Srivilliputhur Andal Temple
Srivilliputhur Andal Temple in Srivilliputhur, a town in
Virudhunagar district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to
the Sri Vishnu. It is located 80 km from Madurai. Constructed in the Dravidian
style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the
early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD.
It is one of the 108 Divyadesam dedicated to
Vishnu, who is worshipped as Vatapatrasayi and his consort Lakshmi as Andal. It
is believed to be the birthplace of two of the Alvars, namely Periyalvar and
his foster daughter Andal.
Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divyadesam dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Vatapatrasayi and his consort Lakshmi as Andal.
Srivilliputhur Andal temple
Srivilliputhur Andal
Temple in Srivilliputhur,
a town in Virudhunagar district in the South Indian state
of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. It is located
80 km from Madurai. Constructed in the Dravidian style of
architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the
early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the
6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divyadesam dedicated
to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Vatapatrasayi and his
consort Lakshmi as Andal. It is believed to be the birthplace of two
of the Alvars, namely Periyalvar and his foster daughter Andal.
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Srivilliputhur Temple - Religion |
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Affiliation |
Hinduism |
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District |
Virudhunagar |
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Festivals |
Aani
Alwar Uthsavam (June–July) Thiruvadipooram (August)Purattasi
Uthsavam(October) Ennaikappu (December–January) Panguni Thirukkalyana
Uthsavam (March–April) |
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Location |
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Location |
Srivilliputhur |
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State |
Tamil Nadu |
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Country |
India |
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Geographic
coordinates |
9°30′32″N 77°37′56″ECoordinates: 9°30′32″N 77°37′56″E |
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Architecture |
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Type |
Dravidian
architecture |
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Temple(s) |
3 (Sri
Vatapatrasayi, Sri Andal and Sri Periyalvar ) |
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Website |
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srivilliputhurandaltemple.tnhrce.in |
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The temple is associated
with the life of Andal, who was found under a Tulsi plant in the garden inside
the temple by Periyalvar. She is believed to have worn the garland before
dedicating it to the presiding deity of the temple. Periyalvar, who later found
it, was highly upset and stopped the practise. It is believed Vishnu appeared
in his dream and asked him to dedicate the garland worn by Andal to him daily,
which is a practise followed during the modern times. It is also believed
that Ranganatha of Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple married
Andal, who later merged with him.
The temple has two
divisions - the one of Andal located on the Southwest and the second one of
Vatapatrasayi on the Northeast direction. A granite wall surrounds the temple,
enclosing all its shrines, the garden where Andal is believed to have been born
and two of its three bodies of water. The Vijayanagar and Nayak kings
commissioned paintings on the walls of the shrine of temple, some of which are
still present.
Samprokshanam of
the Andal temple was performed on 20 January 2016 by Tamil Nadu Government.
Vatapatrasayi is
believed to have appeared to Andal, Periyalvar and
sages Markandeya and Bhrigu. The temple
follows Thenkalai tradition of worship. Six daily rituals and three
yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the Aadipooram festival, the
birthday of Andal, celebrated during the Tamil month of Adi (July
- August), is the most prominent. The temple is maintained and administered by
the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of
the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Etymology
As per Hindu legend, the
land around Srivilliputhur was under the rule of Queen Malli. The queen had two
sons called Villi and Kandan. While the two were hunting in a forest, a tiger
killed Kandan. Unaware of this, Villi searched for his brother, got tired and
fell asleep. In his dream, divinity narrated to him what happened to his
brother. By divine orders, Villi founded a city. The city is originally named
after its founder, Villi forming the word Sri-Villi-Puthur. Srivilliputtur is
known by other names such as Varaha kshetram, Thenpuduvai, Vadeswarapuram,
Vadamahadamapuram, Shenbagaranya kshetram, Vikrama chola chaturvedhi mangalam,
and Sridhanvipuri.
Legend
As per mythological
legend, the place was referred as Varaha Kshetra. It was a dense forest named
Champaka where the sages Bhrgu and Markandeya were doing
penance and had their hermitages in the place. A demon named Kalanerai was
troubling the sages and they prayed to Vishnu to relieve them from the demon.
Vishnu was pleased by their devotion and appeared in the place to slay the
demon. He is believed to have taken the abode in the forest reclining
on Adisesha, his serpent bed, on the leaf of a banyan tree. The place thus
came to be known as Vadaveshwarapuram.
Periyalvar (originally
called Vishnuchittar) was an ardent devotee of Vishnu and he used to string
garland to Vishnu every day. He was childless and he prayed to Vishnu to save
him from the longing. One day, he found a girl child under a Tulsi plant in a
garden inside the temple. He and his wife named the child as Kothai, who grew
up as a devotee of Krishan, an avatar of Vishnu. She is believed
to have worn the garland before dedicating it to the presiding deity of the
temple. Periyalvar, who later found it, was highly upset and remonstrated her.
Vishnu appeared in his dream and asked him to dedicate only the garland worn by
Andal to him. The girl Kothai was thus named Andal and was referred as Chudikodutha
Sudarkodi (lady who gave her garland to Vishnu). The practise is
followed during modern times when the garland of Andal is sent to Azhagar
Koyil on Chitra Pournami day where the presiding deity Lord Kallazhagar
entering into River Vaigai with the garland worn by Goddess Andal
and Tirumala Venkateswara Temple during [Garudostavam during
the Tamil month of Puratasi (September -
October)]. It is also believed that Ranganatha of Srirangam
Ranganathaswamy temple married Andal, who later merged with the idol.
Andal was taken in a palanquin from Srivilliputhur to Srirangam before the
marriage. Since Andal married Ranganatha, who came as a king (called
Raja), the presiding deity is called Rangamannar.
History
The history of
Srivilliputhur centres around the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple, dedicated
to Andal. It is argued that the temple of Vatapatrasayi is present
from the 8th century, but there are epigraphic records are available only from
the 10th century CE. The view that the Andal temple was built during the 14th
century is highly debated. The temple has inscriptions
from Chola, Pandya and Nayak rulers, spanning across
various centuries from the 10th to 16th centuries. As per some accounts, the
original structure was constructed by Tribuvana Chakravarthy Konerinmai Kondan
Kulasekaran and the Andal temple by Barathi Rayar.
During the reign
of Thirumalai Nayak (1623–1659) and Rani Mangammal (1689–1706),
this city became very popular. Thirumalai Nayak renovated all the temples of
this city. He installed choultaries, temple tanks, paintings and golden towers
inside the temple. The sculptures in the hall leading to the shrine of Andal
were also built by him. From 1751 to 1756 CE, Srivilliputhur came under
the rule of Nerkattumseval palayakkarar Puli thevar and was
a maravarpalayam. Later the Fort of Srivilliputtur was ruled by Periyasami
Thevar. Then it fell into the hands of Mohammed Yousoof Khan. Until
1850, Sri Andal temple was under the care of the king of Trivancore. The
British ruled the country till India attained freedom in 1947. The temple's
gateway tower, 192 ft (59 m) tall and it is believed that this is the
official symbol of the Government of Tamil Nadu (Sri Vatapatrasayi
Temple Tower). But the artist who designed the emblem for the state of
Tamil Nadu Thiru.Krishna Rao denied that it is not the temple
of Srivilliputhur rather it is Meenakshi Temple's West Gopuram. During
the modern times, the temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu
Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil
Nadu.
Architecture
The temple has two
divisions – the one of Andal located on the Southwest and the second one is
Vatapatrasayi (Vishnu) on the Northeast direction. A granite wall surrounds the
temple, enclosing all its shrines, the garden where Andal was found and two of
its three bodies of water. The rajagopuram, the temple's gateway
tower, 192 ft (59 m) tall, The tower is originally believed to have
been built by Periyalvar with the prize money he obtained from religious
debates in the court of Vallaba Pandya in Madurai.
The Andal shrine houses
the image of Andal and Rangamannar. Garuda, who brought Ranganathar, the
divine bridegroom, from Srirangam, is also housed in the same shrine.
The walls around the shrine has paintings of the life of Andal. The second hall
from the entrance towards the sanctum, the Kalyana Mandapa, houses huge
life-size sculptures of Mohini, Rama, Kamadeva, Rati and
many other deities.
The Vatapatrasayi
division has two precincts. The sanctum in the second level approached through
a flight of steps houses the image of Vatapatrasayi in a reclining posture and
his consorts, Lakshmi (Sridevi) and Bhudevi, are shown attending
to him at his feet. Sage Bhrigu stands near his head and sage Markandeya is
near his feet. The banyan tree whose leaf is known as Vatapatram, on
which Vishnu is said to rest in the form of a baby during deluge, is at his
head, behind Bhrigu. Images of Panchamurtis - Tumburu, Narada, Sanatkumara,
Kinnara Mithuna, the Sun and the Moon are shown all around Rangamannar as well
as representations of Villi and Puttan are seen at his feet. The sanctum has
three doorways from which the presiding deity can be seen. The hall leading to
the sanctum, Bhopala villam, has a hall with detailed teak wood carvings
depicting incidents from the Puranas and the ten avatars of
Vishnu, the Dashavatara. There are a set of carvings that decorate the
ceiling.
The temple houses some
rare Vijayanagara sculptures similar to the ones present in Soundararajaperumal
Temple, Thadikombu, and Krishnapuram Venkatachalapathy temple, Alagar
Koyil and Jalakandeswarar Temple, Vellore. The composite columns
of Virabhadra holding sword and horn are found be additions of the
Vijayanayagara kings during the early 1500s. Similar columns of Virabhadra are
found in Adikesava Perumal Temple at Thiruvattaru, Meenakshi
Temple at Madurai, Nellaiappar Temple at Tirunelveli, Kasi
Viswanathar temple at Tenkasi, Krishnapuram Venkatachalapathy
temple, Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram, Soundararajaperumal
temple at Thadikombu, Srivaikuntanathan Permual temple at Srivaikuntam, Avudayarkovil, Vaishnava
Nambi and Thirukurungudivalli Nachiar temple at Thirukkurungudi.
Religious significance
Srivilliputtur finds
mention in Brahmakaivatsapuranam and Varaha puranam.
Varaha puranam foretells the existence of Srivilliputtur and the consequent
visit of Vishnu during the Varaha Avataram. Brahmakaivatsa puranam mentions
the location of Vatapatrasayi Temple in Srivilliputtur.
Srivilliputhur has a
significant place in Vaishnava philosophy and worship practices. The
Srivilliputtur divya desam has the unique distinction among all other divya
desams of being the birthplace of two important alvars among the twelve alvars,
sri periyalvar, who became the father-in-law of the Ranganatha himself and
Andal who was the incarnation of Bhoomadevi and attained union with the
Ranganathan at Srirangam. Andal is the only female Alvar saint of the
12 Alvar saints of South India. She is credited with the Tamil works
of Thirupavai and Nachiar Tirumozhi that are
still recited by devotees during the Winter festival season of Margazhi.
The town wakes up to the sounds of Thiruppavai is believed to
lead to a sublime atmosphere throughout the day.
Andal is known for her
unwavering devotion to god Vishnu, the God of the Srivaishnavas.
Adopted by her father, Periyalvar, Andal avoided earthly marriage, the normal
and expected path for women of her culture, to marry Vishnu. In many places in
India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, Andal is treated more than a saint and
as a form of god herself and a shrine for Andal is dedicated in most Vishnu
temples.
Festivals and religious practises
The temple follows Thenkalai tradition
of worship. The temple priests perform the pooja (rituals)
during festivals and on a daily basis. Like other Vishnu temples of Tamil Nadu,
the priests belong to the Vaishnavaite community, a Brahmin
sub-caste. The temple rituals are performed six times a day: Ushathkalam at
7 a.m., Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at
12:00 p.m., Sayarakshai at 6:00 p.m., Irandamkalam at
7:00 p.m. and Ardha Jamam at 10:00 p.m. Each ritual
has three steps: alangaram (decoration), neivethanam (food
offering) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both
Vatapatrasayi and Andal. During the last step of worship, nagaswaram (pipe
instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument) are played,
religious instructions in the Vedas (sacred text) are recited
by priests, and worshippers prostrate themselves in front of the temple
mast. There are weekly, monthly and fortnightly rituals performed in the temple.
Thousands of people from the state participate in the "Aadi Pooram" festival celebrated in the Andal Temple. After early morning special pujas, the presiding deities, Sri Rengamannar and Goddess Andal are taken in decorated palanquins to the car. The festival marks the adoption of presiding deity, Andal, by Periyalvar after he found her near a Tulsi plant in the garden of Vatapatrasayi Temple at Srivilliputhur on the eighth day of the Tamil month of Adi. The temple car was originally very heavy (40m tall and 650 tonnes) and it took days to take it back to the original position. Before 2000, the practise of drawing the temple car during the yearly festival was suspended. With the efforts of Vanamamalai Jeer, the head of a monastic institution, the temple car was modified with hydraulic wheels to ease the movement. Kumbabishekam, the consecration of the Andal temple happened on 20 January 2016. Golden filials were also installed for Andal temple. A good time to visit temple are Fridays & Saturdays.
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