Adinatha Perumal Temple, Alvarthirunagari
Thirukkurugur (Alvarthirunagari)
Photo: Ssriram mt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
One of the Nava Tirupati (associated with Guru/Jupiter) and the birthplace of Nammalvar himself.
Sthala Purāṇam
The Adinatha Perumal Temple at Alvarthirunagari, anciently Thirukkurugur, on the bank of the Thamiraparani in Thoothukudi district, is the principal and head temple of the nine Nava Tirupati Divya Desams. The presiding deity is Adinathar (Adinathan), 'the First Lord,' a self-manifested form facing east, with Adinathavalli (Kurugur Nachiyar) as Thaayar. It is held to be an Adi (primordial) temple where Vishnu himself performed penance, and the name Kurugur is linked to the Lord acting as Guru, teaching the sacred mantra to Brahma, making it a Guru Kshetram. Above all, this is the birthplace of Nammalvar, foremost of the Alvars, born here as Maran (Sathakopan) to Kariyar and Udayanangai. According to the legend the infant was utterly silent, responding to no stimulus; placed by his parents at the feet of Adinathar, he rose, climbed into a hollow in the sacred tamarind tree, sat in lotus posture, and meditated in silence for sixteen years without food or water. The tamarind tree (Thiruppuli Alvar) is venerated as Lakshmana in tree-form, sheltering him. The scholar Madhurakavi Alvar, seeing a bright light shining in the south, followed it to the tree and posed a riddle: 'If the small (soul) is born in the body of the dead (matter), what will it eat and where will it lie?' Nammalvar broke his silence answering 'That it will eat, there it will lie,' and Madhurakavi became his disciple. Nammalvar composed four works, the Tiruviruttam, Tiruvasiriyam, Periya Tiruvantati and Tiruvaymoli, totaling 1296 pasurams. In the Navagraha scheme this is the Guru (Jupiter) sthalam.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Adinathan (Adinatha Swamy) with Adinatha Valli Nachiyar of Thirukkurugur (Alvarthirunagari) is glorified by:
Thirukurukur / Alvarthirunagari, on the banks of the Tamiraparani, is the birthplace of Nammalvar and the chief among the Nava Tirupati shrines. The Lord here is Adinathan (Polindhu Ninra Pirannar). The temple's Mangalasasanam is associated with Nammalvar, who in his Thiruaaymozhi repeatedly identifies himself as 'Kurukur Satakopan' and glorifies this town; tradition counts roughly eleven pasurams. Madhurakavi Alvar additionally sang Kanninun Siruthambu here in praise of his guru Nammalvar. Exact verbatim Tamil for a single dedicated decade on the kshetram could not be sourced with full confidence.
Verses & references (2)
- Alvarthirunagari (Thirukurukur) is the birthplace of Nammalvar himself and the seat of the presiding Lord Adinathan (Polindhu Ninra Pirannar / Adinatha Perumal). Nammalvar repeatedly refers to and signs himself as 'Kurukur Satakopan' at the end of every decade of Thiruvaaymozhi, glorifying Thirukurukur as his sacred town; tradition counts about eleven pasurams of mangalasasanam for this kshetram. The verses celebrate the Lord as the supreme refuge and the town as the place where the Alvar attained divine knowledge. — Nammalvar, Thiruvaaymozhi (Naalayira Divya Prabandham) · source ↗
- Madhurakavi Alvar, the disciple of Nammalvar, composed Kanninun Siruthambu (11 verses) at Thirukurukur in praise of his guru Nammalvar. While addressed to the Alvar rather than the Lord directly, this work is intimately tied to the Mangalasasanam tradition of this Divya Desam, the Alvar's own birthplace. — Madhurakavi Alvar, Kanninun Siruthambu · source ↗
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