Naan Madhiya Perumal Temple, Thalaichanga Nanmadiyam
Thiru Thalaicchanga Naanmathiyam
Photo: Msg.ind · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Associated with the moon (Chandra) worshipping Vishnu to be relieved of a curse.
Sthala Purāṇam
Thiru Thalaicchanga Naanmathiyam, the temple of Naan Madhiya Perumal at Thalachangadu near Akkur (Nagapattinam), is one of the Divya Desams sung in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, with mangalasasanam by Thirumangai Alvar. The sthala puranam centres on Chandra, the moon god. Chandra had married the twenty-seven daughters of Daksha but showed favour only to Rohini; the slighted Daksha cursed him so that his lustre would wane periodically. In a related episode, Chandra was also afflicted after taking away Brihaspati's wife Tara, by whom Budha (Mercury) was born. To regain his brilliance, Chandra worshipped Vishnu at three sthalams, Srirangam, Indalur and here at Thalachangadu. Pleased, Vishnu restored Chandra's radiance periodically and is said to have worn the crescent moon upon His own head, which is why, unusually, it is Vishnu and not Shiva who bears the crescent here. The place is named Thalaicchanga Naanmathiyam because it was once a forest of conch-shaped flowers called sangu poo (Clitoria ternatea) in Tamil, cankam meaning conch. The presiding deity faces east and is worshipped as Naanmadiya Perumal, with his consort as Thalaichanga Nachiar. The temple has a single-tiered gopuram, one precinct, and the sacred tank in front is the Chandra Pushkarani, fittingly named for the moon god whose devotion founded the shrine.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Naan Madhiya Perumal with Thalaichanga Nachiyar (Pundarikavalli) of Thiru Thalaicchanga Naanmathiyam is glorified by:
The Naanmadiya Perumal temple at Thalaichangadu (near Akkur, Mayiladuthurai district) — one of the 108 Divya Desams, with the Lord as Nanmadiya Perumal and his consort as Talaichanga Nachiyar — was sung exclusively by Thirumangai Alvar in his Periya Thirumozhi. According to the tradition recorded for this shrine, the Alvar, while seated at Thirukkannapuram (a Divya Desam to its south-west), was captivated by the beauty of the Lord of Thalaichanga Nanmadiyam and expressed in his pasuram his longing to behold the handsome Lord residing at this cool, lotus-filled abode without himself travelling there.
Verses & references (1)
- From his seat at Thirukkannapuram, Thirumangai Alvar voices his yearning to see the beautiful Lord of Thalaichanga Nanmadiyam — the Perumal of that cool town abounding in lotus-filled tanks — praising the loveliness of the deity that drew the Alvar's heart from afar. — Thirumangai Alvar, Periya Thirumozhi · source ↗
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