Guest guest Posted June 3, 2000 Report Share Posted June 3, 2000 Dear Members: In some Vaishnava temples, a vinayakar-like deity is installed near temple entrance. The deity has Vaishnava oordhva pundram on its forehead. Would anyone please identify this deity and whether the deity is a Nithya-soori and why it is installed etc? Thanks J. Venkatanathan Send FREE Greetings for Father's Day--or any day! http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/redirects/fathers_day.rdct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 4, 2000 Report Share Posted June 4, 2000 Dear Sri J. Venkatanathan, adiyEn heard from Sri Poundrikapuram ANdavan in a personal telephonic discussion only last week, that he (elephant headed Srivaishnava) is a nitya Suri who is a sEvaka for Sri ViswakshEnar. (perhaps the chief of the sEvakAs). His name is GajAnanan ( the name mentioned by Sri Mani in his reply is also correct). adiyEn was said that there is a salutation included for him in SrivaishnavAs's daily tharpanams (for those who do tharpanams daily). adiyEn was also informed that his thiru uruvam is present in Sri Lakshmi Nrusimman temple in chembur, Bombay. Though adiyEn had visited that temple several times adiyEn is unable to reacall where exactly is he placed in Chembur temple. However, adiyEn has seen his thiruuruvam on the southern walls of inner prAhAram of Sri chakrapAni temple that Lord Surya made for Sri ChakrathAzhwAr in Chakra padith thuRai, thiruk kudanthai (Kumbakonam). I have also seen his thiru uruvam in a few other Srivaishnava temples in india. Srimadh Azhagiya Singar thiruvadikaLE saraNam adiyEn irAmAnusa dAsan thiruk kudanthai Sampath Rengarajan ______________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 4, 2000 Report Share Posted June 4, 2000 Sri J. Venkatanathan wrote: > Dear Members: > > In some Vaishnava temples, a vinayakar-like deity is > installed near temple entrance. The deity has Vaishnava > oordhva pundram on its forehead. > > Would anyone please identify this deity and whether the > deity is a Nithya-soori and why it is installed etc? > > Thanks This person is indeed a nitya-sUri and is known in Tamil is 'tumbikkai-AzhvAr'. In Sanskrit, he is sometimes referred to as 'gaja-vaktra' or the elephant-headed one and is a significant member of the entourage of Vishvaksena (sEnai mudaliyAr). Sri Parasara Bhattar refers to this nitya-sUri in the second verse of his sahasranAma-bhAshya in the Sloka beginning with 'Om namO gajavaktrAdyaiH'. As for the exact kainkaryam performed by this nitya-sUri and the reason for his installation, I leave it to more knowledgable members to write; but I believe he may be thought to be a 'kOyil-kAppAn' (dvAra-pAlaka) of sorts. aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan Mani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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