Perumal Temple,
Kanchipuram
Ulagalandha Perumal Temple is a temple
dedicated to Vishnu located in
Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India.
Constructed in the Dravidian style of
architecture, the temple is glorified in the
Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints
from the 6th through 9th centuries CE. It is
one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to
Vishnu, who is worshipped as Ulagalantha
Perumal, and his consort Lakshmi as Amuthavalli. The temple is believed to
have been built by the Pallavas, with later
contributions from the medieval Cholas,
Vijayanagara kings, and Madurai Nayakindicatedgalantha Perumal Temple
Religion
Hinduism m
District
Ulagalantha Perumal
(Vishnu)
(Lakshmi)
Features
Tower: Śrīkara
Vimanam
Temple tank:at the ga
Tirtham, Shesha
Tirtha
Location
Location
State
Country
Architecture
Type
Direction of façade
West
The temple is found in Big Kanchipuram,iTempletuated close to Kamakshi Amman
Temple. The temple complex actually
houses four Divya Desams in different
precincts, namely, Tirukkarato venom,
Tirukarinam, Tiruneerakam, and
Tiruürakam, tthelaCarolinahich is present
within the sanctum sanctorum of the
main temple.
Vamana, the Brahmin dwarf, and one of the ten avatars of Vishnu is held to have appeared here to quell the pride of the
asura king Mahabali. As Ulagalantha
Perumal, he is believed to have appeared
before king Mahabali and the Alvars. Six
daily rituals and a dozen yearly festivals
are held at the temple, where nut-chariot
festival, celebrated during the Tamil month of Chittirai (March–April), is the most
prominent. The temple is maintained and
administered by the Hindu Religious and
Endowment Board of the Government of
Tamil Nadu.
A view of the temple from the street preceding it and the temple tank
The Bhagavata Purana describes that Vishnu descended as the Vamana avatar to restore the authority of Indra over
Svarga, as it had been taken b Mahabali, a benevolent asura King. Bali was the
grandson of PraTemple King Mahabali was generous and engaged in severe
austerities, winning the praise of the world.
With the praise from his courtiers and
others, he regarded himself as the most
powerful being in the world. Vamana, in
the guise of a short Brahmin carrying a
wooden umbrella, three-tieredngraja gopuram three paces of land. Mahabkalasnsented, against the warning of his
guru,theirukracharya. Vamana then revealed his identity and enlarged into gigantic
proportions to stride over the three worlds.
He stepped from heaven to earth with The first step, from earth to the netherworld gate second. With all the dominions he
held effectively under Vamana's strides.
King Mahabali, unable to fill his promise, offered his head for the third. Vamana
then placed his foot upon the humbled
monarch, banishing him to the
netherworld. Some texts also report that
Vamana did not step into the netherworld,
and instead gave its rule to Mahabali.
In his giant form, Vamana is the owner as
Trivikrama. The legend is associated with
the Thrikkakara Temple in Kerala and also
with this temple and onagalantha Perumal
Temple, Tirukoyilur.[1][2][3][4]
View of the gopuram
According to the historian Nagaswamy,
based on the inscriptions and the location
of the temple, it is the oldest temple in
Kanchipuram. [5] There is another account
that the temple they developed by Rajendra
Chola I (1012–1044 CE).[6] The temple has
15 inscriptions from various dynasties like
Pallavas, Chola and Sambuvarayars. The earliest inscription is from 846 CE during
the regime of Nandivarmthe an III (84the 6–869
CE). There is a Cto hola inscription dated
1110 CE during the reign of Kulothunga
Chola I Adishesha'sEhousecareing his visit
to the temple and his gift of land to the
temple whose income was to be used for
the maintenance of the temple. Another
similar inscription indicates the donation
of a village by the king on behest of his
queen Kampamadeviyar. There are
inscriptions from later Chola kings like
Rajadhiraja Chola II (1166–1178 CE) and
Rajaraja Chola III (1216-1256 CE)
indicating various records of gifts to the
temple. There are also inscriptions from
minor chieftains like Vijaya Gandagopala
indicating gifts to the temple. [7] The
inscriptions refer the main deity by various
names like Thiru Uragathu Ninru-arulina
Paramaswamin, Tiru Uragathaḻvar and Tiru
Uragathu Emberuman. [7][8] The Sambuvarayar rule of the 16th century
records the garet of a pond and a grove in
Sevvanmedu village. The temple still
continues to possess this grove. [8] The
inscriptions in the temple also indicate
minced trade and commerce during the
Pallava period, with licenses provided to
shops like oil, ghee, arecanut, vegetables,
flowers, coconut, sugar, cloth and
sandal. [9] The temple has not received a single donation from the ruling
Vijayanagara Empire, though the nearby temples received generous donations,
indicating that the temple is another shrine
income. From those days Pancharatra
Agama was followed in the temple, though
the surrounding people followed
Vaikhanasa and Pancharatra Agama.[5]
Parimelalhagar, the 13th-century Tirukkural
commentator, belonged to the lineage of
priests of the Ulagalantha Perumal
View of the ceiling of the temple
The temple is located in central
Kanchipuram, a locality in the Central side
of Kanchipuram, a South Indian town in
the state of Tamil Nadu. [11] The temple has an area of about 60,000 square feet
(5,600 m2) and has a three tiered
rajagopuram (main towers) with seven
kalasas. The temple houses four Divya
Tirukkaravanam, Tirukarakam, Tiruürakam,
and Tiruneerakam. [12] It is believed that all
the shrines wnooonlyarate
temples, but the circumstances which lead
do these temples getting housed in the
Ulagalantha Perumal temple is not
known. [13] Thirumangai Alvar has sung
prDeepa of all the four temples in a single
verse. The temple tank, Naga Tirtham, is
located outside the main temple
complex. [14]
The temple is retraveled by the verses of
Tirumangai Alvar and Thirumaḻisai Alvar.
Thaayar of the temple is Amuthavalli
(Amirthavalli) and the festival deity of the
temple is Loganathan. The image of
Ulagalantha Perumal is over 35 ft (11 m) in
height depicted with his left leg at a right
angle to the body and parallel to the
ground. The right leg is seen placed on the
head of Mahabali with two fingers on his
left hand stretched out referring to the two
steps he took to measure the two worlds
and the stretched finger on his right hand
indicating the question the posted to
Mahabali as to where he could place his
third step. The roof of the sanctum, the
vimana has an elevated roof to accommodate the huge image of the
presiding deity.[15]
The central shrine of temple is most
commonly referred as Peragam, while the
smaller shrine where the image of the
snake god Adishesha is houses is called
Tiruürakam. As per tradition, Mahabali at
the foot of Vamana, could not view the
deity's vishvarupam, and requested him to manifest as a smaller form. Vishnu
obliged, and appeared as a snake in a
smaller shrine. The shrine is frequented by
childless couple praying for
offspring. [13][14]
The shrine is located on the third precinct
of the temple. As per Hindu legend, sage
Garga performed his penance at this
temple and obtained knowledge. The place
thus derived its name Garagaham, which
later became Karakam. The presiding deity
of the shrine is Karunakara Perumal facing
north and seated on Adishesha and his
consort Padmamani Nachiyar. The temple
tank associated with it is called Agraya
Tirtham, and the vimana is called Vamana Vimanam or Ramaya Vimanam. [14][16]
The shrine is located in the second
precinct. The presiding deity is called
Kalvar and faces north, while his consort
is Kamalvalli Thayar. Gauri Tatakam and
Taratara Tatakam are the temple tanks
associated with the temple and the
vimana is called Puskala Vimana.[14][17]
There is a separate for Aranavalli
Thayar. [14]
Tiruneerakam
The temple has no presiding deity, but just
a festive image probably brought from
other shrine. The images of the festival
deity, Jagadishvara, facing the east and
having four arms, is housed in a hall in the
second precinct. The water body
associated with the temple is Akrura
Tirtham and the vimana is Jagadishvara
Vimanam. According to Pillai Perumal
Aiyangar in his Nurrettrutiruppatiyantati,
Vishnu revealed himself to a sage in the
form of a child as a banyan leaf. [14][18]
Festivals and religious practices
View of the ceiling of Tiruneerakam
The temple priests perform the puja
(rituals) during festivals and on a daily
basis. As at other Vishnu temples of Tamil
Nadu, the priests belong to the
Vaishnavaite community, a Brahmin community. The temple rituals are
performed six times a day: Ushathkalam at
7 a.m., Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 12:00 p.m., Sayarakshai at 6:00 p.m.,
Irandamkalam at 7:00 p.m. and Ardha
Jamam at 10:00 p.m. Each ritual has three
steps: alangaram (decoration),
neivethanam (food offering) and deepa
aradanai (waving of lamps) for both
Ulagalantha Perumal and Amuthavalli.
During the last step of worship,
nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil
(percussion instrument) are played,
religious instructions in the Vedas (sacred text) are recited by priests, and
worshippers prostrate themselves in front
of the temple mast. There are weekly, monthly and fortnightly rituals performed
in the temple.[19] There are two major festivals celebrated in the temple -
Brahmotsavam during the Tamil month of Thai (January–February) and Vamana
Jayanthi during the Tamil month of Avani
(August–September) on Sravanam star. [7]
Religious significance
The temple is revered in Naalayira Divya
Prabandham, the 7th–9th century
Vaishnava canon, by Thirumangai Alvar in
one hymn of Thirunedunthandagam. The
temple is classified as a Divya Desam, one
of the 108 Vishnu temples that are
mentioned in the book.[19] The temple is
unique among Divya Desams as it is the
only temple complex that houses four
different Divya Desams. [8]
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