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Sri Ekambaranathar Temple and Sri Nilathingal Thundathan Perumal Temple (or Thiru Nilathingal Thundam)

Sri Ekambaranathar Temple (or “Lord of Mango Tree”) is the largest temple of Kanchipuram. Sri Chaitanya-Charitamrita Madhya lila 9.68 mentions, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited this temple during His tour to South India – “Arriving at Siva-kanchi, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited the deity of Lord Siva. By His influence, He converted all into Vaisnavas.” Thiru Nilathingal Thundam is one of the 108 Divya Desams of Lord Vishnu situated in Sri Ekambaranathar temple. The shrine is in the north-east corner of the temple.

When mother Parvathi was doing tapasya (penance) beneath a mango tree, Lord Siva wanted to test the strength of her tapasya. So, he set the mango tree on fire. Then, Parvathi sought the help of Lord Vaman. After hearing the request of Parvathi, Sri Vamana with four hands with Sankha (conch) in one hand and Chakra (disc) on the other, took out the Chandran (moon) from the head of Lord Siva. With the cool rays, Lord Vishnu made the fire cool and made the mango tree grow once again. After this, Parvathi went back to do the tapasya. Lord Siva wanted to test her again and sent Ganga, the river. When Ganga came very fast to destroy the tapasya of Parvathi, Parvathi explained her that both of them are sisters. Inspite of hearing this, Ganga River didn’t want to stop and tried to destroy her and her tapasya. At that time, Parvathi made a Siva lingam out of sand and elapsed the Linga with all veneration and embraced it. The Linga could not wash away by the water of Ganga. Siva was pleased with Parvati’s devotion. This is the Sthala Puranam of this temple. Lord Siva is worshipped in the form of earth Linga (made out of river sand). The temple tower (Gopura) is eleven storey structure adorned with excellent sculptures. This is one of the tallest temples in South India. There is a Linga in the prakaram of this tree which is a composite of 108 Lingas and another one of 1008 small Lingas.

To help Parvathi, Lord Narayana took the Chandran (moon) from Lord Siva’s head, he is called as “Nila Thingal Thundathan” and so the sthalam is called as “Thiru Nilathingal Thundam”. This Divya desam is found inside Ekambareswarar temple. Since, this temple is taken care by Siva Acaryas; the poojas for Sri Vishnu is done by a Siva priest only. There is a mango tree in the temple dating back to 3,500 years. The divine tree with its four branches representing the four Vedas yields fruits in four flavours – sweet, citric, spicy and bitter.

Vishnu is prayed here as Vamana murthy and the shrine is hailed by the Azhwar saints as one of the 108 Divya Desams. The presiding deity of the Lord Vishnu’s temple is ‘Lord Nilathingal Thundathan‘, also known as Lord Chandra Chooda Perumal. He is in a standing posture, facing towards the west. His consort Mahalakshmi is named as Ner Oruvar Illavalli Nachiyar and also called as Nilathingal Thunda Thaayar. The Pushkarani (temple tank) of Sri Nilathingal Thundathan Perumal Temple is called as Chandra Pushkarani.

Mango tree

Sri Ekambaranathar

Sri Pandava Dhootha (Duta) Perumal Temple (or Thiru Paadagam)

Sri Pandava Dhootha Perumal Temple is the 49th among 108 Divya Desams of Lord Vishnu. The presiding deity of the temple Sri Pandava Dhootha is in a huge form called Vishva-rupa of Lord Krishna. The awe-inspiring, gigantic twenty five feet deity of Lord Krishna as Visva-rupa (Universal form) is in sitting posture facing east. Temple is associated with the pastime when Lord Sri Krishna went to the Kauravas as a messenger (duta) of the Pandavas to make a peace treaty to avoid warfare. Duryodhana, the king of the Kauravas, had a plan to arrest and kill Krishna while He was in Hastinapura. He dug a deep pit and covered it with a carpet and a chair studded with gems. He had wrestlers hidden in the pit to wrangle Krishna. Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, displayed His Vishvarupa, the Universal form, a giant form.
After hearing this pastime from the sage Vaisampayana, King Janamajeya, the great-grandson of Arjuna, did penance here to have darshan of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna appeared in His divine form, Visva-rupa and blessed Janamajeya at this temple. Sri Krishna at this temple is called Padagam. Pada means big and Agam means residence, signifying Thirupadagam as the place where Vishnu resides with his giant form.

The temple is considered as one of the three oldest Vishnu temples in Kanchipuram, the other two being Ulagalantha Perumal Temple and Yathothkari Perumal Temple. The central shrine of the temple has a large image of the presiding deity Pandava dhoothar, which has a height of 25 feet (7.6 m). Such a large deity of Lord Krishna is one of its kinds. The deity is seen seated in Arda Padmasana posture with his right leg bent to the basement. The right palm depicts the Abhaya Mudra for protection and the left arm depicts Varada Mudra for giving boon. The shrine faces east and the vimana of the temple is called Bhadra Vimana. The preceding hall to the main sanctum, Mukha Mandapa, has bronze images of the festival deities of the temple and Azhwars. The shrine of Rukmini is located to the south of the main shrine and has the deity of Rukmini. Deity of Lord Nrsimhadeva is located behind the main shrine. Matsya Theertham, the temple tank, is located on the north-eastern side of the temple. The major festival of the temple is Sri Krishna Janmastami.

Lord Sri Pandava Dhootha Perumal

Sri Vaikuntha Perumal Temple (or Thiru Parameshwara Vinnagaram)

Sri Vaikuntha Perumal Temple is the 56th Divya Desam dedicated to Lord Vishnu. This location was called Vidarbha desa and ruled by a king named Viroacha. Due to misdeeds in his preceding birth, Virocha had no heir. He prayed to Lord Siva at Sri Kailasanathar temple. The presiding deity of the temple gave a boon that the Dvarapalas (the gatekeepers) of the Vishnu temple will be born as sons to him. The two sons and princes, Pallavan and Vallavan, were deeply devoted to Lord Vishnu and conducted big yajnas to Lord Vishnu for welfare of people of the kingdom. Pleased by their devotion, Lord Vishnu granted darshan as Vaikundanatha Perumal to the princes.

Sri Vaikuntha Perumal temple is built in Dravidian architectural style. Temple has three-tier sanctorum’s (prakara), one on top of the other. At the ground floor sanctum, the primary deity of Lord Vishnu known as Sri Paramapadha Nathan is present in a seated posture. Lord Vishnu deity, called Lord Ranganatha on the first floor sanctum is in the sleeping posture (sayana kolam) with His consorts Sri Devi and Bhu Devi. On the topmost floor, Sri Paramapadanathan is in the standing posture. The temple dates back to 1300 years and is beautifully constructed. The walls of the temples are adorned with historical and religious sculptures and few describing the rule of the Pallava dynasty.

The Vaikasi Brahmotsavam, celebrated during the Tamil month of Vaikasi (May-June), and Vaikuntha Ekadasi celebrated during the Tamil month of Margazhi (Dec-Jan) are the two major festivals celebrated in the temple. About three lakh people visit this temple during Vaikuntha Ekadasi festival. This temple is revered in Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the 7th to 9th century Vaishnava canon by Thirumangai Azhwar in ten hymns. These verses are recited by a group of temple priests amidst music with nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument) at the temple. The temple is also called Mummada Koil. There was a secret underground tunnel laid out from this temple all the way to Mahabalipuram, on the eastern sea shore, as well as to Parameswara Pallava’s court.

Lord Sri Vaikunda Perumal

Sri Yatoktakari Perumal Temple (or Thiru Vekka)

Sri Yatoktakari Perumal is also called “Vega Sethu” because Lord Narayana appeared here in the form of a dam (sethu).He appeared on the request of Lord Brahma to stop the massive “Vegavathi” river sent by Saraswathi. She felt ignored by Lord Brahma. when he was doing the Ashwamedha yajna. Lord stopped the river by lying across the river on Aadhiseshan. Because of this, this Perumal is also named as “Vega Sethu”. This Vega Sethu then became Vegavanai and then finally named as “Vekkanai” and finally became “Vekka”. Sri Yatoktakari Perumal Temple is the 51st Divya Desam dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is one kilometer from Sri Varadaraja Perumal Temple. Lord Sri Yatoktakari Perumal lying in the opposite direction from right to left and is huge in size.

Tirumazhisai Azhwar and Kanikannan devotion to Lord in this temple:
When a great Sri Vaishnava acarya, Thirumizhisai Azhwar was living in Kanchipuram, a very old lady (dasi) served Lord Yatoktakari Perumal in this temple. She used to clean the temple premises and selflessly served the Lord. Seeing her sincerity and self-less devotion to Lord, Thirumazhisai Azhwar blessed her to become a beautiful maiden. Later, the King of the city, wondering at the enchanting beauty of this lady, married her. On hearing the secret of an old lady becoming a beautiful woman, he was in an eager mood to meet Thirumizhisai Azhwar.

Kanikannan was a close associate and an ardent follower of Thirumazhisai Azhwar. One day the king ordered Kanikannan to his court. King demanded Kanikannan to bring Thirumizhisai Azhwar to his palace and sing poems on praising him. On hearing this, Kanikannan authentically revealed that all poems that Thirumazhisai Azhwar sung were in praising the glories of Lord Vishnu. It is impossible for him to come to the palace and sing a poem on praising the king who is engaged in mundane sense gratification. The king persuaded Kanikannan with all the precious jewels, diamonds, etc., but Kanikannan flatly refused to do so. On hearing this, the king became angry and ordered him to go out from Kanchipuram immediately.

Kanikannan went to Thirumizhisai Azhwar and explained all that had happened in the palace and prepared to leave from Kanchipuram. On seeing this, Thirumizhisai Azhwar also prepared to leave from Kanchipuram along with Kanikannan. Before leaving Sri Yatoktakari Perumal temple, Thirumazhisai Azhwar fervently sung beautiful verses requesting Lord to be with them on their way out from Kanchipuram. Lord Yatoktakari Perumal also decided to leave Kanchipuram due to the pure devotion and love of Thirumazhisai Azhwar. Consequently, Lord Yatoktakari Perumal followed Thirumazhisai Azhwar and Kanikannan on their way out from Kanchipuram. Shortly, the king realized the absence of Lord in this temple and deeply regretted at his ignorance. He begged Kanikannan to pardon him and received Kanikannan and his Acharya with due respect and honour to Kanchipuram. Thus, Sri Yathothkari Perumal was re-positioned in the sanctum sanctorum with his divine presence. And after this, Kanikannan along with Thirumizhisai Azhwar came back to Kanchipuram. When returning, Azhwar sang a song asking that Kanikannan has returned back to Kanchipuram and he want the Perumal to go and sleep on His Aadhiseshan in the temple. On hearing this, Lord Narayana came back to Sri Yatoktakari (Thiru Vekka) temple. Since the Perumal obeyed the words of Thirumizhisai Azhwar and did what he said, he is called as “Sonna Vannam Seitha Perumal”. Sonna Vannam Seitha means obeying and doing the same what was told to him.