Uyyavantha Perumal Temple, Thiruvithuvakkodu
Thiruvithuvakkodu
Photo: Vijaya231 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Celebrated in Kulasekara Alvar's deeply emotional pasurams of the Perumal Tirumozhi.
Sthala Purāṇam
Thiruvithuvakkodu (Thirumittacode), on the banks of the Bharathapuzha near Pattambi, is the 66th Divya Desam and one of the thirteen Malainadu (Kerala) divyadesams. The presiding deity, Uyyavantha Perumal, stands (Nindra Thirukkolam) facing south, with his consort Vithuvakottu Valli, also called Padmapani Nachiyar; the vimanam is the Thathuva Kanchana Vimanam. The Perumal is celebrated as Abhayapradan, the giver of refuge, and as Aabhathsahaayar, the one who comes to aid devotees in distress. The central legend concerns King Ambarisha, a devoted observer of Ekadasi vows. Having fasted and waiting to break it with sage Durvasa, he completed his vow with water at the close of Dvadasi rather than offend dharma. The angered Durvasa sent forth a demon to slay him, but Vishnu's Sudarsana chakra protected Ambarisha and destroyed the threat, after which the sage blessed him; Ambarisha is said to have attained moksha at this shrine. Tradition also holds that the Pandavas, during their forest exile, reached the Bharathapuzha here and installed the image, the Pancha Pandavas worshipping the Lord in different directions. This is the only Divya Desam sung exclusively by Kulasekhara Alvar, who offered ten pasurams in his Perumal Tirumozhi, including verses expressing unwavering surrender and the resolve to take refuge nowhere but at the Lord's feet.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Uyyavantha Perumal (Abhayapradan) with Vithuvakottu Valli (Padmapani Nachiyar) of Thiruvithuvakkodu is glorified in 10 pāsurams by:
Thiruvithuvakkodu (Thirumittakode, near Shoranur, Kerala), whose presiding deity Uyyavantha Perumal / Abhaya Pradan is addressed as 'Vithuvakkodu Ammaan,' is glorified solely by Kulasekhara Alvar. He devoted the entire fifth decade of his Perumal Thirumozhi (10 verses, traditionally pasurams ~648-657 in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham numbering) to this Lord. The decade is celebrated for its tone of total prapatti (self-surrender): the Alvar likens himself to a crying infant who clings to its mother's feet even when she pushes it away in anger, declaring he has no refuge other than the Lord's divine feet even if the Lord rejects him. It is one of the most quoted expressions of saranagati in the Alvar canon.
Verses & references (1)
- O Lord of fragrant flower-groves of Thiruvithuvakkodu! If you do not remove this worldly sorrow that you yourself have given me, I have no refuge except your feet. Even as an infant, pushed away by its mother in her anger, still cries clinging only to her, longing for her grace alone, so do I remain holding fast to you and to no other. — Kulasekhara Alvar, Perumal Thirumozhi (5th decade, 'tharu thuyaram thadAyEl') 5.1 · source ↗
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