Sri
Veeraraghava Temple, Tiruvallur
Location
The Sri
Vaidiya Veera Raghavar Temple is situated in Tiruvallur the headquarters
of Tiruvallur District, Tamilnadu. Tiruvallur is 40 Kms away from
Chennai on the road towards Tirupatti from chennai.The Tiruvallur town
is well connected from chennai by road and railway.Sri Vaidiya Veera
Raghavar Temple is situated 2 kms away from the Railway station &
0.5kms away from Town Bus stand.
History
The Sri Veera Raghava
Swami temple which is one of the 108 sacred shrines of Vaishnavites has
an great history .The legend connected with the origin of this temple
shows that once upon a time, in Krita Yuga, a sage by name Purupunyar
lived with his wife Satyavathi in Badarikashram.They had no children.
Purupanyar performed a Sali Yajna. (Putrakameshti Yaga) with great
fervor and devotion. The Sage offered 1000 Ahutis (oblations of gheeto
the sacrificial fire after chanting the mantra each time) every day, for
one full year. 'On the last day, when Purnahuti (the final offering) was
performed,Lord Narayana was pleased with the austerity of the
ritualistic observances of the Sage, and appeared in the sacrificial
fire in a blissful mood to offer boons. The Sage prayed for a noble
son.The boon was granted with the condition that he should be named
after the name of the Yajna as Salihotran. With this blessing, Lord
Narayana disappeared.Then the Sage collected the ash strewn around the
Yajna Peetha and gave a handful of it to his consort to take in with
great veneration as Prasadam. In the tenth month after that, a glorious
son was born to Sage Purupunyar.
The child was named Salihotran as ordained by Lord Narayana. With the
growth of years, the child showed signs of precocity and started on a
pilgrimage-visiting temple after temple. On Tai Amavasya day (New Moon
day in January-February),he reached Tiruvallur where he found that Lord
Brahma, other Devas andgreat sages like Vasishtha, were engaged in
taking bath in the Hrittapanasini tank.
Next year, on the same Pushya Amavasya day, he completed one year of
penance and took a holy bath in the Hrittapanasini tank and observed his
morning prayers. As he was fasting for one year without food or drink,
he collected on that day some paddy and prepared prasadam out of that.
He divided it into three parts; the first part was offered to Lord
Narayana.The second part was kept for offering as charity and the third
for his own consumption.At this juncture, Lord Narayana took the form of
an old Brahmin and came the way where Salihotran was waiting to offer
the share to a guest. When Salihotran saw the old Brahmin, he
immediately requested him to grace his hermitage. He respectfully
offered to the Brahmin the prasadam meant for the guest. Quickly the
Brahmin ate up the offering and Salihotran felt from his facial
appearance that he was not satisfied.
On inquiry, he learnt that the old Brahmin had had no food for the last
4 or 5 days and his hunger was not fully satisfied. At this, th-2
portion kept for himself was offered to the guest. The guest was
satisfied and - left the place.Salihotran commenced another year's
penance without food and drink. Again, on the day of Pushya Amavasya at
its close, he took his holy bath in the tank and noticed many unusual
good omens on his way. After finishing his morning rituals, he procured
some paddy and prepared oblations. Like the previous year,he offered a
portion to Lord Narayana and was waiting for a guest to offer the second
portion, leaving the. Last portion for him.
This time also, Lord Narayana took the form of an old Brahmin and was
coming by that way. Salihotran-welcomed him and while accompanying him
to the hermitage,the old Brahmin expressed that he was feeling extremely
hungry and thirsty and needed a place for rest also. In the hermitage,
Salihotran offered the entire prasadam meant for the guest as well as
for himself. The old Brahmin was greatly pleased and asked Salihotran,
"Where is the place for me to lie (Evvul)?" The prince was so
charmed by the beauty of the princess that he voluntarily expressed that
he, a prince was on the lookout for a bride. The princess advised the
prince to go and worship Lord Veeraraghava in the temple situated on the
northern bank of Hrittapanasini tank, if he wanted to marry her.
But the
prince did not move, but argued that if the mutual love was real,God
Himself would come down to approve of it. The princess then sent for her
parents. Arriving there, they enquired about the prince's lineage but
the prince would not divulge his identity. However, he swore by Lord
Veeraraghava that after his marriage with the princess, he would stay
there. This being a very sound proposal, the marriage was fixed; and
performed. Following the traditional custom of offering prayer at the
temple after marriage, by the newly wedded couple, the prince and
princess, accompanied by the parents and the invited guests, went to the
temple of Lord Veeraraghava.
When they
approached the sanctum sanctorum, to the utter amazement of all present,
the newly married couple merged into the deity and stood transformed as
Lord Veeraraghava, and his divine consort Kanakavalli, who blissfully
blessed the parents and the assembly to attain salvation after their
preordained, stay in the world.The sacred tank
here is known as Hrittapanasini. The following Sanskrit sloka describes
the sanctity of the tank:
"Darsanat sparsanat snanat, Sadyo
hrittapanasanah,
Ato sarveshu lokeshu, Namna Hrittapanasanah"
The tank is so holy that evens a sight or a touch or a
bath would immediately dispel all anguish of heart. The local tradition
attaches greater importance to this tank than to the Ganga, the Godavari,
etc Unfortunately, the tank is now dry. As usual, at the centre of the
tank there is a mandapam, where seasonal Festivals are performed.
Tiruvallur was also known as Bhikshwaranyam (the forest where, sages
lived on alms) in ages gone by. During January 1999, Kumbhabhishekam was
performed in this temple after all the gopurams were renovated and
repainted. It is a marvelous sight to see the glorious specimens of
Dravidian art in sculptures depicting the mythological legends of Hindu
scriptures in the pinnacles of the gopurams.