Arulmaakadal Perumal Temple (Sala Sayana Perumal), Thirusirupuliyur
Thiru Sirupuliyur
Photo: பா.ஜம்புலிங்கம் · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Associated with the sage Vyagrapada (the tiger-footed sage).
Sthala Purāṇam
The Arulmaakadal Perumal Temple at Thirusirupuliyur, in Mayiladuthurai district, is a Divya Desam where Vishnu reclines as Sthalasayana Perumal, called Arulmaakadal Perumal, in Sanskrit Kripasamudra, the ocean of grace, with Thirumaamagal Nachiyar as Thayar. The central sthala puranam concerns the sage Vyaghrapada, the tiger-footed devotee counted among the great Siddhas. Shiva, wishing his devotee to attain Vaikuntha, advised Vyaghrapada to perform severe penance to propitiate Vishnu; he set out with the sage Patanjali toward Srirangam. Owing to Patanjali's failing eyesight and the sages' great age they lost their way southward and arrived at this spot, called Krupa Samudram. Because the aged sages could not behold the great form of Vishnu clearly, the Lord appeared in a small reclining form known as Bala Sayanam; this smallness joined with Vyaghrapada's tiger nature gave the place its name Sirupuliyur, the town of the small tiger. The reclining posture here, not upon the serpent Adisesha, is held to be a rare phenomenon, with the Lord facing south. The images of Vyaghrapada and the sage Kanva stand within the sanctum. The episodes are said to be recorded in the Brahmanda Purana. The shrine was sung by Thirumangai Alvar in his Periya Tirumozhi within the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, who praised the Lord as the very embodiment of boundless mercy.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Arulmaakadal Perumal (Krupaa Samudra Perumal) with Thirumaamagal Nachiyar (Dayanayaki) of Thiru Sirupuliyur is glorified by:
Thiru Sirupuliyur's Arulmaakadal Perumal (Krupaa Samudra / 'Ocean of Compassion') received Mangalasasanam from Thirumangai Alvar alone - a decade of 10 pasurams in his Periya Thirumozhi. The hymn-tradition recounts the Alvar's initial disappointment at the small reclining murti and his subsequent rapture on grasping the Lord's true greatness as Sala Sayana Perumal on Adisesha. No exact Tamil text is asserted here, as a verbatim primary-source verse for this decade was not confidently obtained.
Verses & references (1)
- Thirumangai Alvar sings a decade of 10 pasurams on Arulmaakadal Perumal (Krupaa Samudra - 'ocean of compassion') of Thiru Sirupuliyur. By tradition the Alvar was at first disappointed by the small size of the reclining icon, but the Lord revealed His greatness; the Alvar then praises Him as Sala Sayana Perumal reclining on Adisesha and as an ocean of grace - one of only two Divya Desams (with Srirangam) where Vishnu reclines facing south. — Thirumangai Alvar, Periya Thirumozhi (Thirumangai Alvar) · source ↗
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