108 Divya-deshams: Thirukozhi

BY: SUN STAFF

Dec 14, 2023 — CANADA (SUN) — A tour of the 108 Divya-desams, the divine abodes of Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi.

Thirukozhi Temple (also called or Nachiyar Koil or Azhagiya Manavalan Perumal) resides in Uraiyur, a suburb of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu. A divya-desham, it is dedicated to Lord Visnu. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in Nalayira Divya Prabandham and in the Divya Prabandha, an early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. The Lord is worshipped here as Azhagiya Manavalan with His consort Lakshmi, known as Kamalavalli.

The temple is believed to have been built by the Medieval Cholas of the late 8th century AD, with later contributions from the Pandyas, Vijayanagar kings and Madurai Nayaks. Azhagiya Manavalan is believed to have appeared to Kamalavalli, the daughter of Chola king Nanda Cholan, in this place to marry her.

The pastime of Nachiyar's marriage to Azhagiya Manavalar

Nachiyar's Marriage to Azhagiya Manavalar

Lord Vishnu, pleased by the worship of the childless Chola king Nanda Chola, blessed the king with a child that was an incarnation of Lakshmi Devi. The king found the child in a 1000 petal lotus tank while hunting in a forest. Since the child was born out of a lotus, she was named Kamalavalli by the king. The time came when Kamalavalli fell in love with Vishnu in the form of Ranganatha, the presiding Deity of Sri Rangam Ranganathaswamy temple. The Chola king readily offered her in marriage to Ranganatha, Who appeared the groom. "Azhagiya Manavalan" means 'beautiful groom', and the temple was so named. The divine pastime is celebrated at the Serthi Sevai festival every year.

The temple is one of the few divya-desams where the goddess Laksmi has prominence over Vishnu. Some of the other temples where this relationship is observed are Andal Temple at Srivilliputhur, Nachiyar Koil and Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple in Thiruvellarai. During all festive occasions, the first rights are reserved for Nachiyar (Laksmi), who moves ahead while Lord Visnu follows her.

It is also said that a fowl ("kozhi" in Tamil) and an elephant fought at this place, with the fowl victorious. Since the fowl won, the place came to be known as Kozhiyur. It also has the name Nichulapuri, and is believed to be the place where King Ravivarmaraja worshiped the presiding deity.

Entrance to the sanctum

Temple Architecture

A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines and bodies of water. The temple has a five-tiered rajagopuram, the temple's gateway tower. The vimana, is called Kamala Vimanam. The central shrine has the image of Vishnu as Azhagiya Perumal in sitting posture. The shrine of goddess Kamalavalli Nachiyar faces north and it is the only divya-desam where the presiding goddess has a north-facing shrine.

There are separate shrines for the saints Ramanuja and Nammalvar. There are paintings on the inner walls of the shrine of the Alvar saint Nammalvar. The temples were painted during the early 1800s with images of Lord Matsya and Lord Narasimha, as well as depictions of the law of dharma as enunciated by Ambarisha.

Source: Wiki CC 4.0

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