LORD SOWRIRAJA PERUMAL OF THIRUKANNAPURAM WHO GREW HAIR FOR HIS DEVOTEE

ராதே கிருஷ்ணா 01-04-2015

LORD SOWRIRAJA PERUMAL OF THIRUKANNAPURAM WHO GREW HAIR FOR HIS DEVOTEE

Posted on March 31, 2015by Kazhiyur Varadan

 

Thirukannapuram  Divyadesam  Sowriraja Perumal Temple is located 30 KM from Kumbakonam on the way to Thiruvarur, Tanjore District, Tamilnadu which is one among the Five Krishraranya Kshetrams.

The Main Deity is glorified as  Thiru Neelamega perumal  along with  Sridevi and Bhoodevi Thayar . The Processional deity  is worshipped  as   Lord Sowriraja perumal. Lord Sowriraja perumal is seen with prayoga chakkra in his hands. The place is considered as Bhoolokha vaikundam. This Vaishnava Divya desam temple is located on the Kumbakonam / Mayavaram-Nannilam-Nagapattinam route. One has to get down at Thiru Pugalur and take auto (2kms). The temple can also be reached directly from Thiruvarur.  The temple has a 7-tier rajagopuram and a vast temple complex.  The Nithya pushkarini just in front of the Temple is so vast that it looks more like a large lake

As we go around the main sanctum we can have darshanam of Thirumangai  Azhwar, Vibishanan, and  Lord Sri Raman sanctum.  sanctorium There is a separate sanctum for  Swamy Ramanujar  to north side of Pushkarani.

There is an interesting pastime related to this wonderful Srivaishnava divyadesam  related  to the ‘savuri’ ( hair  grown to  the deity ).

 It so happened ,  once the temple priest presented a garland that was offered to the Lordships to  a women  who had come there to have darshan of Lord . ( This was a regular practice of the temple ). The  Chola king who  was passing  by  unexpectedly  visited the temple.  The Priest was worried and  somehow managed to get the garland given to the women for  presenting the same to the King  .

 The king who received the garland , to his surprise  noticed a strand of hair in the garland and became furious. To escape from his  anger and further wrath, the priest humbly submitted to the king that the Lord had a tuft of hair and that strand of hair was from the tuft.

 The King forced the priest to  prove his  innocence . Terrified with the  Kings roar , the priest rushed into the sanctum and prayed LORD to rescue him from the Kings  temper  and save his life .

To save the priest, the Lord  out of abundant mercy ,   gave darshan with a black ‘savuri’ in to the king. From that day on, He has been known as ‘Sowriraja Perumal’.

As Tirupati is famous for  ‘laddu’  prasad  , Srirangam  for ‘payasam’, Thirukannapuram is famous for ‘muniyodharan pongal’.  The origin of this prasad is also interesting which has the name Munayadarayan  .There was  a chieftain, Munayadarayan by name,  who was ruling this Nagapattinam region .

He used to honour  his food only after praying to Lord Sowri Raja Perumal of Thirukannapuram and  due to his devotion  he spent all his wealth in the service of the Lord .

For defaulting tax payment to the king, he was arrested. The Lord appeared in the dream of the king and ordered him to release Munayadarayan immediately. When the chieftain returned from the custody at night, his wife served him Pongal . As usual he offered it to the Lord at the temple .But the temple doors were closed .He became sad and so he offered the prasadam  through his manasika pooja and then honored  the  prasadam.

Next day, when the priest opened the temple, they  found  to their surprise the pudding was seen  on the lips of the Lord Sowri Raja Perumal. . The king also was surprised to see the Lord accepting the Pongal offered by the chieftain.  Since then , Pongal is offered to the Lord during the night puja and this is called Munayadarayan Pongal.  

Once a year, on the occasion of Maasi Magam, the Lord is taken on a procession to the sea shore near Karaikal, about 20 kms from here.

This is the temple where the Lord showed Vibheeshana, brother of Demon king Ravana, his walking beauty. After seeing the sleeping beauty of Vishnu as Lord Ranganatha at Srirangam, Vibheeshna wanted to see the walking beauty of the Lord, upon which he was directed by the Lord to his “Keezh(akku) Veedu’ (Eastern Gateway of the Lord). It is believed that Lord Vishnu displayed his ‘walking beauty’ to Vibheeshana here on the new moon day. To mark this event, on every Amavasya day at 12noon, Lord SowriRajan is carried out of the Sanctum and walks to the Vibheeshna Sannidhi.

This is the temple where the Lord showed Vibheeshana, brother of Ravana, his walking beauty. After seeing the sleeping beauty of Vishnu as Lord Ranganatha at Srirangam, Vibheeshna wanted to see the walking beauty of the Lord, upon which he was directed by the Lord to his “Keezh(akku) Veedu’ (Eastern Gateway of the Lord). It is believed that Lord Vishnu displayed his ‘walking beauty’ to Vibheeshana here on the new moon day. To mark this event, on every Amavasya day at 12  noon, Lord SowriRajan is carried out of the Sanctum and walks to the Vibheeshna Sannidhi.

There is no ‘Swarga Vasal’ for this temple as they say that one can reach ‘Vaikunta’ if they just step on this soil and worship the LORD here  It is believed that there is a ‘pulling power’ in the sanctum sanctorum of this temple and even to this day, one can feel and experience this effect.

 One more legend speaks  about the greatness of this holy dhaam.  Once , Garuda was returning from the milky  ocean carrying the nectar for his mother as promised   With pride ,he  flew with the nectar  that was not available to all. While flying over  this place  , he lost his power and fell in the  nearby ocean. Realizing that he had committed a sin, he performed penance here and begged   pardon of the Lord.

The Lord  out of compassion graced him and took him as his vehicle. As the reminder of this event  , every  Feb- March  ( tamil month ) Masi Magam, the lord  goes to the seashore and blesses all his devotees there.

Hence the devotees greet the Lord calling him as Mappillai – son-in-law. On the 7th day of  ( April- May ) Vaikasi, Lord   gives darshan in  (TriMoorthy Swaroopam)- Maha Vishnu in the day, Brahmaa in the night at around 11pm and Lord Shiva early next morning..

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan