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 Thirunaraiyur
or Nachiyarkoil, one of the 108 Divya Desams of Vaishnavite tradition,
is situated between Kumbakonam and Tiruvarur.
The presiding deity is - Thirunaraiyur Nambi or
Srinivasan
Thayar - Vanchulavalli or Nambikkai Nachiyar
This temple is replete with puranic lore. Let us peep into its
genesis.
In this place, which was earlier called
Sugandhagiri or Sugandhavanam, a sage called Medhavi did penance on
the banks of Manimuthar, wishing that Goddess Mahalakshmi should be
born as his daughter.
The Goddess, happy with the devotion of the sage,
appeared under the vanchula tree on a Friday, the star being Uthiram
in the Tamil month of Panguni. The sage at once knew about the avatar
of the Goddess through his meditative powers. He took her under his
fold and since she appeared under the vanchula tree, he called her
Vanchulavalli. Mahavishnu became sad without his
consort Mahalakshmi in Vaikuntam. He decided to join her in the
world in Vyuha Nilai (Sankarshan, Prathyumnan, Anirudhan,
Purushotaman and Vasudevan). Since he donned five forms, he bestowed
abundant powers on Mahalakshmi and calling himself Srinivasan,
entered into a wedlock with Mahalakshmi. This celestial wedding took
place here and the divine couple bless the devotees as bride and
groom. This sacred spot is also called Krishnaranyam. Since the
presiding deities are in kalyana kolam, Brahma worships them every
day till date. There is another deity that
attracts the devotees who throng to worship at the temple. We have
seen Mahavishnu's mode of transport, Garuda, paying obeisance to the
Lord with folded hands in all Vaishnavite temples. But here he is
worshipped on a par with the presiding deity. There is a strange
phenomenon which occurs when the gods are taken out on procession
atop Garuda. What is it? (To be continued) Usha Raja
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