Thiru ArimEya viNNagaram - thala purAnam - part 1 of 3

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This is one of the 11 divya desams situated around thirunaangoor,

near seerkaazhi. One can reach here from mayavaram or chidambaram

by bus or taxi and visit all the other divya desams also in this

area. one can reach chidambaram or mayavaram by bus or train from

Madras.

 

Thiru arimEya viNNagaram: The Lord in thiru arimEya viNNagaram is known

as kudamaadu kooththan. The moolavar is in thailak kaappu thirumEni and

is in sitting posture facing east. The ursavar is gOpalan with chathur

bujams. (Sri. Vijay Srinivasan, please note). Thayaar is amrutha

"kada"valli and the theerththam are kOdi theerththam, and "amrutha"

theerththam. The vimaanam is utasa shrunga vimaanam. Uththanga muni did

penance here and had the darshan of this Lord as gOpalan. Though this

is documented as arimEya viNNagaram it is popularly known in this

neighborhood as kudamaadu kooththan only. This is one of the 11

temples that are grouped in a select way and the garuda sErvai that is

conducted together for all these 11 kShethrams are popularly known as 11

garuda sErvai. Sri PD had presented details of this sEvai earlier and

touched upon "manchu virattu" (PD, pl correct me if this

word is wrong) festival celebrated every year during

this garuda sErvai signaling the arrival of thirumangai in the paddy

fields of this area. In marking this vijayam of aazhwaar they believe

that it is going to bring them good monsoon and harvest ahead for the

subsequent seasons and hence they dance in joy, inturn this dancing

is also dubbed as "kooththaadal" by local people.

 

The 11 garuda sErvai is so popular that it is considered that if one

would have the darshan of this event it is equivalent to having the

darshan of these 11 kshethrams as well. Sri PD had presented the

details on current festivities observed during this occasion. I had

promised him that I shall present the puraaNam behind these 11 garuda

sErvai that is in a way unique and is known as 11 in 1. In line with

that I shall attempt to present some details. This place is situated

between the kauveri in the south and maNiyaaru in the north. Hence it

is also called as "ubaya kaiveri maththimam".

 

The puraaNam can be derived from the sanskrit words

 

svamayam boothasath yAnE

thvaadhasa vibathvaanE

ekAdhasAnAm rudhrAnAm

boothas saNyAnE

 

Once in boolOgam thatchcchan the father of parashakthi, performed a

yaagam. Since he didn't invite his son-in-law Lord shiva for this

yaagam, parvathi convinced Lord shiva that she will advise thatchchan

and ask him to invite him. However, thatchan wouldn't listen to her and

instead uttered many abuses at Lord Shiva. It is said that

Parvathi, who got upset by this not only stopped the yagam but also

disposed thatchchan, and returned to Lord shiva. Lord Shiva was not

pleased on knowing what had happened and was very very unhappy and

restless and started to dance his "oozhik kaala nadanam" which was kind

of making the entire world tremble and attempting to fall apart in the

process of destruction. When Lord shivaa's lock of hair would touch the

ground each time another Lord Shiva appeared and started the dancing

thereby intensifying the magnitude. The time was not ripe for this

universal destruction action and the only one who commands this was

Lord Vishnu. dEvaas, and rishis, prayed to HIM, and requested HIM to

prevail and save the boolOgam.

 

 

Lord Naraayana appeared in the middle of shiva as the

paramapatha naathan and shiva stopped his dance atonce. (There is also a

possible account that Lord Narayanaa also appeared here in his carrier

garudan simultaneously in 11 different thiruvuravamas as against 11 shivaas

each with same thiruvurvam. (ie in 11 replicas).

And that on seeing this and as well one of the 11

such thiruvuruvam being the form of the Lord who performed

eternal cosmic dance under govardana giri, shiva stopped dancing and

all the seismic effects also were attenuated by this Lord instantly).

He then requested Lord Narayana to also appear 11 times as similar to

him and reside in this area for ever. Within a fraction of second the

Lord fulfilled this and our Lord appeared simultaneously in 10 other

places. On seeing this Shivaa requested the Lord also to appear as the

eKadesa moorthy and the Lord fulfilled this also. After this each of

the Lord made one shiva go into the other and confined all the other

images of Shiva into one shiva only and also made him accept parvathi.

There is one shiva temple in this neighborhood symbolizing shiva

worshipping these 11 DD's.

 

The presiding deity (or deities) who first came here in his garuda

vaahanam and later simultaneously appeared in 10 other kshethrams is the

naarayanap perumal for the manimaadak kOil whose deity is Lord Badrinaaryanan

HIMself. (Incidentally I am encouraged to write this at this time due to the

request from our Sri Badri on koththaadu. thanks Sri Badri).

(note: please wait for my attempt to provide a

viLakkam on "koththaadu" in part 2 and part 3

of this post).

 

The 11 perumals who came here are as follows.

 

11 kshethrams Lords name came from

 

1.maNimaadak kOil naarayanp perumal Badri

2.arimEya viNNagaram kudamaadu kooththar gOvarththana giri

3.vaikuntha viNNagaram Sri vaikundanathan paramapatham

4.veNpurdOthathama purudOththamar as SriRama ayOdhi

5.semponsEykOvil semponrangar as ahzhzgiya uRaiyoor

maNavaaLan

6.thiruveLLkkulam aNNankOil Annan thiruppathi

7.thiruth theRRiyam senganmaal ranganaathar srirangam

balam

8.thiruth thEvanaarth theyva naayagan thiru vadanthai

thogai

9.thiruk kaavaLambadi rukmani samethara gOpala dwaraka

or keezhach chaalai krishnan

10.thirumaNik koodam varatharajap perumal kanchipuram

11. thirup parthanpaLLI paarthasarathi gurukshethram

 

Thirumangai had delivered 10 paasurams on this Lord.

 

vaNYchanaiyaal vanNdhavaLtha

NnuyiruNdu vaayttha

thayiruNdu veNNeyamu

dhuNdu,vali mikka

kaNYchanuyi radhuvuNdiv

vulaguNda kaaLai

karudhumidam kaavirisanN

dhagilkanaka munNdhi,

maNYchulavu pozhiloodum

vayaloodum vanNdhu

vaLangkoduppa maamaRaiyOr

maamalargaL thoovi,

aNYchalitthaNG karisaraNen

RiraiNYchumaNi nNaangkoor

arimEya viNNagaram

vaNangkumada nNeNYchE! 3.10.9

periya thirumozhi

This is the place where Hari is residing and is the viNNagaram.

All the great veda vaideehaas sprayed flowers and praised him

and worshipped him saying "hariyE saraNam". This sentiments were

earlier conveyed by AndaL

 

puLLum silambina kaaN puLLaraiyan kOyilil

veLLai viLi sangin pEraravam kEttilaiyO

piLLaay ezhundhiraay pEy mulai nanchundu

kaLLach chakatam kalakkazhiyak kaalOchchi

veLLaththaravil thuyilamarndha viththinai

"uLLaththuk kondu munivargaLum yOgigaLum

meLLa ezhundhu ari enRa pEraravam

uLLam pugundhu kuLirndhElOr embaavaay"

Thirup paavai

 

in this paasuram aNdaal observes these by

 

"uLLaththuk kondu munivargaLum yOgigaLum

meLLa ezhundhu ari enRa pEraravam

uLLam pugundhu kuLirndhElOr embaavaay".

Thirumangai had reiterated the same facts in the above paasurams.

 

 

This Lord has also appeared for destroying one' bad enemy and is also

known as "pagai neekkum paranthaaman". It is believed that those who want

to destroy their enemies pray to this Lord and he is believed to be a

varap prasaadhi for them.

 

"thirumadanNdhai maNmadanNdhai

yirupaalum thigazhath

theevinaigaL pOyagala

adiyavargat kenRum

aruLnNadanNdhu",iv vEzhulagath

thavarpaNiya vaanOr

amarnNdhEttha irunNdhavidam

perumpugazhvE dhiyarvaazh

tharumidangkaL malargaLmigu

kaidhaigaLseng kazhunNeer

thaamaraigaL thadangkadoRu

midangkadoRum thigazha,

aruvidangkaL pozhilthazhuvi

yezhilthigazhu nNaangkoor

arimEya viNNagaram

vaNangkumada nNeNYchE! (2) 3.10.1

periya thirmozhi

 

In the above paasuram thirumangai explicitly declares that this Lord

will give such boon for one who wants to defeat his enemies by saying

 

"thirumadanNdhai maNmadanNdhai

yirupaalum thigazhath

theevinaigaL pOyagala

adiyavargat kenRum

aruLnNadanNdhu".

 

The other 8 paasurams by thirumangai on this Lord also conveys the the

same theme that this Lord is varaprasadhi for pagai azhiththal, by

narrating the episodes of defeating auras in amritham churning for

devaas, destroying Iraavanan and killing boothanai. Hence this Lord

when prayed will bless one with specific boon to destroy their enemies.

 

 

 

sri amrutha "kada"valli thaayaar samEthara sri pagai neekkum paranthaaman

thiruvadikaLE saraNam

 

Sampath Rengarajan