Temples In India-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKAnot penetrate. The waves of the seabeating on the beaches of Tiruvallikkenicast up pearls and coral which in the lightof the evening sun shone like bright lamps.The reference may be perhaps to the whitefoam of the waves and bright red phosphorescencein the sea. The place is furtherdescribed to be with mansions andramparts and peopled by women withoutcomparison. It is a depressing thought thatsince the time of the last of the Azhvars,except the temple and the peerless women,all other attractive features of Tiruvallikkeniappear to have disappeared.However, there is one claim for greatnessfor Tiruvallikkeni in the post-azhvar period.It is the traditional belief that Sri Ramanuja,the sage and philosopher of Bhutapuri(Sriperumbudur) was born to his childlessparents after they made a supplication toSri Parthasarathy for a child.The temple of Tiruvallikkeni seems to bethe only one in India where inside a singleshrine, there are mula-betas of Krishna,Rukmini, Balarama, Saryaki, Pradyumna andAniruddha, the entire family of Krishnacomprising his wife, brother, son and grandson.And it also appears to be the onetemple where there are deities in thestanding posture (Venkatakrishna andRama) , sitting posture (Narasimha in yogicpose), lying posture (Ranganatha onAdisesha-Bhujangasayana) and flyingposture (Gajendra Varadaon Garuda).Venkatakrishna is characterised by havingtwo hands only, the right hand holdingPanchajanya (conch) and the left handpointing to his feet in the boon-giving pose(varada-mudra). This unusual pose isbelieved to reveal Sri Krishna as Gitacharya,with the conch in his right handTEMPLE INDIA(Panchajanyam hrisikesah: Bhagavadgita1-15) preaching the doctrine of absoluteself-surrender indicating by the other handHis own feet as the end and the means.Sarva-dharman ... ma sucah 18.66).The shrine for Narasimha is an independentone with its own dwajasthambha(flagstaff) and the deity has the usualannual festival (Brahma Utsava). It is rareto have inside one temple two deities, eachhaving a separate dhwaja sthambha andBrahmotsava.Even though at present Venkatakrishna withParthasarathy (the processional deity) isthe principal deity, there is no separatenacciar (female deity) shrine for hisspouse. The principal nacciar who has aseparate shrine is Vedavalli who is thespouse of Ranganatha, who at present isneglected and whose shrine till veryrecently did not even have a vimana.Ranganatha here is lying south to northfacing east. This temple houses the idolsof all the twelve Azhvars and there areidols for Acharyas like Nathamuni, Yamuna,Ramanuja, Kurartazhvan, Embar,Mudaliyandan, Pillai Loka-charya, VedantaDesika and Manavala Mamuni and also forTirukkacchi Nambi.It is no wonder that a place of suchuniqueness attracts pilgrims and visitorsfrom all parts of the country throughoutthe year. One more unique and renownedcharacteristic of this temple is thesakkaraippongal (sweet rice pudding)served to the deities.209