Gopala Krishna Perumal Temple, Thirukkavalampadi
Thiru Kavalampaadi
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One of the eleven Nangur Divya Desams.
Sthala Purāṇam
Thiru Kavalampaadi, the Gopala Krishna Perumal Temple at Thirunangur near Sirkazhi, is one of the eleven Thirunangur Divya Desams and is glorified by Thirumangai Alvar in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham. By the overarching Thirunangur legend, Shiva, dancing in grief after the loss of his consort at Daksha's yajna, was pacified by Vishnu and asked Him to manifest in eleven forms matching the eleven Rudras, giving rise to the eleven Thirunangur shrines. The chief sthala puranam here is Krishnaite: Krishna and his consort Satyabhama are said to have chosen this place for a garden because it resembled the celestial garden of Indra. When Satyabhama desired the Parijata flower, Krishna sought it and brought the Parijata tree from Indralokam to fulfil her wish, the land here being abundant in Parijata. The temple's name is also explained by the legend that Krishna saved an elephant here, kavalam meaning elephant and padi a place; other accounts connect kavalam to a morsel of food accepted from a devotee. The presiding Gopalakrishna stands east-facing with consorts Rukmini and Satyabhama, the goddess being Sengamala Nachiar. The vimana is the Pushkala (Swayambu) Vimana and the tirtham is the Tadamalarppoikai. Each year, on the day after Thai Amavasai, the Perumal joins the grand Thirunangur Garuda Sevai of all eleven deities.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Gopala Krishna Perumal with Madhavi (Sengamala Nachiyar) of Thiru Kavalampaadi is glorified by:
Thirukkavalampadi (Gopalakrishna Perumal temple) is one of the eleven Thirunangur Tirupatis, reckoned as the foremost of that cluster and associated with the Krishna / Gopala (cowherd) glory — often called Dakshina Dwaraka. Thirumangai Alvar, who according to tradition built the Thirunangur temples, sings the Thirunangur abodes in his Periya Thirumozhi (the decade 3.9, 'manniya pal porul', explicitly extols the cowherd-Krishna who dwells at Thirunangur, with imagery of lifting the calf and eating the cowherds' butter — precisely the Gopalakrishna form enshrined here). During the annual Thirumangai Alvar Mangalasasana Utsavam (Thai month) the Alvar's festival image is carried to each of the eleven temples and his pasurams for each are recited.
Verses & references (1)
- The temple at Thirunangur where that youthful Lord joyfully dwells day after day — He who flung the calf (a demon) at the wood-apple tree to make the fruit (another demon) fall, and who, to his heart's content, ate the curd and butter that the spear-eyed cowherd-women had stored, the same One who swallowed all these worlds. — Thirumangai Alvar, Periya Thirumozhi 3.9.7 · source ↗
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