Athivaradhar is a deity of Sri Varadharaja Perumal Temple, in
Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu, India.
It is one of the Divya Desams,
the 108 temples of Vishnu. Among the
Divya Desams, Varadaraja Perumal temple is known as ‘Perumal Koil’. This is one
of the most sacred places for Vaishnavites.
Athivaradhar is actually a nine-feet long idol, made out
of the divine fig tree. This Idol is
kept safely inside the Ananta Sarovar – Templ Pushkarini of Varadaraja
Temple. The Deity is brought out of the
Pushkarini once in 40 years and Lord gives darshan for 48 days.
According to
legend, Goddess Saraswathi had a misunderstanding with her husband Brahma and
in a fit of anger took away his divine wand to retrieve. Bramha wanted to perform the Aswamedha yagna
in the Athi forest. Since Goddess Saraswati
did not accompany, lord Brahma took help
of Goddess Gayathri and Lakshmi Devi. Aided by the Asuras, the demons, Sarawati runs
as the Vegavathi river ( Palar river ) and tries to interrupt the Yagna. Lord Vishnu, was happy with Brahma Yagna and emerges from the holy fire as Athivaradhar. The
temple deity, Vishnu laid himself flat to stay the flow and the yagna
was successfully performed. Vishnu emerged with brilliance of thousand Suns as
Devarajaswamy and stayed here permanently.
Saraswati
is pacified and Viswakarma carves out a body for Athivaradar using a fig tree
and He then agrees to stay in Kanchipuram atop the Elephant Hill.
The temple covers an area of 23-acre (93,000 m2) complex
and shows the architectural skills of ancient Vishwakarma
Sthapathis in temple architecture and is famous for
its holiness and ancient history. The temple has three outer prakarams namely Azhwar Prakaram,
Madai Palli Prakaram and Thiru Malai Prakaram. There are 32
shrines, 19 vimanams, 389 pillared halls (most having the lion type yali
sculpture) and sacred tanks
some of which located outside the complex. The temple tank is
called Anantha Theertham.
The main sanctum faces west
and can be entered through a 130 feet tall, 7-tiered rajagopuram (main gateway tower). The hill, called
Hastagiri, is 360 m (1,180 ft) long by 240 metres (790 ft).
Athi Varadharaja is
one among the 4 Brahma Kararchita Varadaja moorthies , carved by Vishwakarma in
Kritha Yuga. This moorthi was the main deity (Moola Moorthi) in the Grabhagraha,
i.e inside PunyaKooti Vimana, until early 16th century.
For nearly 40 long
years, the temple had no moorthies in the grabhagraha and no pooja was being
performed in the temple. The two brothers in Dhatacharya lineage,who were the
Dharamakartha of the temple at that time and under whose authority the hiding
of moorthy took place, passed away. Their two sons, after more than 40 years,
tried vigorously to bring the moorthies back to the temple, to start the pooja
again. With the help of a Madwa , the Utsava moorthies were brought back from
Udayar Palayam forest and found their place inside the temple.
Unable
to find the Athi Varadha, the authorities decided to place a Vigraha made
of stone from the near by place.
Various reasons why Athi Varadhar was kept under water.
1. 1. Around 1709 due to some reasons (which is unknown till the
date) the Pushkarani was emptied and the Athi Varadharaja was seen lying
inside. Then Authorities decided that this moorthi has to be taken out every 40 years for pooja for 48 days and
again to be immersed in the kalyani for another 40 years and so on.
2. Athi Varadar was originally
worshiped by Lord Brahma in Satya-yuga, by Gajendra in Treta-yuga, by Sage
Brihaspathi in Dwapara-yuga and by Ananta Shesha in Kali-yuga.
Once
while Brahma was performing a yagna (fire sacrifice), in Kanchipuram, the fire
touched the wooden Deity of Sri Athi Varadar. Brahma asked the Lord for a
remedial measure to worship the Deity; the Lord instructed him to keep the
Deity in the lake surrounded by the replicas of Ananta Shesha. Hence the Deity
is till date in the temple pond.
While
Brahma worshiped the Deity alone, Lord Vishnu tells Brahma,”You are worshiping
Me constantly. You should also give an opportunity to others for worship as
well”.
To
this Lord Brahma agreed to allow the Lord’s worship only for a few nano
seconds. Similarly, when Gajendra and Brihaspathi were worshiping, they allowed
the worship during their period only for a few minutes on Lord Vishnu’s
request.
In
the similar manner, when Ananta Shesha worships, he allows the worship to be
offered by others for 48 days i.e, once in 40 years only. After this period of
1 mandala, the Lord is immersed back in the Ananta Sarovar to be worshiped by
Ananta Shesha for next 40 years. Ananta Sarovar is the sannidhanam of Lord
Ananta Shesha.
3.
Considering
the prevailing political situation then,
there was a threat from Arcot Nawab,
the other side was the British and French Ruling situation. There is
also another theory that the idol would have been damaged and hence kept under
water.
“For
those who refuse to believe in the culture and traditions of the soil,
Athivaradar might just be a wooden idol lying beneath the water which is taken
out every forty years for worship. It is all just so simple at face value but
looking at the sensation his emergence is causing, one can realise
Athivaradar’s incredible power to make us nostalgic for earlier eras we never
grew up in. Of course, the works of Azhwars and Acharyas of Sri Vaishnavism are
great about Athivaradhar,
Athi Varadar – the Deity who
gives darshan once in 40 years only, has been giving His darshan from July 01
till Aug 18, 2019. Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu is buzzing with millions of
devotees from all over the world for the darshan of Sri Athi Varadar – the
Deity who gives darshan once in 40 years only.
The next darshan would be in 2059. Do not miss
the opportunity of darshan of Lord Athi Varadar. Let us all take the blessings of Lord Athi
Varadhar.
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ReplyDeleteOne of the historical moments and we are blessed to have Athi Varadar Darshan
ReplyDelete