Sunday, March 25, 2018

Veera Raghava Swami Temple (Thiruevvul), Thiruvallur – Religious Importance

Veera Raghava Swami Temple (Thiruevvul), Thiruvallur – Religious Importance
Vishnu as Veera Raghavar is the presiding deity of the Veera Raghavar temple. He is also called Vaidya Veera Raghavar, in view of his ailment curing abilities. In this temple people submit small metal sheets with a specific human organ engraved on them as a request to god to cure the illness or problems with those organs. It is believed that those suffering from incurable diseases are cured if they worship the presiding deity. Devotees come here for marriage, progeny, and for relief from hardships.
The water in the tank is considered more sacred than that of river Ganga. A dip in the tank is believed to relieve the devotee from sins he committed in thought as well as action. Abishekam, the sacred ablution to the presiding deity is done only with sandalwood oil. The temple is considered the Vaishnavite temple equivalent of healing abilities of the presiding deity to that of the Vaitheeswaran, the presiding deity of the Saivite Vaitheeswaran Kovil
Thousands of devotees take a holy dip during new moon days and also pour molasses into the temple tank. The temple is revered in Nalayira Divya Prabhandham, the 7th–9th century Vaishnava canon, by Thirumangai alvar and Thirumalisai Alvar. The Azhwar has sung praise, imagining himself as a lady and Veeraraghava as his lover. The temple is classified as a Divyadesam, one of the 108 Vishnu temples that are mentioned in the book. Many Acharyas have also written songs on the various forms of Bhaktavatsala in this Temple.