehicle to Varadharaja Temple and instituted a festival in honour of Vijayanagara king&nbsp;Krishnadevaraya.

Another record dated 1726 CE mentions that another Dvaita saint and Peetadhipathi of&nbsp;Uttaradi Matha&nbsp;by the name Satyavijaya Tirtha was honoured in the temple with some privileges.&nbsp;As Raghava Iyengar mentions in his work&nbsp;Sasana Tamil Kavi Saritham, an inscription at the temple indicates that&nbsp;Parimelalhagar, who wrote his commentary of the&nbsp;Tirukkural&nbsp;around 1271&ndash;1272 CE, belonged to the lineage of priests of&nbsp;Ulagalandha Perumal temple.

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View of the&nbsp;rajagopuram&nbsp;from near a pillar at the entrance

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There are inscriptions dated 1532 CE (record 544 of 1919) indicating the gift of number of villages made by Achutaraya.&nbsp;Vira Narasingaraya Saluva Nayaka who was directed by Achutaraya broke the royal order by giving more lands to Ekambaranathar temple than the Varadharaja Swamy temple against the instruction of an equal gift to either of the temples.

Achutaraya on hearing this equally distributed the lands to both the temples.There is an inscription from the 13th century from the Hoysalas, indicating a gift of a crown to the presiding deity. During the 17th century, the temple was under the attacks from the&nbsp;Mughals, spearheaded by&nbsp;Aurangzeb. The deities of the temple were ported to Udayarpalayam in modern-day&nbsp;Tiruchirappalli district&nbsp;during 1688. It was only during 1710 that the situation was ripe for the deities to be returned.

But the chieftain of Udayarpalayam opposed the move and only after the intervention of Paramahamsa Parivajakacharya Attan Jeer, the deities were returned. The event is commemorated as a festival in the temple.

The Thathacharyas are the custodians&nbsp;of the Kanchipuram Perarulalan Kovil popularly known as Varadharaja Perumal temple. They are the Pradhana Acharya Purushas in the protocol to receive and deliver the temple honours. In retrospection Tirumalai Nambi&#39;s son Tirukkurukai Piran Pillan was ordained by Ramanuja himself as the first and foremost among the 74 Peetadhipathis to propagate Visishtadwaita philosophy after him.

Pillan was also chosen by Ramanuja as the competent person to write the commentary on Tiruvaimozhi. The annotation of Tiruvaimozhi thus brought out by Pillan&nbsp;under the behest of Ramanuja is called the famous &#39;Araiyarpadi&#39; the first gloss in Manipravala, an elegant mixture of Tamil and Sanskrit words, on the Divya Prabhandam.

&nbsp;After Pillan, Tirumalai Srinivasacharya Thathacharya in the fifth generation of Thathacharyas was installed by Sri Vedanta Desika as the Sri Kariyam of the Devaraja Swamy Kovil. Since then the office of Sri Kariyam is institutionalised in the diligence and devotion of the Thathacharyas to the Varadharaja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram.&nbsp;

Lakshmi Kumara Thathachariar&nbsp;inherited this mantle from his ancestors and made epoch making contributions to the temple annals. He was the Sri Kariya Durandhara &ndash; a phrase connoting absolute dedication and authority &ndash; of the temple affairs. Simultaneously he was also the Raja Guru of the Vijayanagar king Venkatapathi Deva Maharaj. In Ayengarkulam, a village named after him near Kanchipuram, he built a tank and temple to Sri Rama and Hanuman.

The temple is maintained and administered by the&nbsp;Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Government of Tamil Nadu,&nbsp;having the Thathachariars as the Honorary Trustees.

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Varnam

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The temple is present in Chinna Kanchipuram, a locality in the Eastern side of&nbsp;Kanchipuram, a&nbsp;South Indian&nbsp;town in the state of&nbsp;Tamil Nadu.The temple covers an area of 23-acre (93,000&nbsp;m2), showcasing the architectural skills of ancient Vishwakarma Sthapathis in temple architecture, and is famous for its holiness and ancient history.

The temple has three outer precincts (prakarams), namely,&nbsp;Alvar Prakaram,&nbsp;Madai Palli Prakaram&nbsp;and&nbsp;Thiru Malai Prakaram.&nbsp;There are 32 shrines, 19&nbsp;vimanams&nbsp;(towers), 389 pillared halls (most having the lion type&nbsp;yali&nbsp;sculpture) and sacred tanks some of which located outside the complex.The temple tank is called Anantha Theertham.&nbsp;There are 96 ornate sculpted pillars depicting various legends of&nbsp;Mahabharat&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ramayana.

The most notable sculptures are of&nbsp;Rati,&nbsp;Manmatha,&nbsp;Lakshmi Narayana,&nbsp;Lakshmi Narasimha, Lakshmi Varaha, and Lakshmi Hayagreeva.

The main sanctum faces west and can be entered through a 130-feet-tall, 7-tiered&nbsp;rajagopuram&nbsp;(main gateway tower).&nbsp;The image of the presiding deity is designed in such a way that on the 15th day after Chitra Purnima, the rays of the Sun fall on the idol.

The hill, called Hastagiri, is 360&nbsp;m (1,180&nbsp;ft) long by 240 metres (790&nbsp;ft).The eastern&nbsp;gopuram&nbsp;is taller than the western&nbsp;gopuram, which is contrasting to large temples where the&nbsp;rajagopuram&nbsp;is the tallest one.One of the most famous architectural pieces in the temple is the huge stone chain sculpted in a single stone.There is a 100 pillared hall&nbsp;which has sculptures depicting&nbsp;Ramayana&nbsp;and&nbsp;Mahabharata. It is a masterpiece of&nbsp;Vijayanagara&nbsp;architecture.

Hastagiri has murals of the late&nbsp;Vijayanagara empire&nbsp;on the ceiling.Another significant features of the temple are beautifully carved lizards and gilded with gold, over the sanctum.The&nbsp;vimana&nbsp;over the sanctum of Varadharaja Swami is called&nbsp;Punyakoti Vimanam&nbsp;and the one over Perundevi Thayar shrine is called&nbsp;Kalyana Koti Vimanam.

Apart from the main stone idol, the temple has the wooden image of Varadharajaswamy made of Atthi or the fig tree and preserved under water in a secret chamber. It is brought out for worship once every 40 years. The festivities last 48 days after which it is immersed in the water and stored for the next 40 years.

It is believed that there is a heavy downpour after the idol is immersed to fill the tank. The presiding deity is a 10&nbsp;ft (3.0&nbsp;m) tall idol made of granite in standing posture, while Thayar is a 4&nbsp;ft (1.2&nbsp;m) image in sitting posture.There is a shrine of&nbsp;Narasimha&nbsp;on the hillock.

&nbsp;The origin of the mask of Narasimha is mysterious and believed to possess inexplicable powers.

In the second precinct downstairs contains four shrines, of which the important one is of Malayala Nachiar (Kerala consort), presumably built during the&nbsp;Chera&nbsp;kings in the early 14th century. There are images of&nbsp;Alvars&nbsp;and&nbsp;Ramanuja&nbsp;in the second precinct.

The third precinct has the shrine of Goddess Perundevi Thayar; it is customary for devotees to visit the shrine first before visiting the main Perumal shrine. There are four small pillared halls, identical in structure, called Thulabara Mandapas built during the 1532 for a ceremony of&nbsp;Achyutaraya&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Vijayanagara Empire.

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Images in the temple

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The seven precincts are called Pradakshina Padha, Hastagiri Pradakshana, Madapalli Pragara, Alavandar Pragara, and Alvar Thiruveedhi. The Alavandar Pragara houses lot of shrines of the temple. The temple has two towers on the eastern and western sides, which are 180&nbsp;ft (55&nbsp;m) and 160&nbsp;ft (49&nbsp;m) tall respectively. There is a hundred pillared hall, which has ornate carvings, notable of which being a stone chain.

The temple car is believed to have been donated by&nbsp;Krishnadevaraya&nbsp;in 1517 CE. There are paintings in the temple commissioned during the 16th century during the rule of Vijayanagara kings

There is a shrine of Chakratalvar on the eastern side of the temple tank. The image of Chakratalvar (Sudarshana) in the temple is depicted with six hands. There festival image of the temple has seven different images of Sudarshana depicted within the same chakra. There are two entrances to the shrine as the two images are considered to be separate.

The shrine is believed to have been constructed during the time of Kulothunga III during 1191 CE by Ilavalagan Kalingarayan of Nettur as seen from the inscriptions in the temple. The later additions are presumably made by the&nbsp;Vijayanagara Empire&nbsp;during the 13th or early part of 14th century. The kings also added pillared columns in the leading hall sculpted with figures from&nbsp;Ramayana&nbsp;and various forms of&nbsp;Vishnu.

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Highlights

Sevas/Festivals

Halls in the temple with sculpted pillars

The temple is often mentioned as the divine source of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Vaishnavism">Sri Vaishnava</a>&nbsp;literature. Thirumangai Alvar spent all his wealth and taxes towards the building of the temple and the king punished him for not paying the taxes, and losing wealth of the kingdom. A divine voice informed the king in his dreams that he can pickup wealth from a nearby place and relieve Thirumangai Alvar. Thirukachi Nambi was an ardent devotee of Varadharaja. He used to come a long way everyday to the temple to offer his worship. During his old age, he was privileged to converse with god.&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramanuja">Ramanuja</a>, the preceptor of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishishtadvaita">Vishishtadvaita</a>&nbsp;philosophy, was tricked by his master and was plotted to be killed. But by the grace of divinity, he was masked as a hunter and escape the event. He later came back to the temple to the making of the Vaishnava philosophy.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram#cite_note-census-6">[6]</a>

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta_Desika">Vedanta Desika</a>, the revered polymath next only to&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramanuja">Ramanuja</a>&nbsp;mentions the annual ten-day festival celebrated in May.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram#cite_note-Rao108-10">[10]</a>&nbsp;In one of the verses, he extols the deity:

&quot;He is the single root-source for this entire universe,

beginning with space, and all other elements;

like the pupil in the eye of the Vedas.&quot;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram#cite_note-34">[34]</a>

The temple also finds mention in the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirtha_prabandha">Thirtha Prabandha</a>, a travelogue with descriptions of pilgrim centers throughout India written by Sri&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadirajatirtha">Vadiraja Swamy</a>.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyagaraja">Tyagaraja</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muthuswami_Dikshitar">Muthuswami Dikshitar</a>, the celebrated composers of the 18th century created compositions on the festival.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram#cite_note-Rao108-10">[10]</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirumangai_Alvar">Thirumangai Alvar</a>&nbsp;wrote 4 pasurams,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhoothathalvar">Bhoothathalvar</a>&nbsp;wrote 2 pasurams, and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyalvar">Peyalvar</a>&nbsp;penned one pasuram.

Sri Alluri Venkatadri Swamigal composed more than 200 keerthanams about Varadharaja Perumal.

<h2>Festival and religious practises[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram&amp;action=edit&amp;section=5">edit</a>]</h2>

The temple is famous for its huge umbrella used during festive occasions. During the&nbsp;bhramotsavam&nbsp;(major festival) in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_calendar">Vaigasi</a>&nbsp;(May/June), thousands of people throng the temple and that increases twofold during the&nbsp;Garuda Vahanam&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_car">Ther</a>&nbsp;Thiruvila, the chariot procession.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed">citation needed</a>]

<h3>Atthi Varadar[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram&amp;action=edit&amp;section=6">edit</a>]</h3>

Vasantha Mantapam, where Atthi Varadar is worshipped for 48 days after every 40 years.

Atthi Varadharaja Perumal (Atthi Varadar), the 10 feet deity image, is made of the&nbsp;Atthi&nbsp;or the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus">fig tree</a>, and is stored in an underground chamber inside the temple tank which is called the Anantha Sarovaram/ Anantha Saras. It is brought out to worship for 48 days after every 40 years.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram#cite_note-35">[35]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram#cite_note-36">[36]</a>&nbsp;It is worshipped in the&nbsp;Vasantha Mantapam,&nbsp;which located in the south-west corner of the temple. The Aththi Varadar is worshipped in sleeping posture (Kidantha Thirukkolam&nbsp;or&nbsp;Sayana Kolam)&nbsp;in the first 24 days, followed by standing position (Nindra Thirukkolam)&nbsp;in the next 24 days.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram#cite_note-37">[37]</a>

The icon, which was the presiding deity earlier, was hidden in the 16th century to protect from invaders; however replaced by the current stone central icon when the wooden icon could not be traced. In 1709, the icon was accidentally rediscovered when the temple tank was emptied; thereafter the tradition of worshipping the deity once in 40 years was established.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram#cite_note-38">[38]</a>

The festival was last held from 1 July to 17 Aug in 2019. The next Atthi Varadar festival will be held in 2059.

Earlier documented dates about the rise are:

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