SHIVA - THE COSMIC DANCER

  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-governan

 Rajagopalaswamy Temple – Manimangalam - Chennai Bheeshma folded both his hands and invited Krishna by saying “Come Paranthama, I will be blessed, dying at your hands”. Shri Krishna had picked up his discuss Sudarshana chakra and ran towards Bheeshma, to kill him. Arjuna ran behind and fell at the feet of Krishna and reminded him of his Vow of not taking weapon in his hand. All played this drama very well. Arjuna, who was in two minds for killing his great great grand sire, became determined by this act of Sri Krishna. Bheeshma had vowed to Duryodhana that either he will kill Arjuna or make Shri Krishna, take weapon in his hand. The all-pervading Krishna knew of this vow of Bheeshma and saved Arjuna by taking weapon in his hand, breaking his own vow made to Duryodhana. The sudarshana in the right Hand is mood in which Lord Vishnu in an Ugra swabhava  is willing to save his bhakthas from harm. Manimanagalam is a place in the history for the famous war fought between the Chalukya King Pu

  THIRU PARAMESHWARA VINNAGARAM OR VAIKUNTHA PERUMAL TEMPLE KANCHIPURAM Thiru Parameswara (The greatest Lord) Vinnagaram (temple) or Vaikunta Perumal Temple is a temple dedicated to Vishnu & his concert Vaikundavalli located in Kanchipuram. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple finds mention in the Divya Prabhanda the early medieval tamil literature of the Azhwar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. It is one among the 108 temples dedicated to Vishnu. The temple is considered the second oldest extant temples in Kanchipuram after the Kailasanathar temple & is in a straight line facing each other, though seperated by 3.5 KMs. The temple is believed to have been built by the Pallava king Nandivarman (720-796 CE), with later contributions from Chola's and Vijayanagara Kings. The temple is surrounded by a granite wall enclosing all the shrines and a pond of the temple. The outer walls of the inner praharam is full of Kalakrithis related to the lord.

  Varadaraja Perumal Temple - Kanchipuram Varadharaja Perumal Temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu located in the holy city of Kanchipuram. It is one of the 108 temples of Vishnu believed to have been visited by the 12 poet saints, or Alwars. One of the greatest Hindu scholars of Vaishnava, Ramanuja is believed to have resided in this temple. The name of the temple, Attigiri is derived from Atti maram (fig tree), considered sacred to Vaishnavas. As per a legend, the disciples of sage Gautama were cursed to become lizards. They were relieved off the curse by the divine grace of Vishnu. There is a panel in the temple where the two lizards are depicted in the roof of the temple The temple has around 350 inscriptions from various dynasties like Chola, Pandya, Telugu Chodas, Kandavarayas, Cheras, Kaaktiya, Sambuvaraya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara. Varadharaja Perumal Temple was originally built by the Cholas in 1053 and it was expanded during the reigns of the great Chola kings Kulottunga Ch

THIRUPUTKUZHI – VIJAYARAGHAVA PERUMAL TEMPLE – BALUCHETTY CHATHIRAM - KANCHIPURAM – TAMILNADU. Vijayaraghava Temple - Tiruputkuzhi Jatayu belonged to the PUL family of the Vulture bird. He and his  elder brother Sampathi were born to Aruna a demigod and were as strong as Garuda himself. Both the brothers in their enthusiasm tried to race towards the SUN God. In spite of the warning from Sampathi, Jatayu kept on flying, his feathers were getting singed by the heat of the sun. So much were they in love with each other that sampathi covered Jatayu with his own wings spanned and in turn burnt his feather’s and was grounded permanently,in order to protect Jatayu.  Garuda Jatayu, hearing the cries of Sita, went to her rescue, but was overpowered by Ravana the king of Lanka, who cut of his wings and threw him to the earth. Lord Ram coming in search of Sita saw Jatayu mortally wounded. Jatayu tells him that Sita was abducted by Ravana then coll