Thiru NaRaiyoor - thala puraaNam as naachchiyaar kOil - part 1

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ambaramum perunilanum thisaika Lettum alaikadalum kulavariyum unda

kaNdan kombamarum vadamaraththin ilai mEl paLLi koodinaan thiruvadiyE

koodukiRpeer vambavizhum seNbagaththin vaasamuNdu malar mEl vaiku

sembiyan kOch chengaNaan sErntha kOil thiru naRaiyoor maNimaadam sErminkaLe

 

In Periya thiru mozhi the sky, eight directions or thisais, alai

kadal ie the sea, malaikaL ie the hills, the entire puvi or earth; HE

swaalowed all these and was flaoting on the vada pathram or all ilai

the leaves of banyan tree. (The chOlan king kOchchengaN who constructed

70 temples for Lord Shivaa, came pleading to this Lord as he was

yielded by this LORD.) Aazwaar indicates us that go and join his lotus

feet in this thirunaRaiyoor that was sought once by the chOlan king

kOchchengaN.

 

This temple is situated near KumbakOnam and is known as naachiyaar

kOil, about 4 miles from there and very close to Oppiliappn kOil and

thiruch chErai. One can travel here by cominmg to Kumbakonam by a train

or bus from Madras, Trichy and go to this kshethram by a town bus or

cab. A bus an hour will be the frequency.

 

BramhaaNada puraaNam describes this kshethram in a section known as

"sownaka samvaatham" in 12 chapters. PiLLai perumaal's nambi mega vidu

thoothu ie simlar to Hamsa sandEsam of swami desikan and mega sandEsam

of kaalidaasan, and Sri Narasimhaachaari's thirunaRaiyoor irattai maNi

maalai describes this kshethram besides thirumangai's paasurams. The

name thiru naRaiyoor also means that this is so sweet as a honey for

thiru magal ie Lukshmi. In sanskrit this kshethram is referred by the

sanskrit word that means the above ie sukantha giri. naRai in tamil is

honey and smell of fragrance. This is also known as suganth vanam as

many flowers with honey and plesant fragrance were present in this

vaNam. It is said that a muni or saint by name "mEthaavi" did penance

in this maNimuththaa river banks asking for a boon that mahaalakshmi

should become his daughter. Appreciating this thapas, MahaaLukshmi on a

friday , in panGuni month, on uththiram star, incarnated under the

vanJuLa tree on the banks of this river, (similar to aandaL who

appeared in Kaliyugam) Munivar realised using his thaba valimai

(gyaaNam) that SHE is the boon he was askng for and named HER vanjuLa

vaLLi and brought HER up. The Lord sent his carrier and most trusted

friend Pakshi Raajan (SRi Garudan) to look for mEdaavi maharishi and

the Lakshmi. Pakshi Raajan came looking for Sri and found her here in

saugantha giri and informed the Lord vasudEvaa in SrivaikuNdam. The

Lord came to this place and appeared as an old man and while pretending

to ask bikshai took her hand and asked for marriage in medhaavi's

ashram. As vanjuLa vaLLI was surprised the muni had also returned then

and before a scene could have been created, the Lord appeard with his

chaNgu and chakram. As requested by them the Lord granted that this

kshethram will be called after thaayaar and hence is known as

"naachiyaar kOil" even today. Thaayaar is present here with 8 NYaathis. In

this temple thaayaar gets all the first mariyaathais as per this

protocol. SInce Munivar asked the Lord to marry her in his form the

Lord chose to marry her in his five forms as vyuuka vaasudEvan. vishnu

puraaNam explains the expansion of the universe as vishnu HIMslef and

he being in the center and expanded into primary and secondary levels

of planetary positions known as galaxies. Modern science depicts that

the current universe if viewed from outside looks like two ellipsoidal

galaxies with the centre as a huge dense magnetic field. This equal

expansion on both side was in a way indicated in vishnu puraaNam as

 

 

---------------- ------------------

- - - -

- sankarshanan - para vaasudEvan - aniruththan -

- - - -

- - - -

---------------- ----------------

| |

prathyumnan| |purushOthaman

 

When the Lord says "maam eKam saRaNam vraja", HE also meant that HE is

the entire universe where in we are all there and that "HE alone"

represented in HIS form with changu chakram and gathi, saarngam as

"one" in which everything and every demigod is contained. ie He is the

global set in mathematical terms that contain all the other sets in

itself. HE appear the same as the physical universe. ie all his

weapons were expanded to primary and secondary universes and HE being

the neucleus this is the same as picturised by the modern science.

surrendering to HIM in this form is surrendering to the entire

UNIVERSE. If you replace sakarshanan, prathyumnan, aniruththan, and

purishOthaman by the four weapons they exactly represent the pictorial

view of the universe. The Lord appears on equal footing with all his

primary and secondary vyuukams and marry the thaayaar here. This is a

very crowded sannithi as you will see all these Lords and thaayaar in

one place. This is the only place where the Lord is present in his 5

vyuuka forms. The Lord gave all the sakthi and prominance to the

naachiyaar and married her in his 5 forms. The Lord is in KalyaaNa

kOlam and also he appears to come little forward as if he is offering

"pancha samaskaaram". (to thiru mangai). The nature of these moolavars

are so realistic that (as per aaka siRpa saastharam these moolavars are

perfectly real) thirumangai adored this Lord and delivered all the 110

paasurams single handed for this temple. No other aazhwaar visited this

Lord. The place known as "krishna aaraNyam" starts here.

 

Sri dEvi is known famous in Sri Rangam and Booma dEvi in srivilli puththur and

this kshethram is prominet due to niLaa dEvi. Sri villipuththoor is known as

naachiyaar thiru maaLigai and this kshethram known as naachiyaar kOil.

 

This kshethram is in the select list of 12 mukthi tharum srinivaasan

sthalam as "sri"nivaasam. Thiru mangai praises this temple as MaNi

maadak kOil in his paasuram. When looked at the sannithi from the

entrance, the karuvaRai looks like a maadak kOil and also like a small

kunRu or hill. Aazhwaar says in periya thirumadal as "then na naRaiyoor

maNi maadak koIL maNaaLan". This temple has 16 gOpurams in various

sizes. The vimaaNam on top of the moolavar is also in the shape of a

gOpuram and is unique only to this kshEthram except for thiruvaLLikENi.

kOchchengaN cholan was known as one of 63 naayanmaars and is named as

chOla naayanaar. He lost his kingdom and and was living in hiding. The

saints living in maNi muththaa river asked him to pray this lord nambi.

While he took bath in maNi muththaa river, he got the divine sowrd as

he was submerged in the water. He then went on to collect a rebellion

force and fought a war and regained his kingdom. He became a

vaishnavaa then and constructed a golden vimaanam for this temple and

allotted lands for this temple so that nitya aaraadhanai can be

performed. Thirumangai mentions this in his paasuram as

 

sembiyan kOchchengaNaan sErntha kOil

thirunaRaiyoor maNi maadam sErminkaLE

theyva vaaL vaLannkoNda chozhan sErntha

thiru naRaiyoor maNimaadam sErmingaLE

 

Moolavar : Thiru NaRaiyoor nambi, SRinivaasan, vyuuka vaasudEvan,

sugantha vana naathan

 

thayaar : vanjuLa vaLLi, nambikkai naachchiyaar, in thirumaNak kOlam

 

Ursavar : Same name as moolavar

 

vimaanam : Srinivasa vimaanam, hEma vimaanam

virutchcham : vilva , vakuLa or makizha tree

theerththam :

maNImuththaa : chOla got his divine sword

sankarshana : Brahmaa's dhosham was cleared

Prathyumnaa : Baanuthaththa's curse was cured

aniruththan : iNidiraa's saabam was cured

saamba theerththam: saptha rishis did penance in this.

 

prathyaksham : Brahmaa, and saint mEthaavi

 

Sri VanjuLa vaLLI thaayaar samEthara Srinivaasan thiruvadikaLE saraNam

Sampath Rengarajan