Sri Navamohana Krishna Perumal Temple, Gokul (Aayarpadi)
Thiruvaaipadi
Photo: Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Site of Krishna's childhood, celebrated in Andal's Tiruppavai.
Sthala Purāṇam
Thiruvaaipadi (Aayarpadi/Aaippadi), in modern Gokul on the banks of the Yamuna river near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, is the cowherd settlement where Sri Krishna spent his childhood. The presiding deity is Navamohana Krishnan, worshipped here as the divine child raised by the cowherd chief Nandagopan and his wife Yashoda; the consorts enshrined are Rukmani and Sathyabama Thayar, and Nandagopar is regarded as a foremost worshipper. The sthala puranam recalls Krishna's pastoral leelas among the Aayar (cowherd) folk, and a celebrated legend of Akrura (Akroorar): when Sathyabama longed to behold Krishna, Akrura impersonated him; for this he was cursed to be born blind in a future life as the poet Surdas (Soordasar), who nonetheless attained liberation through devotion. The Yamuna serves as the temple tirtham, and a nearby ancient shrine at Purana Gokulam houses idols of Nandagopar, Yashoda and Balarama along with the infant Krishna in a cradle. As a Divya Desam, Thiruvaaipadi received the mangalasasanam of three Alvars in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham: Periyalvar, Andal (the only woman Alvar), and Thirumangai Alvar. Their pasurams overflow with the joy, playfulness and intense maternal and devotional love that the inhabitants of Aayarpadi felt for the divine child, evoking Krishna's butter-stealing, his protection of the cattle and cowherds, and his irresistible enchanting beauty (the name Navamohana means 'newly enchanting one').
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Navamohana Krishnan with Rukmani and Sathyabama of Thiruvaaipadi is glorified in 22 pāsurams by:
Thiruvaaipadi — Aayarpadi / Gokulam (Sri Navamohana Krishna Perumal Temple, on the Yamuna in the Mathura region) — is the cowherd home of Krishna's childhood. It received mangalasasanam from three Alvars: Periyalvar (10 pasurams), Andal (5 pasurams) and Thirumangai Alvar (7 pasurams), totalling about 22 verses. Their hymns celebrate the infant and boy Kannan of Gokulam — his birth, his butter-stealing and cowherd play, and his protection of the herders by lifting Govardhana. Because the Alvars sing of Krishna's deeds 'in Aayarpadi/Gokulam' rather than naming a fixed shrine deity, exact verbatim verse-to-shrine mapping is treated cautiously here.
Verses & references (2)
- Periyalvar (Vishnuchittar) sang of Krishna's childhood at Aayarpadi/Gokulam in his Krishna decads, describing the cowherd town rejoicing at the birth and play of the divine child Kannan who later lifted Govardhana and protected the cowherds. These verses, set in the very Brindavan-Gokulam landscape, form part of this kshetram's mangalasasanam. — Periyalvar, Periyalvar Thirumozhi · source ↗
- Andal, in her Nachiyar Thirumozhi, longs for and glorifies Krishna of Aayarpadi/Gokulam — the cowherd Lord of the Yamuna banks — pining for union with him as the gopis did. Authorities credit her with five pasurams of mangalasasanam for this Gokulam kshetram. — Andal, Nachiyar Thirumozhi · source ↗
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