Kachabeswarar Temple – Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu

Next day(03-Nov-2013) of Diwali, We(Me, Wife, Mom and Dad) started from Chitlapakkam by Call taxi at 7.00am. On the way to Kanchi, In Chinna Kanchi Varadharaja perumal temple is famous, but our first preference to Siva temple so reached Kanchi Kachabeswarar temple at 8.30am. Kacha means tortoise.

As per the legend, when the Devasa and Asuras were churning the milky ocean to get Amruth, the mountain which was used as the churning stick, started sinking. Lord Vishnu incarnated himself as Koorma (tortoise) and lifted the mountain on his back. Due to this, he got proud and increased the water level which troubled the universe. At this juncture, Lord Shiva destroyed the tortoise and strung its shell on the sacred garland worn about his neck. Later, Lord Vishnu regretted his act and came here to get blessings of Lord Shiva, and hence Shiva in this temple got the name Kachabeswara (Kachab means tortoise). It is believed that Lord Brahma and his consort Saraswathi also worshipped Kachabeswarar in this temple. Asura guru Sukracharya worshipped here to get Mruthsanjeevini and Vajrayakkai.

Wonderful entrance and pragaram is very calm. Siva lingam is different shape(two level), behind lingam Siva-parvathi sculpture is there . Since Kamachi amman is main lady god in Kanchi there is no separate Ambal sanathi in any of the Siva’s temple.

Thanks to indiancolumbus.blogspot.com

Ulagalanda perumal temple – Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu

Next we moved to Ulagalanda perumal temple around 9.15am. Ulagalandha Perumal Temple, is a temple dedicated to Vishnu located in Kancheepuram. It is one of the 108 Divya Desam Temples. Demon king Mahabali, though belonging to the Asura community, was noted for his good-natured deeds and he was very generous and charitable. He became proud of his supreme qualities and the reputation it brought him. A really good man should not give room to pride. The Lord wanted to teach him a lesson. The Lord took the form of a dwarf and approached Mahabali for three steps of land by his steps. The surprised king told the dwarf that three steps by his legs would fetch nothing to him. His Guru Sukra found out that the seeker was not a dwarf indeed but Lord Vishnu and warned the king of the consequences if he yielded to the demand of the dwarf. Bali told the Guru that he would have to lose all the benefits of his earlier charities if he denies the demand of the dwarf. He promised the demand of the visitor.

The dwarf shockingly became tall touching the sky, measured the earth by one step and the upper world by the second leaving no land either in the sky or earth and demanded the third. Bali simply said that he could place the third step on his head. Doing so, the Lord sent him to the world below the earth. Reaching the lower world, Mahabali felt sad that he could not have the luck of seeing the Lord measuring all the worlds in two steps.

Bali began to perform a severe penance on the Lord to see the lord measuring the world. Though the Lord obliged, Bali could not have a complete look of that darshan and repeated his appeal. The Lord gave the darshan as Adisesha again. That place is now called Thiru Ooragam, which is on the left side of the sanctum sanatorium.

The five panchakrishna kshetrams are Tirukkovilur, Tirukkannankudi, Kapistalam, Kannapuram and Kannamangai.

Separate pooja conduct for Athishasan. It was time to breakfast and we had what we brought from home in the same temple. Within us, there was confusion for next temple visit.

Thanks to Wikiipedia

Kamakshi amman Temple – Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu

We found Kamakshi amman temple is very near to ulaganda temple and entered at 10.00am. The Kamakshi Temple is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Kamakshi, one of the forms of the goddess Parvati. It is located in the historic city of Kanchipuram, and is popularly associated with Sankaracharya, one of the greatest Hindu gurus. The Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, the Akilandeswari temple in Thiruvanaikaval near Tiruchirappalli and this Kamakshi are the important centers of worship of Parvati as the mother goddess, in the state of Tamil Nadu. The temple was most probably built by the Pallava kings, whose capital was Kanchipuram, around 6 C.E.

The main deity, Kamakshi, is seated in a majestic Padmasana, an yogic posture signifying peace and prosperity, instead of the traditional standing pose. The goddess holds a sugarcane bow and bunch of flowers in the lower two of her arms and has a pasha (lasso), an ankusha (goad) in her upper two arms. There is also a parrot perched near the flower bunch. There are no other Parvati temples in the city of Kanchipuram, apart from this temple, which is unusual in a traditional city that has hundreds of traditional temples. There are various legends that account for this fact. One of them according to Kamakshivilasa is that the Goddess had to absorb all the other shakthi forms to give a boon to Kama, the Hindu god of love. Another legend attributes it to the Raja Rajeswari pose of the deity that signifies an absolute control over the land under the deity's control. Legend has it that Kamakshi offered worship to a Shivalingam made out of sand, under a mango tree and gained Shiva's hand in marriage.

For senior citizen there is special queue. Temple is very small and more important for Kamachi amman. Three elephant maintained by temple. There is mandapam on North side of temple which has many god sculpture in the base. Bala thriupurasundari god’s photo is very nice. We spent an hour in this temple.

Thanks to Wikiipedia

Varadaraja perumal Temple - Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu

Then we were back to Varadharaja temple at 11.15am. After creation of the World, Brahma desired the appearance of worship Lord Narayana in all His glory to offer his prayers.   His desire was not fulfilled   even after he  did  meditation  and austerities for a long time. Then a holy voice informed him that   he  (Brahma)  should  do thousand    Aswametha  Yagas  or  do   one Aswametha  Yaga   at  a  sacred  place  in Bharatham  called  Sathya Vradha Sthala. This   means   a   good   deed  performed  in Kancheepuram will yield benefits by thousand times.

Brahma called Vishwa Karma, the celestial sculpture to erect a city at Kancheepuram where he wanted to perform Yaga.  Vishwa Karma built a beautiful city which was appreciated by even the celestial beings and there Brahma started performing Yaga without his wife Saraswathi.  (It was customary to do  yaga  jointly with one’s consort)  Having heard about this yaga, Saraswathi got angry and wanted to destroy yaga salai by   taking the form of a river, which was later called Vegavathi.    Brahma was afraid and surrendered   before   Lord  Narayana requesting the Lord to save him from this imminent danger.  Lord Narayana   lied   down   across  the flowing river.    As Saraswathi did not have strength to cross Lord Narayana, she   entered  the earth  and d  is appeared.  Later Saraswathi got compromised and Brahma performed  Aswametha Yaga

At the end of the Aswametha yaga, the brightest and most beautiful Lord Varadarajar  appeared along with his consorts  Sridevi and Boodevi in Punniakodi vimanam which came out of Yaga Agni (Holy Fire). Lord Varadaraja asked Brahma what he wanted.  Brahma begged the Lord that the  Lord Devarajaswamy should remain   in   the  same from  at  this  sacred   place  permanently  and  to  give  darshan  to the pleasure  of all living beings in the world.

               

Lord Varadarajar, the bestower of boons conceded to Brahma’s request.  Since then the Lord Varadaraja has been giving darshan to the devotees at this holy place called Hastha giri. Hastham means elephant and giri  means hill.

Lord Varadaraja was worshipped   by  Brahma in Kritha Yuga; by Gajendran (Sacred elephant suffered from a crocodile) in Treta yuga; by the Deva Guru (Teacher of Devas) Brahaspathi in Dwapara yuga ; and by Adiseshan in this Kali Yuga.

 There was very long queue for dharshan. We hadn’t expect the crowd so more than one and half hour spent on queue. It was closing time for dharshan. Continue with that separate queue for golden lizard dharshan. Special story for this lizard which was told by travel guide.

One of the highlights of Varadarajar temple is a small shrine for lizards (lizard worship). Two lizard idols - one with gold plate and another with silver plate are carved in the ceiling along with the figures of Sun and Moon. Devotees touch these lizard figures; as per the belief, it will relieve them from their diseases and problems. As per the legend, the two sons of sage Srungibera (Hayman and Sukran) were the disciples of the sage Gautama. One day, the lizard was found in the water that they bought of Gautama to perform pooja. Hence, the sage cursed them to become lizards. They got rid of their curse after visiting Varadarajar temple.

 We were suppose to miss the chance for dharshan of Thaiyar but luckily we were last person in that queue and dharshan was good.

Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam - Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu

After that we planned to visit Kanchi Madam and its centre of the Kanchipuram.

The matha's official history states that it was founded by Adi Sankara of Kaladi, and that His Holiness Jayendra Saraswati Swami is the current pontiff - The 69th head in succession, tracing its history back to the fifth century BCE. A related claim is that Adi Sankara came to Kanchipuram, and that he established the Kanchi matha named "Dakshina Moolamnaya Sarvagnya Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam" in a position of supremacy (Sarvagnya Peetha) over the other mathas of the subcontinent, before his death there. Other sources give the place of his death as Kedarnath in the Himalayas which is traditionally attributed to Abhinava Sankara.

The Kamakoti Peetam however, traditionally refers to Kamakshi referred popularly as Kamakodi. 'Kamakodi' is of Tamil origin, referring to Goddess Durga. 'Kodi' refers to Durga in the ancient Tamil Sangam literature. Kanchipuram is referred to as Kachi. The Vyakarana Mahabhashya of Patanjali uses the word 'Kanchi' and it can be thus understood that the word Kanchi also has a Sankrit base.

The Original Kamakoti Peetam, in which Adi Shankara established the Sri Chakra Yantra during the latter period of 8th century and the beginning of the 9th century' is at present known as "Adi Peeteshwari Ambal' and this temple is near the present famous shrine of Kamakshi. The form of the deity here is with Ankusa, Pasa, Abhaya and a Kaphalarespectively in each of the 4 hands. This matches precisely with Girvanendra Saraswath's 'Prapancha Sara Sara Sangraha'.

We and other devotees were waiting for pooja use to do by Periyavar at 1.30pm. Maga periyavar samathi(Brindavnama) is located inside the madam. Maga periyavar status is awesome, it seems alive. Then attended the pooja did by Bala periyavar and waited for his dharshan. But it took more time for his dharshan so we left from there.

Thanks to Wikipedia