Thirunaraiyur Nambi Temple,
Nachiyar Koil – Legends
Nachiyar Koil:
As per Hindu legend, the sage
Medhavi was doing penance at this place. While taking a bath in the river, he
found an image of Chakrathazhwar entwined with Yoga
Narasimha. A divine voice asked him to install the image in his
hermitage and worship it. Sage Medhavi was a staunch Vishnu devotee. He wanted
to have Lord as his son-in-law. He performed penance sitting under the Vanjula
tree to have Mother Mahalakshmi as his daughter.
Mother appeared before the sage
as a little pretty girl before him on the Uthiram star day in Panguni
(March-April). The sage named her Vanjula Devi and brought her up in his
hermitage. Lord Mahavishnu came to earth in five forms as Sankarshana,
Pradyumna, Aniruddha, Purushotama and Vasudeva to find Mahalakshmi and marry her.
Each searched for Mother in different directions.
Garuda Bhagwan who accompanied
the Lord, spotted Mother in the Sage’s ashram and informed the Lord. Lord
Vishnu expressed his desire to the sage to marry his daughter. The sage
accepted Lord’s wish on one condition that his daughter would have all powers
in all matters. Lord Vishnu agreed to the condition. The sage happily married
Lakshmi to Vishnu and requested him to stay in his place, which Vishnu
accepted.
Both Lord and Nachiyar are seen here in a beautiful
wedding posture, a unique feature at this Divya Desam. Lord Vishnu told Garuda that he should have his
place here blessing the devotees as he had to be under the influence of his wife.
Thus, Garuda Bhagwan became prominent in the temple. The place was named after
Mother (Nachiyar in Vaishnavite terms) and came to be called as Nachiyar
Koil.
Thirumangai’s Madal to Thiru Naraiyur Nambi:
Thirumangai Azhwar composed
Madal comprising of Siriya Thiru Madal and Periya Thiru Madal in which he
expressed his intent to embarrass and publicly humiliate the Lord by
visualizing himself as Parakala Nayaki and adopting the Madal route to
displaying his love and trying to force the Lord to accept the love. In ancient
Tamil tradition, when one falls in love, the message is conveyed to the other
person through his friends. However, if his attempts turn futile, the man, in a
final desperate move, resorted to Madal Erudhal (a practice of embarrassing and
humiliating the girl in public.
As part of this process, the
lover would make a horse out of palm leaves, then draw the picture of his
beloved on a cloth and hang it as a flag on the horse, wear a garland and go
around the streets shouting slogans and crying in public, of betrayal of love
in a bid to humiliate his lover, announcing as to how he has been suffering as
a result of her not accepting his love. But for a girl to do such a thing was
not a traditional practice as this was considered unbecoming of a woman.
Thiru Mangai in the Madal says
that since the Lord had not accepted the love despite repeated requests of
Parakala Nayaki, the last option was to try and gain acceptance through the
performance of Madal. Even though Madal Erudhal by a woman was not accepted in
Tamil culture, Thiru Mangai says that considering the state of the lovelorn
Parakala Nayaki, this route had to be adopted based on Sanskrit literature and
following the many examples that existed in the Northern culture.
In the Siriya Thirumadal,
Parakala Nayaki refers to this intoxicated state of love with the entire
composition being that of a Nayaki expressing her love in short lines through
someone else. The identity of the lover of Parakala Nayaki is brought out
through a soothsayer, who provides the description of the Nayaki’s lover by
referring to the great qualities of the Lord. In the Periya Thiru Madal, the
narration is from the dejected lover herself and the terrible experience she
has gone through in not being able to convince her man (Lord) accept her love.
Here, she explains how the
handsome Lord, seen in various Vishnu temples in different postures, has been
the reason for her to fall in love as Parakala Nayaki. Periya Thiru Madal ends
with the threat of her performing the forbidden Madal even if it was at the
cost of her being rebuked by everyone. The entire Madal (both Siriya Thirumadal
and Periya Thirumadal) is directed at the Lord of Thiru
Naraiyur as can be seen from the fact that Thirumangai opens and ends
the Madal with reference to Thiru
Naraiyur.
When Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam
for whom Thiru Mangai built the famous huge walls requested him for Madal
verses of praise, Thiru Mangai retorted ‘Madhil Inghe, Madal Anghe’ (Madhil (the
big walls) here for you at Srirangam
and Madal (the songs expressing love for the Lord) there for the Nambi at Thiru
Naraiyur), thus signifying that the Madal was for the Thiru Naraiyur
Lord.
Thiru Mangai Mannan (Neelan) was an army chief of a
Chola king. He spent all his wealth in the service of Lord Vishnu. As he
was not a Vaishnava, nobody recognized his devotion and services. He fell
in love with Kumudhavalli. She informed him that she could accept him only if
he came to her with true Vaishnavite identity. Thiru Mangai Mannan begged to Thiru Naraiyur Lord to give
him the Vaishnava identity and help him secure the hands of Kumudhavalli. Thiru
Naraiyur Nambi is said to have initiated Thiru Mangai Mannan with the Pancha
Samaskaaram, which is the true identity for a Vaishnavite.
Thus, Thiru Mangai Mannan became Thiru Mangai Azhvaar. As a mark of initiating the Pancha Samaskaaram on the
Thirumangai Mannan, Lord Vishnu is seen leaning forward slightly, quite a
unique sight at this temple. Lords of few Divya Desams have been praised as Nambi. The most prominent
among them is Thiru Kurungkudi, the other one being the Lord here who is referred to
as Thiru Naraiyur Nambi.
An Acharya is referred to as Nambi and since Thiru Naraiyur Lord initiated
the Pancha Samaskaaram to Thirumangai Mannan, he became the Acharya of Thiru
Mangai Azhvaar and hence the Azhvaar referred to him as Thiru Naraiyur Nambi. As
a token of his gratitude to Lord Vishnu, Thirumangai Azhwar sung over 100
verses praising the Lord Vishnu, the highest for any temple. The only other
Lord that Thirumangai Azhvaar has praised with 100 Paasurams is Thiru Kannanpuram Sowri Rajan Perumal, where the Lord explained the Thiru Mandhiram to
Thirumangai Azhvaar.
Kochengat Chola was an
early Chola king and one of the 63 Nayanmars (Saivite saints)
of Saivism. He is believed to have attained spiritual rebirth of a
spider that fought with an elephant in its previous birth over the worship of
the Lord Shiva. He had red eyes during birth as he remained in his
mother’s womb a little longer. His mother, looking into the baby red eyes said
Kochengkannano (in Tamil Ko=king, Cheng=red, Kan=eyes), which
literally means king with red eyes and hence he was named Kochengat
Cholan.
After becoming a king, he
followed Saivism and built 70 Maadakovils,
temples with elevated structure where elephants cannot reach the
sanctum, in the Chola empire. Kochengata Chola had a desire to see Lord Vishnu in
his abode Vaikunda. He prayed to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu granted darshan to
the king with two hands and ordered him to build a temple for him. This is
the only
Vaishnavite temple built by Kochengata Chola in Mada Kovil
type. He built this
temple in a Shaivite design. Thirumangai Azhwar mentions this temple
as Mani Mada Koil.
Idols of all 108 Divya Desams at Nachiyar Koil:
An old Brahmin wanted to see all
the Divya Desams. However, he could not visit because of his old age. The old
Brahmin prayed before Thirunaraiyur Nambi, who is said to have given the idols
of all the 108 Divya Desam Lords to the Brahmin. This is the only
Divya Desam where the idols of all the 108 Divya
Desams can be seen in one place.
Kal Garuda:
As per local folklore, the sculptor
who sculpted the idol of Garuda got frustrated as the idol flew away each time after
he had made its wings. He had to carve a new idol each time. In frustration, the
sculptor threw a stone at Garuda striking him on the nose. Garuda got injured,
fell down and decided to stay at the
temple as Kal Garuda. .
Weight gaining of Kal Garuda:
The weight gaining of Garuda
during procession reminds Lord Vishnu commitment to Sage Medhavi. When both
Lord Vishnu and Goddess are taken out in a procession, Lord should lead the
procession, but his promise to Sage Medhavi that his wife would have the first
place in everything would be broken. Hence, Garuda becomes heavier and it
becomes tough for the devotees to carry him faster than Goddess. Thus, Lord
Vishnu fulfills his promise made to Sage Medhavi to till date.
Manimutharu:
There is huge tank called
Manimutharu, in front of the
temple. There is a beautiful tale behind the name of this pond. Once, king
of the birds, Garuda, took a diamond head ornament to Narayur Nambi from Tirupaarkadal.
A diamond (Mani) accidentally fell from the ornaments into this pond. As the
precious stone fell into the pond degrading its status equivalent to ordinary
pearl (Muthu) this tank is known as Mani + Muthi + Aaru (tank or pond).
Suguntha Giri:
Nachiyar
Koil is also called as Suguntha Giri.
