Sri Pundarikasha Perumal Temple – Thiruvellarai

 

Sri Pundarikasha Perumal Temple is situated in Thiruvellarai a village in the outskirts of Thiruchirapalli of Tamilnadu State.

Pundarikaksha Perumal is the presiding deity, who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Shenbagavalli is the consort of Pundarikasha Perumal, who is the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi.

It is fourth among the 108 Divya Desam temples.

Here the deity is seen in a standing posture, facing in the East direction, and measures 18 - feet tall. The gigantic wooden image is in the standing posture and he can be seen carrying the Sudarshana Chakra and Sankhu (conch). The chakra is the rare Prayoga Chakra that indicates that the Lord is ready to throw it and destroy his enemies. Surya and Chandra are seen waving the Chamaras (feather fans) on either side of him. At his feet, Sage Markandeya and Bhooma Devi are seen worshiping the Lord. A human-looking Adhishesha, the fiveheaded snake can unusually be seen standing and looking towards Perumal on the left. He and Garuda are depicted with hands folded like devotees.

This Temple is built as a fort.  The temple complex covers an area of 2.62 ha (6.5 acres). The two gates in the sanctum sanctorium are believed to represent the continuous cycle of entering into life and getting out of it. The tank covers an area of 0.310 acres. The legend also has it that Pundarekan, a yogi established a garden here and worshipped the Lord with the Tulsi leaves grown here. The Lord pleased with his worship, gave darshan to him and came to be known as Pundarikakshan. Temple has a Vasantha Mandapam.

The primary gateway tower, known as the Rajagopuram, is still under construction. If it had been completed, the front of Rajagopuram would have been one of the largest. Unlike other Vaishnavite temples, the front gopuram (temple tower) has Hoysala-style construction.

There are various sculptural depictions of Krishna on the pillars of the temple, in the most notable of which he is depicted dancing on a pot. He is seen dancing in Swastika posture with his bun like hair-do, ornaments, and anklet. In another sculpture, he is seen slaying the demon Bhagasura. In front of a big pillar in this temple, when we make any sound, it replicates and echo around the temple in the inner prakaram.

The Vimanam (structure over the sanctum) is called Vimalaakkruthi Vimanam. The external walls of the sanctum are embellished with beautiful stucco figures in the ‘Sudhai’ style and depict Pundarikakshan, Sridevi, Bhooma Devi, Surya, Chandra, and Adhiseshan. These figures are the contribution of the Vijayanagar and Nayak kings.

There are as many as 7 Theerthams within the temple complex Divya Theertham, Kanda Kshree Theertham, Theertham, Chakkara Theertham, Pushkala Theertham, Padma Theertham and Varaha Manikarnika Theertham. Swasthik kulam or Maamiyaar-Maattu Penn (Mother in law-Daughter in law) Theertham or Chakra Theertham, maintained by Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

There are a totally of 5 praharams. The Temple is surrounded on all sides by 36-foot-high massive compound walls. The outside streets were meant for running the temple car forms the outermost praharam. In the 4th Praharam, the cave temples and Vasantha Mandapams are there. Balipeedam and the shrines of Thayar, Anjaneyar, Chakrathazhwar, Lakshmi Narasimhar, Andal, and Garudan are present in the 3rd Praharam. The 2nd praharam is reached by entering through the Nazhi Kettaan Vasal. After entering through the Dakshinayana/ Utharayana gate, one reaches the sanctum sanctorum.

Lord Shiva in the form of Neelivaneswarar is believed to have worshiped Pundarikakshan to absolve himself from the sin of holding Brahma's severed head. Vishnu appeared to both Shiva and Brahma, adhering to their prayers. Ramanujar spent a few months here till the opposition to him subsides, after the unfortunate incident of attempting to kill him with poison at Srirangam. Pundarikakshan is believed to have appeared to Garuda (Vahana of Vishnu), Sibi Chakravarthy, Sage Pundarika, Sage Markandeya, and Hindu gods Bhoomadevi, Brahma, and Shiva. The temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Azhwar saints from the 6th–9th centuries A.D. Vedanta Desikar (1269–1370 C.E) revered the temple in his work ‘Hamsa Sandesam’.

As per legend, when Sibi Chakravarthy stayed there with his warriors, a white boar crossed his path. He chased it and the boar hid inside a hole. Markandeya, a sage, was doing penance there and the king narrated the incident to him. The sage asked the king to fill the hole with milk. While doing so, Hindu god Vishnu appeared before them. The sage asked the king to bring 3700 Vaishnavites from the north and build a temple on the site for Vishnu. As requested, the king took 3700 Vaishnavites and started building the temple. While doing so, one of the Vaishnavites was killed in transit and the king was concerned by the accident. Vishnu appeared incognito as Pundarikakshan, a Vaishnavite, and requested to be counted among the 3700. The temple is said to have been built by Sibi Chakravarthy, king of Ayodhya in Tretha Yuga 15 lakh years ago. This temple is older than the Srirangam temple. The belief is that Shibi brought 3700 Vaishnavites to this temple. Later, about 50 of them left from here for Melkote (Karnataka), several went to Kongu Nadu and many others went to other temples to perform daily poojas there. Legend has it that all the Vaishnavas who perform daily poojas in temples were originally from Thiruvellarai.

According to another legend Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu performed penance at the temple, and Vishnu appeared before her as Sengamala Kannan. The presiding deity has since been called "Thamarai Kannan", meaning the one who has eyes resembling lotus; his consort is called "Pankacha Valli".

During a conversation in Thiruparkadal-Ocean of Milk, Lord Vishnu praised Mother Mahalakshmi that he was very happy to see all beings prosperous because of her grace and offered a boon to Mother. Mother said that though she had no greater boon than sharing his chest, she would yet claim to have more rights in the Milk Ocean, her place of birth. Lord said that as he was all in the ocean, her prayer could not be granted there and advised her to come to earth for the boon when the Lord would be granting darshan to Emperor Shibi.

Markandeya was destined to die at 16. When Yama came to take him, he clutched onto the Shiva Lingam at Thirukkadaiyur. Pleased with this, Lord Shiva blessed him that he will remain there forever as 16. After enjoying life to the full, Markandeya once again prayed to Lord Shiva asking for Moksham. He is guided by Shiva to go to Thiruvellarai to invoke the blessing of Vishnu.

Answering Sibi’s prayers was an invisible voice (Lord Vishnu) which asked him not to pursue his quest to defeat Ravana and that he go back to his kingdom as the time had not come for Ravana to be defeated yet and that he will be born later to defeat Ravana. A disappointed King Shibi pleads with the Lord that he could not possibly go back empty-handed, without fulfilling the purpose for which he had come. The Lord asks Shibi to fulfill the wishes of Goddess Lakshmi by building a temple here that would give her the first rights at all festivities. Only in three Divya Desams does the Goddess get the first rights over the Lord - Nachiyar temple in Thiru Naraiyur, Andal in Srivilliputhur, and here at Thiruvellarai.

Pundarikaksha Perumal is also known as Senthamarai Kannan (Krishna of the red lotus). Mahavishnu wanted to do a pooja for Lord Shiva with 1000 lotuses at the temple in Thiruppaingneeli (Thirupanjali). Sadly, there was one flower less than the total number. So, Vishnu removed one of his eyes and substituted it for the missing flower making it a 1000, and then performed the pooja. Shiva, pleased with his devotion, gave the Chakrayudam (discus) to Vishnu. Siva told Vishnu to stay 5 km away to the northeast of Thirupaingili in a place called Thiruvellarai where he would be called Senthamarai Kannan.

The Perumal here appeared to emperor Sibi as Swetha Varahan (white pig) and he is called “Swetha Puri Nadhar” according to the temple history.

This temple is during the later part of the 8th century A.D. and the Thiruvellarai temple was built by Shibi, 4 generations older forefather of Rama.

Chithirai summer festival and Chithirai Poornima-full moon day in April-May; Gajendra Moksham (Lord Vishnu granting salvation to an elephant); Aavani Srijayanthi in August-September with procession, Panguni Brahmmotsavam on Tiruvonanam star day in March-April are the festivals celebrated in the temple.

Timings

7.00 am to 1.15 pm

3.30 pm to 8.00 pm

How to reach the Temple

15 km from Srirangam

27 km from Tiruchirapalli

Nearby Temples

Samayapuram, Sri Mariamman Temple – 12 km

Thiruvanaikaval, Sri Jambukeswarar Temple – 16 km

Srirangam, Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple – 16 km

Tirukattupalli, Sri Angeeswarar Temple – 46 km

Kandiyur, Sri Kandeeswarar Temple – 65 km

Thingaloor, Sri Kailasanathar Temple – 67 km

Ganapathi Agraharam Vinayagar Temple – 72 km

Thanjavur, Sri Brihadeeswara Temple – 74 km

Thittai, Sri Vasishteswarar Temple – 74 km.