Mannar Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Palayamkottai – Legends
Lord transformed a female child to male child:
A priest
by name Vishnu Priyan was performing archanas to the lord regularly. He wished
to get a male child. But his wife delivered a female child successively and
this irritated him. Hence the priest begged the lord to give him a male child.
On the next delivery also his wife gave birth to a female child which angered
the priest. Hence he threw the archana plate on the lord which caused damage to
the lord’s idol. Then he moved towards his home and he found a male child.
The lord
transformed his female child as a male child. On seeing the lord’s grace he was
frightened and moved towards the temple to seek pardon from the lord. He
reached the temple and asked pardon. Lord Gopalaswami along with Bhama and Rukmini
(his consorts) appeared before him. Hence the lord is known as Azhagiya Mannar Rajagopalaswamy.
Indra gave Gopalaswami idol to Arjuna:
Once
Demons troubled Indira who ruled over a kingdom of devas and devas. During that
time Arjuna reached the kingdom of Indira to see him. Indira asked Arjuna to
destroy the demons and further informed that the demons were found at
Thoyamapuram (Ocean’s middle portion). Arjuna had also accepted it and moved to
the demons and challenged them. Arjuna was surprised to see the demons fell
dead in the war came alive.
At that
time Arjuna heard a voice which stated that Arjuna would get victory if he
derided the demons at him. Hence Arjuna faked as if he retreats from the war
which put the demons derided at him. Arjuna waited for that time and he
launched Pasupatha weapon against the demons which erased all the demons. Indra
was pleased with it and he gave Gopalaswami idol to Arjuna for his worship.
Arjuna
had also offered prayers to the lord daily. One day Arjuna got a dream in which
lord asked Arjuna to put the idol in Ganges and Arjuna had also obeyed it.
After several years Sripathy, Pandya king, fought against his enemies on the
shore of Ganges and he found the idol. He took the idol and constructed a
temple for the lord and he installed that idol in the temple. Then the lord is
worshipped as Azhagiya Rajagopalan.
Vedanarayana:
Brahmma
is believed to have undertaken penance invoking Lord Vishnu to help recover the
Vedic Scriptures that had been taken away by the Asuras. Hence Lord Vishnu got the
name Veda Narayanan.