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.
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