Saranatha Perumal - The One Who Gifted Kaveri To The Earth!

In this blog, we will read about another Divya Desham of Maha Vishnu - the Saranathan temple situated at Thirucherai village at the outskirts of Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. The presiding deity is Maha Vishnu as Saranathan and His consort is Devi Saranayaki. Speaking of consorts, this is the only temple where Maha Vishnu is present with five consorts - Saranayaki, Bhu Devi, Sri Devi, Neela Devi and Maha Lakshmi.

This temple has its origins in the legend of the Pralaya. When it was time for a Yuga to end and for the Pralaya to commence, Lord Brahma thought about a safe place to preserve His knowledge of Creation and the Vedas. He approached Maha Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu suggested that the sand from a place on earth, named as Thirucherai, be gathered together and used to form a pot. This is believed to be the place where the temple has been constructed. The soil of this place is highly fertile. 

Regarding the construction of this temple, there is another interesting legend associated with it. The king of Tanjore wanted to construct a temple for Rajagopala Swamy (another form of Maha Vishnu) at a place called Mannargudi. He entrusted his minister with arranging for stones for the same. The minister, on the other hand, wanted to build a temple for Maha Vishnu at Thirucherai. Whenever a cart carrying stones passed by the village of Thirucherai, the minister arranged to collect some of the stones and thus constructed the Saranathan temple. The king came to know of this and decided to punish the minister. But first he wanted to visit the Saranathan temple to see it personally. There, Maha Vishnu gave him darshan as Rajagopala Swami. The king was humbled and assisted in the construction and development of both the temples i.e. Saranathan temple and Mannargudi Rajagopala Swami temple. The minister was also spared by the king.

The temple also is associated with the river goddess Kaveri. It is said that once, all the rivers visited Lord Brahma and asked Him which river He considered as the greatest among them. Lord Brahma recounted the event when Maha Vishnu, in His Vamana Avatar, transformed into the huge and majestic Trivikrama whose feet were worshipped by the river Ganga. For this reason alone, Lord Brahma declared Ganga to be the greatest of all rivers. While the other rivers accepted this, river Kaveri felt the urge to be considered equal to Ganga in status. Kaveri undertook severe penance at the very place where the Saranathan temple is now located. Maha Vishnu appeared before her in the form of a child whom Kaveri lovingly tended to. Pleased with her affection and care, Maha Vishnu granted His divine vision to Kaveri who requested Him to live at that place forever. Accordingly Maha Vishnu with His five consorts decided to stay back at Thirucherai where the temple lies now.

The temple is thus believed to be the place where Maha Vishnu gifted Kaveri river to the earth. It has impressive gopurams stretching upto 120 feet. The temple itself is 380 feet long and same proportion in width as well. The deity of Saranatha stands at an impressive height of 12 feet. This is one of the rare temples which has a shrine dedicated to the river Kaveri who is shown with an infant in her lap. Apart from this, there are shrines for the Alvars, Rajagopala Swami, Lord Hanuman, the five consorts of Maha Vishnu and Rishi Markandeya as well. The Brahmotsavam festival that is conducted here is considered very sacred as it is believed Maha Vishnu Himself expressed a desire to witness this festival.

It is believed that worshipping Saranathan Perumal is equivalent to taking 100 baths in the blessed Kaveri river.

Om Saranathaya Namaha! Om Devyai Namaha!

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stories From The Bhagavatham - Narasimha Avatar (Part 1)

Image
In the previous chapters of Bhagavatham, we read about how the doorkeepers of Vaikuntha, the abode of Maha Vishnu, had been cursed to take three births as the enemies of the lord. One of their births was as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, two Asuras who wreaked untold damage upon the earth and made life miserable for all the devotees of the Lord. Hiranyaksha was killed by Maha Vishnu in His form as Varaha. Angered by the killing of his brother, Hiranyakashipu issued a command to his followers. “My brother has been killed by Narayana. I must destroy him. Go to the earth and wherever you see people performing Tapas, Yajna and other spiritual activities, kill them. Narayana is said to be present at the places where people worship him. I do not want him to be worshipped! Destroy anyone who utters his name!” Eagerly following his orders, the asuras went on a rampage, destroying places of worship, obstructing spiritual activities and harming every one who proclaimed themselves to be a de...
Read more

Stories From The Bhagawatham - Prelude To An Avatar (Part 1)

Image
  While the Devas and Asuras were always rivals, once it so happened that the Devas lost all their strength and the Asuras began to conquer them. Worried about the future of the universe, the Devas approached Lord Brahma, the Creator to seek His help. Lord Brahma advised the Devas to seek Lord Narayana. The Devas, along with Lord Brahma approached Maha Vishnu and asked for His guidance. “I know what you need to win over the Asuras.” Maha Vishnu said. “First and foremost, you need to make peace with them. You need time to recover your strength and should avoid any fights. You need to obtain Amritha, the nectar of life which will grant immortality to you. To get this nectar, you need to churn the ocean using Mount Mandara as the churning staff and the serpent Vasuki as the rope. This churning will require powerful hands and you will need the assistance of the Asuras for the same.” Maha Vishnu also gave some advice to the Devas. “Whatever happens, agree with the Asuras for every...
Read more

Stories From The Bhagawatham - Gajendra Moksham

Image
  In a hill named Trikuta, there was a garden named Rituman which was a paradise in itself. One could find every kind of tree, flower, fruit and animal there. In this hill, lived an elephant with his herd. The elephant was the leader of the herd and is referred to by devotees as Gajendra, and this leela of Maha Vishnu is named as Gajendra Moksham. This story is very special. I grew up listening to this story and simply love it because for me, it stands as a validation that no cry or prayer goes unheard in the Universe. Once, feeling thirsty, Gajendra entered a lake with his herd. After drinking water, the herd bathed in the lake. Unaware to the elephants, a crocodile stealthily swam up to the herd and clutched the leg of Gajendra. The elephant trumpeted loudly in pain. But try as he might, he could not lift his leg from the jaws of the crocodile. Seeing their leader in trouble, the other elephants tried to help him, but all their efforts went in vain. The crocodile kept tryin...
Read more