Thirunarayur Nambi Temple (Nachiyar Koil)
Thirunaraiyur
Photo: Ssriram mt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Famed for the Kal Garudan, a stone Garuda idol said to grow heavier as it is carried in procession.
Sthala Purāṇam
The Thirunarayur Nambi Temple at Nachiyar Koil derives its sthala puranam from the sage Medhavi, who performed penance to Mahalakshmi. While bathing in the river he found an image of Chakrathalvar entwined with Yoga Narasimha and was divinely directed to install and worship it in his hermitage. There, Niladevi, an aspect of Lakshmi, manifested as a girl-child beneath a vanjula tree; Medhavi raised her as his daughter and named her Vanjulavalli. Vishnu, searching for Niladevi, sent his mount Garuda to trace her; once found, Vishnu appeared before Medhavi, who joyfully gave Vanjulavalli in marriage on the single condition that the Nachiyar (Lakshmi) should always hold primacy over the Lord. Vishnu consented, and so uniquely among the Divya Desams the Goddess takes precedence here. She leads in processions, is offered food first, and the very temple bears her name, Nachiyar Koil, the Lord being Srinivasa, or Thirunarayur Nambi. The celebrated Kal Garuda image is bound to a legend in which a frustrated sculptor, whose carved Garudas kept flying away, struck the figure with a stone, injuring Garuda, who thereupon chose to remain. During festivals this saligrama-stone Garuda is said to grow miraculously heavy, requiring four bearers at the sanctum and then eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, and a hundred and twenty-eight as it passes successive gateways, the weight subsiding once outside the temple. Thirumangai Alvar, who is said to have received Pancha Samskara initiation here, sang abundant pasurams in its praise.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Thirunarayur Nambi (Srinivasa) with Vanjulavalli (Nachiyar) of Thirunaraiyur is glorified by:
Thirunaraiyur (Nachiyar Koil), the abode of Thirunaraiyur Nambi (Srinivasa), was sung exclusively by Thirumangai Alvar, but with the largest body of Mangalasasanam pasurams of any single Divya Desam — traditionally counted at around 110 verses, spread over several consecutive decads of his Periya Thirumozhi (the sixth centum, decads 6.6 'ambaramum', 6.7 and 6.8 'mAn koNda', and related padhigams). The Alvar describes the gem-towered town graced by the Chozha king Sembiyan Kochchenganan, identifies Naraiyur Nambi with the Lord he saw in many other holy shrines, and repeatedly calls devotees to surrender at His feet.
அம்பரமும் பெருநிலனும் திசைகள் எட்டும் அலைகடலும் குலவரையும் உண்ட கண்டன் கொம்பமரும் வடமரத்தின் இலை மேல் பள்ளி கூடினான் திருவடியே கூடகிற்பீர்! வம்பவிழும் செண்பகத்தின் வாசம் உண்டு மணிவண்டு வகுளத்தின் மலர் மேல் வைகு செம்பியன் கோச் செங்கணான் சேர்ந்த கோயில் திருநறையூர் மணிமாடம் சேர்மிங்களே
ambaramum perunilanum thisaigaL ettum alaikadalum kulavaraiyum uNda kaNdan / kombamarum vada maraththin ilai mEl paLLi kUdinAn thiruvadiyE kUdagiRpIr! / vambavizhum seNbagaththin vAsam uNdu maNivaNdu vaguLaththin malar mEl vaigu / sembiyan kOch chengaNAn sErndha kOyil thirunaRaiyUr maNimAdam sErmingaLE
Reach the gem-studded mansion-town of Thirunaraiyur, where dwells the Lord who at the deluge swallowed the sky, the vast earth, the eight directions, the surging ocean and the great mountains, and who then reclined upon a tender banyan leaf — the abode graced by the Chozha king Sembiyan Kochchenganan, where jewel-like bees drink the fragrance of newly-opened champak and rest on vakula blossoms. Attain His divine feet.
Verses & references (1)
- Thirumangai Alvar lavishes the greatest number of pasurams of any Divya Desam upon Thirunaraiyur, repeatedly urging devotees to surrender to Naraiyur Nambi who graciously stands granting every boon, and identifying this Lord with the forms he beheld in many other shrines. Tradition counts well over a hundred verses of Mangalasasanam on this temple across multiple Periya Thirumozhi decads. — Thirumangai Alvar, Periya Thirumozhi 6.6-6.8 (decads) · source ↗
Tamil text & meaning sourced from divyaprabandham.koyil.org and other Śrī Vaiṣṇava authorities — please cross-check the linked source for the canonical reading.
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