Gajendra Varadha Perumal Temple, Kabisthalam
Thirukkavithalam
Photo: Sundarstravels · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Sthala associated with the Gajendra Moksha episode.
Sthala Purāṇam
Kabisthalam, the Tamil Thirukkavithalam, is the Divya Desam celebrated for the Gajendra Moksha leela, the only kshetram where Sriman Narayana granted His grace not to humans but to creatures. The sthala puranam relates that an elephant-king named Gajendra, formerly the pious king Indradyumna who had been cursed by sage Agastya (in some accounts Durvasa) to take elephant form, daily gathered lotuses to worship the Lord. While bathing in a pond he was seized by a crocodile, itself a gandharva named Huhu cursed for an offence. After a long struggle, exhausted, Gajendra raised a lotus heavenward and cried Aadhimoolame to the Supreme. The Lord rushed mounted on Garuda, loosed His Chakra to slay the crocodile, and liberated both beings, granting moksha. A second tradition holds that Hanuman performed penance here and, captivated by the beauty of Thayar Ramamani Valli and the worship of sage Parasara, prayed that the Lord re-enact the Gajendra Moksha here; hence the place is honoured by both the elephant and the monkey-god. The name Kabisthalam derives from kabi (monkey, signifying Hanuman) and sthala (place). The Perumal is Sri Gajendra Varadha, the Thayar Sri Ramamani Valli, and the shrine is crowned by the Gaganakruthi Vimana on the banks of the Kollidam (Coleroon).
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Gajendra Varadha Perumal with Ramamani Valli (Potramaraiyaal) of Thirukkavithalam is glorified by:
Thirukkavithalam, popularly Kabisthalam (so named because Hanuman — 'kapi' — is said to have worshipped here), enshrines Gajendra Varadha Perumal in the reclining Bhujanga-sayana posture. The shrine receives its Mangalasasanam from Thirumangai Alvar, who glorifies the Lord who saved the elephant-king Gajendra; the reference is a single pasuram (NDP 2431) within his Periya Thirumozhi praise of the Cauvery-delta abodes.
Verses & references (1)
- Thirumangai Alvar sings of Gajendra Varadha Perumal of Thirukkavithalam (Kabisthalam) — the Lord on the banks of the river ('Aatrangarai Kannan') who rushed to rescue the elephant-king Gajendra. The single pasuram glorifying this shrine is numbered 2431 in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham. Exact Tamil verse text was not confidently sourced and is therefore left blank. — Thirumangai Alvar, Periya Thirumozhi · source ↗
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