Loganatha Perumal Temple, Thirukkannankudi
Thirukkannankudi
Photo: VishnuDevA7 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
One of the Pancha Krishna Kshetrams.
Sthala Purāṇam
Sri Loganatha Perumal Temple at Thirukkannankudi, near Sikkal in Nagapattinam district, enshrines Vishnu as Loganatha Perumal, a standing east-facing form whose name means lord and protector of the world; the utsava deity is worshipped as Damodara Narayanan and the Thayar as Aravindavalli. The temple is counted among the Krishnaranya, Pancha Krishna, and Pancha Narayana Kshetrams. Its central legend recounts how the sage Vasishta fashioned an idol of Krishna out of butter and worshipped it with such devotion that the butter never melted. To test the sage, Krishna manifested as a child, ate the butter idol, and fled; when Vasishta pursued the boy, other meditating rishis caught and bound the child to a tree. The Lord then revealed himself as Damodara, the name recalling Krishna bound at the waist by Yashoda's rope. From this episode of the Lord staying here (kudi, abode) the place is said to take its name Thirukkannankudi, and the sacred Magizha (vakula) tree behind the temple, believed never to die, stands as the sthala vriksham. The vimana is the Utpala Vimanam and the sacred waters are the Shravana Theertham. Thirumangai Alvar glorified the Lord here in his pasurams, and tradition links this shrine with the Alvar in his service to Srirangam.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Loganatha Perumal (Damodara) with Aravindavalli (Loganayaki) of Thirukkannankudi is glorified by:
Thirukkannankudi (Thirukkannangudi), home of Loganatha Perumal (Damodara) reclining on Adisesha, received its mangalasasanam from Thirumangai Alvar alone, who dedicated a full decade (10 pasurams) to the shrine in his Periya Thirumozhi (the decade running in the printed editions around pasurams 1748-1757). The Alvar opens by extolling the sacred town as the abode of the Lord who rests on the serpent over the ocean bearing his divine weapons, and surrounded by learned brahmins versed in the itihasas who perform yajnas; in succeeding verses he identifies it with the Lord of the Matsya, Kurma and other avataras.
Verses & references (1)
- Thirumangai Alvar praises the Lord of Thirukkannankudi who reclines upon Adisesha amid the milky ocean bearing his divine discus and conch, the abode ringed by vedic scholars learned in the epics who perform the sacred sacrifices; he glorifies this Lord as the one who took the forms of the Fish, the Tortoise and the other incarnations to protect the world. — Thirumangai Alvar, Periya Thirumozhi · source ↗
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