Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple, Thiruvellarai
Thiruvellarai
Photo: Ssriram mt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
One of the oldest Divya Desams, with rock-cut features; older than Srirangam by tradition.
Sthala Purāṇam
Thiruvellarai, set upon a small white rock and known therefore as Swetagiri (white mountain), is among the oldest and most revered Divya Desams, enshrining Lord Pundarikakshan (the lotus-eyed One, Kannan) in standing form. Its sthala puranam weaves several sacred threads. The sage Pundarika maintained a flower garden here and worshipped Vishnu devotedly with tulasi, and the Lord, pleased, granted him darshan and took the name Pundarikakshan. In another account, King Sibi Chakravarthi, journeying from Ayodhya, was halted at Swetagiri by divine will and instructed to raise a temple here. A celebrated episode tells of a white boar that, while being pursued, vanished into a pit near an anthill where sage Markandeya performed penance; the sage counselled the king to dissolve the anthill with milk, whereupon Vishnu appeared as the archa of Pundarikakshan. Tradition holds that Sibi was to enshrine the deity with 3,700 Vaishnavas, and when one passed away the Lord Himself completed the sacred number. The shrine is approached by eighteen steps representing the eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. The vimana is the Vimalakriti (Vimalaakkruthi) Vimana, and the temple holds many tirthams, including the Divya Theertham, Chakra Theertham and the famed swastika-shaped well. The Thayar is Shenbagavalli (Pankajavalli). Periyalvar and Thirumangai Alvar have hymned this Divya Desam in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Pundarikakshan with Shenbagavalli (Pankajavalli) of Thiruvellarai is glorified by:
Thiruvellarai (Pundarikakshan Perumal temple near Tiruchirappalli) is the fourth among the 108 Divya Desams. It enjoys mangalasasanam from two Alvars: Periyalvar (in roughly 11 pasurams, in a tender motherly bhavam treating the Lord as the child Krishna) and Thirumangai Alvar (in 13 pasurams, including a full decade of Periya Thirumozhi at 5.3 and references in his Thirumadal works). The Lord is worshipped as Pundarikakshan, 'the lotus-eyed,' with consort Pankajavalli. Total mangalasasanam is counted as 14 pasurams by the temple tradition.
Verses & references (2)
- In the Periya Thirumozhi decade dedicated to Thiruvellarai, Thirumangai Alvar performs mangalasasanam, savouring the various avataras of Emperuman (the Lord) enshrined as Pundarikakshan ('the lotus-eyed one') on the white-rock hill (Vellarai). He glorifies the Lord who reclines/stands at this sacred abode amid the Cauvery region and surrenders to His protective grace. — Thirumangai Alvar, Periya Thirumozhi 5.3 (decade) · source ↗
- Periyalvar adopts a motherly mood (matru-bhavam), treating the Lord of Thiruvellarai as the child Krishna (Kannan), and lovingly performs mangalasasanam for Him across roughly ten pasurams, wishing the divine child long life and protection. — Periyalvar, Periyalvar Thirumozhi references at 1.5.8 and 2.8 region · source ↗
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