Sundara Varadar Temple – Uththiramerur – Kanchipuram - Tamilnadu
ABSTRACT
The temple of Sundara Varadar in the town of Uthiramerur in kanchipuram
in Tamilnadu, is unique, not only in terms of the number of Vishnu murthy’s
in one temple, but three different posture of Vishnu under one roof.
Furthermore, the architecture of the temple in the form of a Vimana, which
surprisingly contains Vishnu idols in the Devakoshtha, against the known norm
of a Vaishnava temple, is very unique and leaves one awestruck.
INTRODUCTION
The town of Uthiramerur in kanchipuram district
of Tamilnadu is a great example of India being the first country in the world
to adopt democracy about 1200 years ago. Inscriptions in the Vaikunthavasal perumal
temple in Uththiramerur dated 920 century CE describes the entire process of
public franchise by way of KUDAVOLAI or Volai (Palm Leaf) in a Kudam or Pot.
Thus the town is historically acclaimed and renowned for the first ever
democratic self-governance of the village by its own elected people during the
rule of Parantaka Chola I (873-955 CE).
In this Village or now a town of Uththiramerur
is the temple of Mahavishnu as Shri Sundara Varadar. The temple is also known
as the “Nava Murthy Sthalam” or the Temple of nine Murthy’s of Vishnu. There
are two unique features of this temple, one being “Ashthanga Thrithala Vimana”
comprising of the main temple with nine Vishnu Murthy’s and a Temple where
Mahavishnu can be seen in all three postures of Standing – Sitting &
Sleeping.
The twelve Tamil Vaishnava Saints known as the
Azhwars (Alwars), composed the Divya Prabhandam (defined as the Tamil Veda by Shri
Ramanujacharya), which are verses in praise of Mahavishnu, sung across 108
temples which are listed as the Vaishnava Divya Desam or simply Divya Desam.
Out of the 108 Divya Desam temples Mahavishnu is found Sleeping (Kidantha
thirukolam or Shayana Murthy) in 27 temples, Sitting (Veetrirundha thirukolam
or Asana Murthy) in 21 temples and Standing (Nindra thirukolam or Sthanaka
Murthy) in 60 temples. However this temple is not listed in the Divya Desam’s.
The presence of all three forms or postures of
Mahavishnu in the same temple is not only a rare entity, but these temples have
a very unique multi floored structure or can even be termed as Trithala Vimana
temple.
This temple of Sundara Varada is one, which has
all three forms of Vishnu, and the temples structure seems to have been
inspired by the Vaikuntha perumal Temple in Kanchipuram a contemporary temple,
which is just about 28 kms from here a. Apart from (1) Vaikuntha Perumal temple
at Kanchipuram, (2) Sowmya Narayana Perumal temple at Thirukoshtiyur in
Sivaganga district, (3) Koodal Azhyagar Temple in Madurai, (4) Kulashekhara
Perumal temple at Mannarkoil in Tirunelveli district, (5)Adikesava Temple in
Kuram in Kanchipuram district, this (6) temple of Sundara Varadar has the
Shayana, Asana & Sthanaka Vishnu in the same temple in Tamilnadu..
KEYWORDS:
Vaishnava, Azhwars, Sthanaka, Asana,
Shayana, Devakoshtha, Trithala Vimana temple, Divya Desam, Sthalapuranam,
Pancha Varada, Nava Murthy, Vanavaas, Parameshwara Thachchan, Vadamerumangalam,
Vaikhanasa Agama,
LEGEND
The dice of guilt was rolling in the minds of
Yudhishthir, for he had not only lost his kingdom, but also draupadi, the wife
of the Pancha Pandavas in a game of dice or gambling.
The dice of neglect and shame in Draupadi, the
dice of rage and frenzy in Bheema, the dice of reluctance and loathe in Arjuna
and the dice of self-pity and despair in Nakula and Sahadeva was rolling, for
they had been deprived to rule Hastinapur and were sent to the jungle or
Vananvas (for 14 years, with a year incognito) by deceit and cheating by the
Kauravas, through that cunning uncle of theirs, named Shakuni.
One constant companion of theirs was Mahavishnu,
in the human form or Avatar of Krishna. The saving grace was their friendship
with Shri Krishna, who would be ready to help the Pandavas on their beck and
call.
During the period of their Vanavas the Pandavas
went to many a temple all over Bharatvarsh. One such Vishnu temple visited and
prayed at by the Pandavas is this temple of Sundara Varada Perumal temple in
Uthiramerur.
The sthalapuranam of this temple states that,
the place is known as Pancha Varada Kshetra by virtue of the five Pandavas
worshipping five idols of Vishnu here and Droupadi worshipping Lakshmi in the
form of Anandavalli during the last year of their Vanavaas incognito.
The principal deity of Sundara Varadar was
worshipped by Yudhishthir, Vaikuntha Varadar by Bheema, Athchyutha Varadar by
Arjuna, Aniruddha Varadar by Nakula and Kalyana Varadar by Sahadeva.
HISTORY
Uthithiramerur
was an established settlement of a Brahminic Agraharam during the rule of the Pallava
King Nandivarman-II being known as Utharameru Chaturvedi Mangalam. The same
during the Chola reign was called as Rajendra Chola Chaturvedi Mangalam and
during the Telugu Pallava reign was known as Vijaya kanda Gopala Chaturvedi Mangalam
and Vadamerumangalam. Uthirameru was mentioned
as Utharameru and Utharamelur in the inscriptions. The town and the temple
have seen patronizing by many a dynasty including the Pallavas, Cholas Sambuvarayas, Pandyas,
Raya’s of Vijayanagara, and the Nayak’s.
Three Vaishnava temples similar in nature of
having the three postures of Vishnu in a three tiered Vimana, was built during
the reign of Nandivarman Pallavan II (718-796 CE) one being the Parameshwara
Vinnagaram or the Vaikuntha Perumal temple in Kanchipuram preceding the second
being this temple of Sundara Varada Temple (750 CE) in Uththiramerur and third
being the Adi Kesava Temple in Kura or Kuram in kanchipuram. This temple must
have gone through reconstruction or conversion to a stone temple, as there
would have been in existence a Vaishnava place of worship, either in bricks or
in wood. The reconstruction or renovation in stone and mortar of the
temple and its Patronization by the pallava King Nandivarman Pallavan II
could signify the existence of the temple even before the 8th Century. The temple must have seen
many more renovation including the one by the Chola King Rajendra Chola in 1013
CE, and by the King Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire in 1520 CE.
One of the inscriptions
in this Sundara Varada Perumal temple speaks about the chief architect
Parameshwara Thachan of Padakam who constructed this temple as per Vastu
shastra from the treatise Mayamatam under the aegis of Nandi Varman-II.
TEMPLE
ARCHITECTURE – ICONOGRAPHY
The architecture and iconography followed in
this temple to its zenith, pertains to the Vaikhanasa Agama of the
Vaishnavagama’s, written by the four disciples of Rishi Vaikhanasa namely Atri,
Bhrigu, Kashyapa and Marichi defining the temple images of Vishnu worship. An
interesting but rare feature of which is the presence of Dakshinamurthy facing
south on the northern side of the Garbhagriha as per the agama’s.
The seven tiered Raja Gopuram and high raised
walls complement a rectangular compound, which leads into the outer praharam.
As you enter the Gopuram you encounter the Balipeedam and Kodimaram . From here
a small climb of about five steps on two sides, starts the first level of the
Adhishthana with a sub shrine of Garuda facing the prime deity of Sundara
Varadar. Again a rectangle with high raised wall relatively smaller than the
first compound, the entrance of which is through another small two tiered but
cylindrically or elliptical topped Vimana with five Kumbha’s and leads to the
inner Praharam.
This inner Praharam can be divided into two components.,
One (1) the pillared Mukhamandapam along with its extensions of the pillared
compound all around the inner praharam’s rectangle inner wall with a cavity in
the center, which also constitutes the Shrines of Aandal and Anandavalli Thayar
or mother Lakshmi.
Secondly
(2) the cavity in the center contains the main temple in the form of an Ashthanga
Vimana containing the Nava Murthy of Vishnu. This makes the Temple and its
periphery or Mukha mandapam look like two separate entities and could be from
two different periods.
The only connection to the Vimana temple is
from the eastern side of the Mukhamandapam. The entrance of which is through
two Dwarapalaka’s, and a flight of five more stairs from the Mukhamandapam. Through
the Ardhamandapam, we encounter another two sets of Dwarapalakas in the
Sukhanasi which leads us to the Sanctum Sanctorum. The presiding deity
is Sri Sundara Varadaraja Perumal here in standing posture or Sthanaka-Murthy along
with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhu Devi at the first level (Ground floor) of
the adhishthana. This level also contains three more aedicule’s, one on each
side of the main Garbhagriha like Devakoshtha’s which contain the sannidhi’s of
Athchyutha Varada (South), Aniruddha Varada (West) & Kalyana Varada (North).
The access to the sanctum of these three sub
shrines is through stairs (both sides) on the ground level in the inner
praharam. The stairs on their outer wall contain niche which have the idols of
Muthkalar Maharishi, Kama & Rathidevi and Saraswathi holding the Aksha mala
and Kamandalu, without the regular Veena, being flanked by two elephants one
doing the abhishekam and the other in readiness for its turn. There is not much
difference in iconography between this Saraswathi and Gajalaksmi.
A set of Stairs (Shobhana) around the periphery
(on both sides) of the main Garbhagriha of Sundara Varadar takes us to the
second level(First floor), which hosts the Sanctum of the Sitting Vishnu or
Asana-Murthy in the form of Sri Vaikuntha
Varadar with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhu Devi. Surrounding this Sanctum again
is three aedicule’s on all sides of the sanctum, which contain Krishna and
Arjuna as Nara- Narayana (south), Yoga Narasimha (West) and Lakshmi Varaha
(North) which can be accessed by circumambulation on the same floor level.
Another set
of stairs take us to the third and final level or the second floor, which
consists of the Garbhagriha of Sri Ranganatha or Anantashayana the sleeping
Vishnu or the Shayana-Murthy. This sanctum contains apart from the Idol of the
sleeping Vishnu on Adishesha, his consorts Bhuma Devi praying to him, the idols
of Bhagawan Brahma coming out of his nabhi-kamalam or Navel in a lotus, Mahadev
Shiva, Markandeya Rishi and the Asura’s Madhu and Kaitabh who came out of the
ear wax of Mahavishnu.
Thus, all three forms of Mahavishnu are placed
in sanctums one above the other accommodated in three levels or floors of the
same Vimana. In fact the total idols of Vishnu in this Vimana temple account
for nine, and thus make it the Nava Murthy Sthalam.
This vimana temple is Ashtanga in
architecture having eight distinct layer one above the other, namely, 1.Upana
(foot) 2.Adhistana or Jagathi (base) 3.Prasada (Main frame) 4.Prashthara
(string course connecting the Prasada earth with the Pada heaven) 5.Three Padas
( Palagai, struct framework ) 6.Griva
(neck of the tower) 7.Shikara (tower) and 8.Stupi (apex or Kalasa). The Ashtanga
vimana raising to a height of 25 m (82 ft), is taller than the inner gopuram
of the temple, which is not a common feature in Dravidian temples.
The
temple is made in stone up to the ground floor level, above this level the
temple is brick and mortar with wooden beams as support columns, topped up with
stone for floors and Stucco work of lime and jaggery plasters on the Idols of
(Dashavatar, Vishnu roopams, Garuda, Sages, nymphs, etc) on the Vimanam, which
could predate the temple by many a centuries.
For
some the idols in the Garbhagriham’s and the Dwarapalaka’s are presumably made
out of the Atthi wood (Ficus Retusa Moraceae) and well treated with herbs and
oil, which make them look like granite. In reality the same are made out of the
lime mortar mix, as in stucco and hence are coated with the black soot of burnt
Sambrani (Benzoin resin) in periodical intervals in order to preserve them. Could
be the reason why Perumal was called as Vellai murthy Emperuman
or Vellai Murthy Alwar.
Reference
of Vishnu Iconography : Elements of Hindu Iconography by Shri T.A. Gopinatha
Rao. Reference of Vaikhanasa Agama:
Vaikhanasa Agama by Swami Harshananda Ramakrishna Mutt – Bangalore
Reference
of Saraswathi Sculpture : M/s Meghasen’s Blog on the Sundara Varadar Temple.
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