108 Divya-deshams: Thirumanimadam

BY: SUN STAFF

Narayanan Perumal Temple, Thirumanimadam

Mar 17, 2024 — CANADA (SUN) — A tour of the 108 Divya-desams, the divine abodes of Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi.

Thirumanimadam or Narayanan Perumal Temple (also called Badrinarayana Perumal Temple) resides in Thirunangur, a village in the outskirts of Sirkazhi Tamil Nadu. Lord Visnu is worshipped here as Narayanan with His consort Pundarikavalli (Lakshmi). Thirumanimadam is one among the eleven Divya Desams of Thirunangur Tirupathis. Thirumanimadam is glorified in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham.

The eleven temples of Thirunangur are closely associated with one other in relation to Lord Shiva's furious dancing after the death of his consort, Uma due to the yajna of Daksha. Each time a lock of Shiva's hair touched the ground, eleven other forms of Shiva appeared (the Ekadas Rudras). The celestial deities were worried that if the dance continues, it would result in the decimation of entire creations. They prayed to Vishnu for help, and He appeared at this place to calm Shiva's anger. On seeing the Lord, Shiva's anger was indeed reduced, and he requested Vishnu to appear in eleven forms like he did. Vishnu thus appeared in eleven different forms at Tirunangur, and the eleven temples reside at these places.

Vimanam over the sanctum

The king of the devas, Indra, also worshiped Vishnu at this temple, as did the presiding deity of Badrinath Temple, Badrinath, who visited the place on the request of Shiva. Ramanuja is believed to have learnt Tirumandiram from Thirukoshtiyur Nambi at this place.

Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, inscriptions from 10th Century Chola and Nayakkar periods are seen in the temple, which has a five-tiered rajagopuram. All the shrines of the temple are within a granite wall. The temple tank is located right across from the temple.

The central shrine is built on an elevated structure and is reached by a flight of steps. The image of the presiding deity is sported in the sanctum in standing posture, facing east. The shrine of Narayana Perumal's consort, Laksmi Devi, is located in the second precinct around the sanctum. There are three holes in the gopuram, through which the rays of the sun fall on Narayana Perumal's deity. As per the legend, Surya, the son god, is believed to worship Vishnu here round the year.

Temple tank

There is a hall adjacent to the right of the rajagopuram, where the festival deities of the many temples in Thirunangur and its surrounds are housed during the Thirumangai Alvar Utsavam festival. Thirumanagai Alvar is believed to visit the festival every year to consecrate the eleven deities at Thirumanimadam.

The sages Madangar, Domyar, Vyagrapadar and Udangar set up their hermitages in this place. According to the Mahabharata, Datsagan, the mighty snake king who killed king Parikshit, ruled the place called Nagapuri, which eventually became Nangur, one of the eleven temples.

Source: Wikipedia

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